Presbyterian Church in Ireland admits failings
THE Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) said on Monday that it welcomed the criminal investigation announced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and would be co-operating fully with it. In a statement published on Sunday, the Acting Clerk of the PCI’s General Assembly, the Revd Dr David Allen, admitted “serious safeguarding failings” between 2009 and 2022. The PCI apologised for “failing to make referrals to statutory authorities”, not responding adequately to concerns, weak monitoring of offenders, not responding “properly when people asked for help when they had suffered harm”, and not keeping “proper and adequate records”.
WCC sees HIV treatment work in Bolivia
THE World Council of Churches (WCC) has been supporting the HIV-positive community in Bolivia during a critical shortage of HIV medications since 2022. Owing to the financial crisis, “there are no dollars in Bolivia”; so the medications for HIV are bought internationally, the WCC’s programme executive for HIV, Reproductive Health, and Pandemics, Gracia Violeta Ross, explained in a statement on Monday. Through PEPFAR, the US government provided HIV medications and diagnostic supplies worth $700,000.
US diocese distributes proceeds from property sale
TEN years after the congregation of St. Philip-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, Oreland, in Pennsylvania, held its final service in May 2016, the Philadelphia-based diocese Pennsylvania is using proceeds from the sale of property to distribute $130,000 to support local ministries, with a particular focus on food assistance and emergency items for families in need. The Bishop, the Rt Revd Daniel Gutiérrez, said in a statement on Wednesday of last week that “the diocese received a generous offer [to purchase the former church], and we are grateful that the ministry of St Philip’s continues to give life to those in need.”
Archbishop prays for families after fatal crash
FIVE young people, aged 21 to 23, died in a car crash in Dundalk, in Ireland, last Saturday. They were travelling in a car that collided with another vehicle on the Ardee Road, at Gibstown, just after 9 p.m. on Saturday. Three others are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The Archbishop of Armagh, the Rt Revd John McDowell, offered his prayers to the victims, and said that “It is impossible to take in the scale of grief which the death of five young people in a road traffic accident near Ardee, Co. Louth, must have caused. . . May they know the presence of the God of all comfort to be very near to them.”