Ecumenical Relations in Ireland 1923-2010
A summary of inter-church background and work over the years
THE IRISH COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
History: From 1906 the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches had a joint committee for united efforts. In 1910 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church invited other evangelical Churches to set up similar joint committees with it; the Church of Ireland accepted and by 1911 the joint committee of these two Churches was in action to co-operate in philanthropic and religious work. The issues which the joint committee tackled included temperance and the Ne Temere decree. Following a recommendation of the 1920 Lambeth Conference, these joint committees developed in 1923 into the United Council of Christian Churches and Religious Communions in Ireland by the inclusion of a number of its present constituents. In 1966 the United Council changed its name to the Irish Council of Churches. The first full-time secretary took up appointment in July 1972.
Basis of Membership: The Irish Council of Churches is constituted by Christian Communions in Ireland willing to join in united efforts to promote the spiritual, physical, moral and social welfare of the people and the extension of the rule of Christ among all nations and over every region of life. The current membership policy is available on request from the Inter Church Office.
The member Churches are (with date of joining):
- The Antiochian Orthodox Church (2005)
- The Church of Ireland (1923)
- The Greek Orthodox Church in Britain and Ireland (1997)
- The LifeLink Network of Churches (1998)
- The Lutheran Church in Ireland (1972)
- The Methodist Church in Ireland (1923)
- The Irish District of the Moravian Church (1923)
- The Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland (1923)
- The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (1923)
- The Rock of Ages Cherubim and Seraphim Church (2001)
- The Salvation Army (Ireland Division) (1965)
- The Religious Society of Friends in Ireland (1923)
- The Romanian Orthodox Church in Ireland (2004)
- The Russian Orthodox Church in Ireland (2003)
Roman Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist observers are invited to be present at the meetings of the Council.
ICC Officers (a full list of ICC Presidents and General Secretaries can be found in Sections N and O below)
President (2008 AGM-2010 AGM) Rev. Tony Davidson (Presbyterian Church) Vice President (2010 AGM-2012 AGM) Most Rev. Richard Clarke (Church of Ireland) Immediate Past President (2006-2010) Ms Gillian Kingston (Methodist Church in Ireland) Treasurer Mr Robert Cochran (Methodist Church in Ireland) General Secretary Michael Earle Office contact details
The Irish Council of Churches and Irish Inter-Church Meeting
Inter-Church Centre
48 Elmwood Avenue
Belfast
BT9 6AZ
Tel: (028) 9066 3145
Fax: (028) 9066 4160
email: info@irishchurches.org
web: www.irishchurches.orgWork of the Council: The Council consists of 80 members appointed by the member Churches, together with the leaders of the member Churches and up to ten co-opted members, the General Secretary, Treasurer and immediate Past President of the Council. There is an Annual Meeting and occasional gatherings. An Executive Committee is responsible for the oversight of the work of the Council.
There is currently a Board of Overseas Affairs. Through the Board contact has been maintained with world development issues including Christian Aid, with mission issues, with various geographical areas and international affairs in general. Many social issues are dealt with through the Department of Social Issues of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting (see section B).
The Council put an emphasis on peace and reconciliation work over the course of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. A Peace Programme operated from 1978 and materials for primary and secondary schools and adult Bible Study guides were produced in co-operation with the (Roman Catholic) Irish Commission for Justice and Peace (which is now the Irish Commission for Justice and Social Affairs/ICJSA). A Peace Education Resource Centre was opened at the beginning of 1984 in the Inter-Church Centre. A cross-border schools project began in 1996. The joint programme with the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace was known as The Churches’ Peace Education Programme and had a separate legal entity. It employed two teachers in Northern Ireland. Excellent cutting edge work was done and useful resources produced. Lack of fresh funding led to the closure of the existing Programme in 2005. Independent research was commissioned and subsequently carried out by St Mary’s and Stranmillis Universities Colleges in 2006, but there were still difficulties accessing new funding for a new programme. This led to the decision to wind up the Trust in 2008. Copies of the Research summary, as well as a detailed background history of the Programme 1978-2005, are available from the office.
There was a period when the ICC had three main boards under its aegis; Inter-Church Affairs, Community Affairs, and Overseas Affairs. The Board of Inter-Church Affairs was laid down when business was transferred to the Irish Inter-Church Meeting. The Board of Community Affairs disbanded when it handed over its business to the Department of Social Issues in 1995. The Board of Overseas Affairs continues as the only Board. Transfer of business to committees within the aegis of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting was done strategically to make the work more effective and representative. Residual or ongoing business in any of these areas would be handled by the ICC Executive.
