Presbyterian Church in Ireland General Assembly 2024 to appoint expert panel to protect vulnerable people from pressures of euthanasia

The information came to light in advance of the church's annual gathering of leaders from over 500 congregations across the island, which opens on 20 June in Assembly Buildings in central Belfast.

Clerk of the General Assembly Rev Trevor Gribben said euthanasia will be a major issue under discussion.

He raised concerns about vulnerable people feeling pressured to take their own lives under any new legislation, with the Republic of Ireland and Scotland both reviewing the issue.

As the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s annual General Assembly gathers in Belfast next week, senior Presbyterians prepare for the annual meeting. Left to right: PCI’s Moderator, Rt Rev Dr Sam Mawhinney, who will open the General Assembly on Thursday, 20 June, with the Clerk of the General Assembly, Rev Trevor Gribben, and Rev Dr Richard Murray, Moderator-Designate, who will be installed as PCI’s new Moderator for the coming year on the second day of the Assembly.

The church is about to publish a new report on the matter, he said.

"And in our report, we're calling the government to actually prioritise the better way - palliative care. The fact is that both north and south on this island the vast majority of the hospice movement is funded by private donations and fundraising. Government don't really invest in palliative care.”

The church is bringing together experts in palliative care, leading physicians and leading academics to form a panel to work on the issue.

He added: "For people who are vulnerable and people towards the end of their life, they are at their most vulnerable. I think there are many in society, not just people from a Christian perspective, who, when they face up to this issue, will want to demand that the government do something to protect those most vulnerable people.

"What we're talking about when we come to assisted suicide is people actually being facilitated to take their life.

"But how can society guard against those people being put under pressure, societal pressure, to feel that they are a burden on society and a burden on their family? That the only option for them left is to take their own life or let someone else take it for them?

"To begin to go down that road as a society is simply wrong."

Other major points of discussion this year will be the Christian ethos of controlled schools in Northern Ireland, which has come under various legal challenges in the past year from secular minded parents.

As much of NI’s education estate was handed into state care in the 1950s and 1960s by the main denominations, PCI says it still maintains a legal right to exercise control over the ethos of the controlled sector.

The constitution or code of the church will also be significantly updated this year - having been last published in 1980.

While all mainstream denominations are suffering shrinkage in membership, Rev Gribben said, they also have many vibrant and expanding churches across the island. A major ongoing work for discussion again this year is therefore ‘The reconfiguration of ministry’ to adopt best practise in 2024 and assign resources in the most strategic manner.

Rev Gribben also said they would be formalising links this year with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (USA) - which matches closely to PCI’s theology and ethos - for mutual learning and fellowship.

There had previously been links with PC USA, which is the biggest Presbyterian Church in America, however it is understood to have moved in a more liberal direction in its theology, he said.