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A delegation from the Presbyterian Church will make an oral submission to the Northern Ireland Forum today, Thursday 21-11-96, at 1.00pm. for about 1 hour. The delegation will be available for interview subsequent to their presentation.
Presbyterian Moderator Dr Harry Allen will lead a delegation that includes Rev Samuel Hutchinson, Clerk of Assembly, Dr Godfrey Brown, past convener of the Church and Government Committee and Dr Malcolm Scott, past convener of the Peace and Peace Making Committee. They will be addressing the Public Order Issues Committee of the Forum on the issue of parades.
A written submission was made to the Forum in September consisting of the General Assembly's report on parades passed last June together with statements made by the Church and Government subsequent to events at Drumcree this summer.
Todays presentation is expected to take the form of opening statements by the Moderator and Dr Brown followed by questions from the Forum Committee.
In preparing its report on parades to the General Assembly, members of the Church and Government Committee met with a range of people including the Rev Martin Smyth, MP, representatives of the Garvaghy Road residents, and lower Ormeau residents.
The report was adopted by the Assembly which also passed the following resolution:
The General Assembly recognise that public parades especially on main roads are part of the culture of both traditions in Northern Ireland. They call upon all those who have responsibility for public parades to show sensitivity to the feelings of those who live on parade routes, and to do nothing to provoke their anger, or cause them to feel intimidated or threatened. They also call upon residents who may oppose such parades to exercise tolerance, recognising that if we are to build a new kind of society, then it must be a genuinely multi-cultural society where the traditions of both communities are not only recognised, but affirmed and even celebrated.
On 27th July the Church and Government Committee issued a statement detailing its reaction the the events surrounding Drumcree calling for honourable compromise at local level on the marching issue. It urged church people to give support to the wider community and church leadership in encouraging movement suggesting that politicians should facilitate necessary compromise.
"The feelings of fear, pain, confusion and stress in both communities as a result of recent events need to be talked through and the credibility of Christian Witness in Ireland reinstated. Biblically the authorities of the state are to be obeyed. Only under the most extreme circumstances can this obligation be refused. We do not believe that such obtained in recent times. Even an act of worship should be interrupted to facilitate the making of peace. Tradition must never become a false God or be allowed to compromise the Gospel."
During the Autumn the Church and Government Committee resumed its series of ongoing meetings with political parties and has met with Fianna Fail and the SDLP Parades Committee. It has also made a submission to the North Commission and met with Presbyterian ministers who are chaplains in the Orange Order.
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