The Irish Ecumenical Church Loan Fund, which has been run since 1977 under the aegis of the ICC, gives low interest loan to Church and community bodies in either jurisdiction in Ireland. It is part of a worldwide church organisation based in Geneva.
The Belfast Churches Urban Development Committee was set up in late 1994 in association with the Council. It employed a Development Officer to promote the social and community outreach of Protestant Churches in areas of deprivation and poverty in the Greater Belfast area. The Committee was stood down in October 2002 with the work being transferred over to the Churches’ Community Work Alliance whose work continues in the field on a cross-community basis in Northern Ireland.
Women’s Link was formed over 30 years ago to help the various women’s church organisations work more closely on their shared aims. It operates under the aegis of the ICC and organises an annual Fellowship Day and produces a news-sheet. Women’s Link operated a Women’s Desk in the Inter-Church Centre for a decade from 1992.
Staffing: The small number of staff (currently two full time and one part time) at the Inter-Church Centre in Belfast, the ‘Inter-Church Secretariat’, act as a joint secretariat for the Irish Council of Churches and the Irish Inter-Church Meeting. The project worker on the Parish-based Integration Project (PIP) is also an employee of the ICC and based in Dublin. This project has funding for a three-year period (2007-2009).
Inter-Church Centre (48 Elmwood Avenue Belfast). The building which houses the Inter-Church Centre was purchased in 1977 through a gift by German churches (the Evangelical Churches of Westphalia and the Rhineland) as a contribution to peace and ecumenical developments in Ireland. As well as housing the Inter-Church Secretariat it has been home to various Christian and community-related agencies over the few decades since it was purchased, and, despite its modest décor, is a far cry from a caravan in a back garden which was the base for a former part-time ICC General Secretary. Although a decision has been made to sell the current building, the plan is to purchase a property which can continue to accommodate other bodies or projects compatible with the ethos of the inter-church structures.
IRISH INTER-CHURCH MEETING
The first, and historic, Inter-Church Meeting between the main constituent members of the Council and the Roman Catholic Church took place at Ballymascanlon in September 1973. The meeting heard papers with prepared comments from ‘the other side’ on four areas of concern:
- Church/Scripture/Authority
- Social and Community Problems
- Baptism/Eucharist/Marriage
- Christianity and Secularism
Working parties were set up to carry forward study under these headings. By the spring of 1975, when the Meeting was held for the third time, the fourth working Party presented a final Report and others presented Final Reports on part of their remits. Discussion also included Mixed marriages and Internment
A Fourth Meeting was held in May 1977 and papers were heard on the following topics:
- The Church in the Gospels and St. Paul
- Historical Breaches in Christendom
- Theology of Christian Unity
- Principles and Practice
The Fifth Meeting was held in March 1980, and two Survey Papers in Inter-Church Activities were presented. Working Parties on Marian Devotion, and the Eucharist and the Implications of Unity were established.
The Sixth Meeting was held in March 1983 when papers on the themes ‘Christian Witness in a Secular Society’ and ‘Mission to those in Prison’ were presented.
The Seventh Meeting was held in November 1984 when proposals for the re-organisation of the Meeting were considered and agreed. After agreement from the Churches the Meeting was re-organised with an Irish Inter-Church Committee (which co-ordinates activities) and Departments of Theological Questions and Social Issues being set up. A focus on Baptism led to a common baptism certificate being introduced in 1988.
Further Meetings have been held approximately every 18 months. The Eighth Meeting was held in March 1986, when the subject of ‘The Church and the Technological Age’ was considered and the Ninth Meeting in September 1987 dealt with the subject of ‘Marriage and Family in Ireland.’ The Tenth Meeting, on the theme of ‘Youth Work and the Churches’ took place in April 1989. The Eleventh Meeting took place in November 1990 when the subject was ‘The Church in Urban Society’. In May 1992 the Twelfth Meeting dealt with the subject of ‘Irish Churches in a New Europe’ and the production of a video ‘Together in Christ’ on inter-church relations. In October 1993, the first residential Meeting was held and it considered the subject of ‘Sectarianism’. The 1995 meeting was held in November with its primary focus being on the Churches’ particular contribution to Peace. Another meeting was held in November 1997 when among other things, the report, ‘Freedom, Justice and Responsibility in Ireland Today’ was considered, as well as Church renewal, the 2nd European Ecumenical Assembly (Graz), the Future of Work and various inter-church services and resources for those in mixed marriages.
