Paramilitaries in the North were called on to "fully declare the war is over", at the Methodist conference in Ballymena yesterday.
The Rev Dr Fred Munce told the gathering that all paramilitaries should put their arms beyond use. He condemned "the cynical murder" of Mr Alan McCullough in a UDA feud, and called for the release of missing Armagh man Mr Gareth O'Connor, believed abducted by a renegade IRA unit on May 12th.
He repeated the church's unhappiness at the postponement of Assembly elections and called on Sinn Féin to play a full role in policing boards.
Addressing the issue of child abuse, senior social worker Mr Stephen Sheerin said all churches had made recovery more difficult for victims because of the way they had handled the disclosure process.
He urged the conference to embrace recommendations in the Methodist guidelines on the issue, published in the document "Time for Action". The chairman of the board of governors at the Methodist-run Gurteen Agricultural College in Co Tipperary told the conference the governors were "extremely disappointed" that Government cut-backs meant plans to build a €1.2 million classroom teaching facility had had to be postponed indefinitely.
Government funding for the three-year project had been agreed, "but it became apparent in July 2002 that whilst the €400,000 promised for that year would be provided, no funding would be available in 2003 or 2004", a report to the conference stated.
The Rev Vanessa Wynne Jackson said representatives of various Reformed denominations had decided at a meeting last month to set up a forum on the provision of religious education for children in mixed schools. It was intended to seek the views of patron bodies, the churches, and parents of all denominations, to see how best the needs of children could be served, she said.
The forum followed on from last year's controversy at the multi-denominational gaelscoil in Dunboyne, Co Meath, whose principal, Mr Tomás Ó Dulaing, lost his job in a row over the teaching of religion at the school.
Ms Gillian Kingston, chairwoman of the Dublin Council of Churches, told the conference that a new Methodist church was being built in Tallaght, where for many years there had been a declining community.
The conference was also told that the Methodist congregation in Killarney had grown by 50 per cent and it was now necessary to extend the church there.
The conference elected the Rev Dr Brian Fletcher as Methodist president from June 2004.
