The decommissioning of paramilitary weapons is "not only a political necessity but a moral imperative", the new moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Dr Trevor Morrow, has said. In his first press conference since his election on Tuesday, Dr Morrow said he found it extremely difficult to understand why the republican movement had not acted on the issue yet.
"The vast majority of people in the Republic find it inconceivable that there has not been any move yet in this area," he said. "It is very difficult to understand how people who, in their speech are committed to the democratic process, cannot bring themselves to decommission weapons." While coming from a Northern unionist background, Dr Morrow has been ministering at the Presbyterian church in Lucan, Co Dublin, for the past 17 years. He is the first minister from the South to be elected moderator in more than 35 years. Living in the Republic for so many years had given him an ability to "hear and feel" something of the psyche of republicanism and nationalism that he would have been unable to do if he had stayed in the North, Dr Morrow said.
"Even if I do not agree with the whole rationale for an armed struggle, I have come to understand why these people do what they do. If we really want to build bridges we have to get under the skin of others. I hope that my role will be that of a reconciler and communicator," he added.
While the Presbyterian Church at large had sought to encourage Mr David Trimble and others to find a way forward, it was not its role to interfere in party politics but to create the moral framework for peace. His election as a Dublin-based minister demonstrated that the Presbyterian Church was not tied to any one political or cultural identity, Dr Morrow said. "This is absolutely essential for our credibility as we enter the 21st century. We cannot be allied with any particular political cause. We need to be able to relate to people from wherever they come."
Dr Morrow (51) is the youngest moderator yet and describes himself as a "pragmatic ecumenist". He said the Presbyterian Church needed to be radical in shedding some of its cultural baggage if it wanted to be relevant in the new century.
"You can't be committed to the reformation if you are not committed to change. Everything in the life of a church is negotiable, except the Gospel. Culture, style, music, dress, even the very buildings themselves are on the table. We should ask ourselves why we are irrelevant to so many people. We need to be radical about this and abandon some of our cultural baggage.
"On the other hand, we must not alienate people by imposing new patterns of worship that they could not share in - that would be just as counterproductive," he added.