The 25th Anniversary was celebrated in September 1998 with an event in the Ballymascanlon Hotel, Dundalk, and the publication of “The Irish Inter-Church Meeting: Background and Development”. Further meetings were held in April 1999 when the issue of Sectarianism received more consideration; in November 2000 when the theme was ‘Being Church in the New Millennium; and in April 2002 when the theme was ‘Pathways to Peacebuilding’ with discussions on inter-faith issues in Ireland and the Charta Oecumenica. The 19th Meeting in November 2003 focused on the theme “The implications of the New Immigrant Presence in Ireland” and the 20th was held in May 2005 in Cork on ‘Spirituality and Culture: making connections at the local level.’ The 21st meeting was held in Dublin on November 2006 focussed on the third European Ecumenical Assembly being held in Sibiu (Romania) and its challenge to issues facing the Churches in Ireland. The 22nd Meeting took the form of a study day held in October 2007 in Dublin when staff and students from eight different theological colleges from both sides of the border came together for an Irish overview of progress being made on bilateral dialogues on ecumenism that were being held at the international level. The next (23rd) Meeting is planned to take place in October 2009.
The work, structure etc., of the Meeting was reviewed and proposals for re-organisation and a proper legal structure was drawn up for a new Conference of Churches in Ireland. This would, among other things, bring together the Irish Council of Churches and the Irish Inter-Church Meeting in the one structure. The proposals were put before the Churches in 1999 for decision. All the Churches except the Presbyterian Church in Ireland accepted the proposals. The Irish Inter-Church Committee considered the options after consulting the Churches, and concentrated on making what changes were possible at this time. The situation has continued to evolve, but the two separate structures remain.
Documents on Inter-Church Marriage Services and Baptisms of Children of Inter-Church Couples and on Pastoral Care of Inter-Church Couples were produced in 1997 and 1998. A fuller document has been prepared entitled “Ministering to Inter-church Couples: Help for Clergy” (January 1999).
The General Secretary of the Irish Council of Churches is Executive Secretary of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting and the ICC President is Co-Chair.
Current Co-Chairs (2008-10): Cardinal Sean Brady and Rev Tony Davidson.
Department of Theological Questions: The Department has produced Bible Study Notes and information on Cults. A booklet with biblical study notes for Advent and Lent – ‘Reading the Bible Together’ – has been prepared (1991). A study on the theological implications of the Report ‘Marriage and the Family in Ireland Today’ has been carried out. Documents on ‘Salvation and Grace’ and ‘Ecumenical Principles’ were published in 1993. A study on ‘Freedom, Justice and Responsibility in Ireland Today’ was published in 1997. The Department completed a study document on the church, entitled ‘Being Church in the New Millennium’ (published Spring 2000). A seminar on ‘One Bread One Body’, the teaching document on the Eucharist of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ireland, Scotland, and England and Wales, was held at the end of November 1999; another one on the Vatican Document Dominus Iesus in December 2000; and another on the Roman Catholic/Lutheran Declaration on Justification (June 2001). A Working Party on Spirituality in Ireland Today published a series of essays in a book entitled ‘The Dearest Freshness – Deep Down Things’ (2005), copies of which are available for sale from the office. The Department organised a study day in 2007 updating staff and students from eight theological colleges on ecumenical progress being made at the international level on bilateral dialogues.
Social Issues: A Joint Group on Social Problems was set up in 1970 between the Irish Council of Churches and the Catholic Hierarchy as a result of an initiative by the Council, to advise on the role of the Churches in Irish society in such matters as world poverty, employment, housing conditions, drug addiction, alcoholism, etc. Working Parties produced Reports on:
- Drug Abuse (1972)
- Housing in Northern Ireland (1973)
- Use of Alcohol among Young People (1974)
- The Churches’ Response to Under-development in Rural Ireland (1976)
- Violence (1976)
- The Environment (1980)
- Leisure (1982)
Following the re-organisation of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting the Joint Group became the Department of Social Issues and Working Parties set up by the Department have issued Reports on:
- The Church and the Technological Age (1986)
- Marriage and the Family in Ireland Today (1987)
- Young People and the Church (1990)
- The Challenge of the Urban Situation in Ireland Today (1990)
- Sectarianism: A Discussion Document (1993)
Following a review, the Department was restructured and commenced its new mode of operation in 1995 (and the Board of Community Affairs under the ICC aegis was simultaneously laid down). It is a meeting point for social responsibility (or equivalent) people from the churches. A Poverty Hearing was held in Belfast in 1997 and a one-day conference also in 1997 in Dublin on the report ‘Unemployment and the Future of Work’. Issues of poverty and prosperity have remained on the committee’s agenda. A seminar on ‘Prosperity - its Purpose and its Price’ was held in Dublin in 2003.
