Church breaks its silence over elder dismissal
THE Presbyterian Church has broken its silence after it was criticised for dismissing a gay elder in Dublin because he was in a same-sex marriage. The church’s deputy clerk Rev Jim Stothers (right) said much of the criticism was “uninformed” and “it shouldn’t come as a surprise” that being in a same-sex marriage “is not compatible with being in the ordained leadership”.
THE Presbyterian Church has today broken its silence over the wave of criticism it has faced after its dismissal of gay Dublin elder Steven Smyrl because of his same-sex marriage.
Writing in today’s Belfast Telegraph, Deputy Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Rev Jim Stothers gives the Church’s side of a story that has sparked controversy and comment since it became public several months ago.
Rev Stothers was involved in the process after which the Presbyterian Church decided last year to ‘stand down’ Mr Smyrl from his role as a church elder in a Dublin congregation.
Steven Smyrl (53) lost his position of 12 years as an elder with Christ Church in Dublin’s Sandymount area after complaints that he was in a samesex marriage.
Mr Smyrl has claimed that a Presbyterian Church commission which investigated his case acted in “an oppressive and vindictive manner”, and that he felt bullied to the point of depression.
Mr Smyrl and his partner Roy Stanley, who have been together for 20 years, entered a civil partnership in 2011, and got married in November 2018.
After the news broke in October of Mr Smyrl’s dismissal many rallied to his defence, with Presbyterians in Dublin staging a protest outside a church meeting over the decision.
Irish Senator and gay rights campaigner David Norris also spoke out against the removal of Mr Smyrl from his church elder position.
But today the Presbyterian Church stoutly defended its actions.
“The Church has been attacked both for its decision, and for its silence,” Rev Stothers writes.
Dismissing much of the criticism the Church has faced as “uninformed”, Rev Stothers says that while nobody denies that Mr Smyrl has the right to enter into a same-sex relationship, “it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it was found to be contrary to the Church’s clear and settled position that being in a samesex marriage is not compatible with being in the ordained leadership of the Church. Jesus teaches that marriage is exclusively between one man and one woman”.
In his article Rev Stothers states that in the course of the controversy, senior Presbyterian churchmen have been “singled out and publicly pilloried”, and suggests that “those who have made personal attacks on them ... may wish to reflect on their own exercise of ‘love and compassion’”.
He said the conclusion that Mr Smyrl could not be allowed to continue as an elder had been reached “with a heavy heart” by the Church. “The Commission and its members sought to accommodate Mr Smyrl and his requests as best they could throughout the process, while ensuring that pastoral care was provided to him by his minister.
“To every story, however, there are two sides, and for me, it was time to speak,” Rev Stothers said.