In 2005, as the result of a further review, the Department of Social Issues was renamed the Inter-Church Committee on Social Issues (ICCSI). Ecological issues had been added to the agenda and Eco-Congregation Ireland reports informally to the committee.
The All-Ireland Churches’ Consultative Meeting on Racism (AICCMR) was set up as independent, though linked, project in 2003 and subsequently came under the aegis of ICCSI. AICCMR has organised a major conference on racism (November 2005) and the churches, worship events (2006 and 2007) reflecting the variety of styles now existing in Ireland. It is currently working on an Irish Directory of Migrant Churches, which is due for publication at the end of 2008.
The Parish-based Integration Project (PIP) was set up as an initiative of the chair and committee of ICCSI in 2007. With a full-time worker based in Dublin (funded through the Department of Justice in the Republic) it works to support local churches, where possible on an ecumenical basis, in helping to integrate newcomers from outside Ireland. Guidelines have already been produced and a Guidebook is about to be published in late 2008. The project is working primarily in the Republic. Further details: www.iccsi.ie
Local Ecumenism: Contact is maintained with ecumenical groups. A number of one-day meetings have been held in different areas in order to promote interest and involvement in local inter-church activity. Weekends for local groups were held in February 1995, in February 1997, in April 1999, and in May 2001. Courses for those working with groups in an inter-church context have been run.
Future: The Irish Inter-Church Committee is currently considering proposals to reorganise its work under three new Forums and to establish a part-time ecumenical position based in Dublin to animate and strengthen local ecumenism within the Republic. Details will be made available once finalised.
MIXED MARRIAGES
As a result of the Working Party on Social and Community Problems (1975 - see section B) a Standing Committee on Mixed Marriage was set up by the churches to report annually on areas of friction. Joint pre-marriage courses for inter-church couples are held in Dublin, Belfast and Cork. Further details: www.nimma.org.uk
UNITY DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES
The unity discussions between the Protestant Churches have not been done under the aegis of the Irish Council of Churches. There were various bilateral discussions before 1968. Tripartite discussions began in 1968 between the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church and the Church of Ireland. In 1973 a plan for unity entitled ‘Towards a United Church’ was produced. It did not receive much enthusiasm. Discussions continued and material for confirmation classes and a Communion Service for use on inter-Church occasions were produced. In 1988 it was proposed that the Tripartite Consultation would be replaced by a new Joint Theological working Party. This was accepted by the Methodist Church and Church of Ireland but rejected by the Presbyterian Church. In 1989 a joint Methodist/Church of Ireland Theological Working Party was set up. A Covenant was agreed between the two churches in June 2002 and the joint Theological Working Party was replaced by a Covenant Council in 2003.
SHARED BUILDINGS AND ALTERNATE MINISTRIES (Protestant)
There are 21 of these, mainly in new housing areas or in the Republic. They are either Church of Ireland/Methodist or Presbyterian/Methodist except in one case in Shannon where the three Churches are involved. An Inter-Church Consultative Committee for Schemes of Co-operation has been set up.
JOINT YOUTH WORK
The Church Youth Welfare Council was a pioneering effort in open youth work in Northern Ireland by the Presbyterian Church, Methodist Church and the Church of Ireland in the 1940s. The Council reconstituted itself under the name of The Churches Youth Service Council as a training and service agency in the 1970s when the Education and Library Boards took over a good deal of youth work. A new inter-church youth body - Youth Link: Northern Ireland - which involves the four largest Churches in Northern Ireland along with the Religious Society of Friends and the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church - was set up in 1992.
INTER-CHURCH RECONCILIATION FUND FOR IRELAND
This operated in the period 1974-2006 and began as the Inter-Church Emergency Fund for Ireland, providing a way for churches internationally to support peace in Northern Ireland. The funds donated to the Conference of European Churches’ Emergency Fund for Ireland and European Catholic Bishops’ Fund for Ireland, as well as by national church funding agencies and others, were administered by a committee consisting of official representation of the Roman Catholic Church and the Irish Council of Churches. Money was allocated in grant aid by the committee for reconciliation, relief, inter-denominational understanding and community development and other money, whose recipients were designated by the donors, passed through the Fund. Due to inflation it is difficult to ascribe an exact value to the amount of money which came through the Fund but, in total, a couple of million pounds at current values passed to well over a thousand recipients. A more detailed report is available on request. The Inter-Church Centre continues to act as a conduit for designated funding, in particular for groups working on issues to do with children and conflict.
CHURCH LEADERS’ MEETINGS
There are regular meetings of the leaders of the four largest Churches in Ireland, with the secretariat provided by the Presbyterian and Methodist churches. Although outside of the ICC/IICM inter-church structures, there are informal linkages through the personnel involved.
COUNCILS OF CHURCHES, CLERGY FELLOWSHIPS, ECUMENICAL STUDY GROUPS, ETC.
A survey back in 1992 identified around 100 of these groups, but there are probably many more in existence today. Some were Protestant/Roman Catholic and others inter-Protestant. They mainly meet together for bible study, prayer and discussion. There are a number of practical joint projects, e.g. The Churches Trust in Derry/Londonderry. The Dublin Council of Churches has included Catholic Church membership since 2007. More recent efforts to update this data and establish an Irish Ecumenical Directory are still in hand.
OTHER GROUPS
There are ecumenical groups on the island of Ireland, including Cornerstone, Corrymeela (1966), Currach, Lamb of God Communities and the Christian Renewal Centre at Rostrevor.
The Irish School of Ecumenics (ISE) began in 1970 and is involved in the academic study of Ecumenics and related subjects. It is now incorporated within Trinity College Dublin with a northern campus in Belfast, offers students from all over the world both Masters and PhD programmes in Ecumenics, Peace Studies and Reconciliation Studies. It runs an adult education programmes in Northern Ireland and the Border counties, as well as animating and resourcing inter-church fora in both these areas. A 5-year Moving Beyond Sectarianism project was completed in 2001 followed for another few years by a Partners in Transformation project which was established as a joint initiative with Mediation Northern Ireland. ISE has been involved in work bringing together local ecumenical groups.
The Glenstal Ecumenical Conference (est. 1964), the Greenhills Ecumenical Conference (est. 1966) and the Social Study Conference bring clergy and laity together at an informal level on an annual basis.
The Christian Education Movement is involved in promoting inter-schools 6th Form Conferences and other events. In Northern Ireland, many of the new integrated schools see themselves very definitely as shared Christian schools.
The Faith and Politics Group, now laid down, studied the link between faith and politics in the Northern Ireland context and produced a series of reports.
Women’s World Day of Prayer brings Protestant and Catholic women together at the local level on an annual basis.
Embrace (NI) is an inter-denominational agency working on issues to do with asylum and migration and is based in Belfast. The Churches Asylum Network (CAN) is an inter-church forum for discussing, and coordinating efforts on, church work concerning asylum and migration issues in the Republic, based in Dublin and serviced by the Refugee and Migrant Project of the Irish Bishops’ Conference.
Prison and hospital chaplains also have inter-denominational associations.
ECUMENICAL CONTACT OUTSIDE IRELAND
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI): The British Council of Churches was founded in 1942 and the Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church and the Church of Ireland were foundation members. An Inter-Church ‘Not Strangers but Pilgrims’ Process was established in Britain in the mid-1980s with the full involvement of the Roman Catholic Church. It resulted in the establishment of a new ecumenical body. The British Council of Churches went out of existence at the end of August 1990 and was replaced by the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland (now Churches Together in Britain and Ireland) with the full participation of the Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference in England and Wales, and Scotland. The Episcopal Conference in Ireland is an associate member. Further details: www.ctbi.org.uk
The developing emphasis in recent years has been on a ‘four nations’ basis involving the 37 member churches of CTBI and the four national ecumenical instruments: Churches Together in England (CTE), Actions of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS), Cytûn (Churches Together in Wales), and the Irish Council of Churches. The ICC became an associate member of CTBI following a decision of the IICM not to take up membership in 2005.
The Methodist Church in Ireland and the Church of Ireland are full members of what is now CTBI. The Religious Society of Friends and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland declined to join when it was being set up.
Conference of European Churches: CEC was founded in 1959. The Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church and the Church of Ireland are full members. ICC is an Associate member.
World Council of Churches: The WCC was founded in 1948 but has a pre-history dating back to the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910. The Methodist Church and the Church of Ireland are members; the Presbyterian Church had been a member but withdrew in 1980.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Annual Reports of the Irish Council of Churches (the last couple are on the website) provide a good overview of work and issues for any given year. Back issues may be available from the Inter-Church Centre or, if not, they are available there for consultation and research
Ian Ellis, Vision and Reality: A Survey of 20th Century Inter-Church Relations,
Institute of Irish Studies, 1992.
Eric Gallagher & Stanley Worrall, Christians in Ulster: 1968-1980, Oxford University Press, 1982.
Alan Megahey, The Irish Protestant Churches in the Twentieth Century, Macmillan Press, 2000.
The Irish Inter-Church Meeting: Background and Development, 1998. Available from the Inter-Church Centre.
Brendan Leahy, Inter-Church relations – a tribute to Bishop Anthony Farquhar, Veritas 2008
Oliver P Rafferty, Catholicism in Ulster: 1603-1983, Gill & MacMillan, 1994
Norman W Taggart, Conflict, Controversy and Co-operation: The Irish Council of Churches and ‘The Troubles’; 1968-1972, Columba, 2004
KEEPING UP TO DATE
‘Irish Ecumenical News’, which is produced by the Inter-Church Centre in paper, e-mail and web editions is, along with keeping an eye in general on the inter-church website at www.irishchurches.org, perhaps the best way to keep up to date with inter-church and local ecumenical issues. See also ‘Links’ for member churches and inter-church and ecumenical bodies on the website.
Annual reports of the ICC are produced in the spring each year looking back over the previous calendar year and provide a fairly comprehensive overview.
The website of ICCSI, the Inter-Church Committee on Social Issues has a variety of material related to its major project, the Parish-based Integration Project, on cultural diversity, respect, racism and integration. This includes suggested guidelines on integration for parishes and local churches, among much other material
LIST OF ICC PRESIDENTS since 1964
1964 & 65 Presbyterian Very Revd Dr JC Breakey 1966 & 67 Ch of Ireland Bishop AA Buchanan 1968 & 69 Methodist Revd Eric Gallagher 1970 & 71 Presbyterian Revd J Haire 1972 & 73 Cof I Archbishop GO Sims 1974 & 75 Non Subscrib’g Pres Revd J Ratcliffe 1976 & 77 Presbyterian Rev Dr McConnell 1978 & 79 Methodist Revd Harold Sloan 1980 & 81 Cof I Bishop JW Armstrong 1982 & 83 Presbyterian Prof John Barkley 1984 & 85 RSF/Quaker Dr David Poole 1986 & 87 Cof I Bishop Sam Poyntz 1988 & 89 Methodist Revd CJ Eyre 1990 & 91 Presbyterian Mrs Carrie Barkley 1992 & 93 Cof I Bishop Brian Hannon 1994 & 95 Moravian Bishop Joe Cooper 1996 & 97 Presbyterian Revd David Nesbitt 1998 & 99 Methodist Revd Dr Edmund Mawhinney 2000 & 01 Cof I Revd Dr Ian Ellis 2002 & 03 Presbyterian Revd Robert Herron 2004 Salvation Army Major Rik Pears 2005 Cof I Bishop Peter Barrett 2006 & 07 Methodist Ms Gillian Kingston 2008 & 09 Presbyterian Revd Tony Davidson LIST OF ICC ORGANISING/GENERAL SECRETARIES since 1961
1961-1962 Revd Carlisle Patterson (Hon. Organising Secretary) 1962-1963 Revd Canon Walsh 1963-1965 Revd JM Rogers 1965-1968 Revd R Richey 1968-1972 Revd Dr Norman Taggart (part-time Organising Secretary) 1972-1974 Revd Ralph Baxter (first full-time General Secretary) 1974-1979 Canon William Arlow 1980-1992 Rt Hon David Bleakley 1992-2003 Dr David Stevens 2004-2010 Mr Michael Earle
©2010 IRISH COUNCIL OF CHURCHES