IN an echo of the Church's dissenting tradition, more than 230 senior Presbyterians have joined to criticise the denomination's General Assembly for decisions which have led to a "profound sense of hurt, dismay and anger".
The statement, entitled 'A Cry from the Heart', does not refer directly to specific issues but comes as tensions are high within the Church over its attitude to same-sex relationships.
It has been signed by teaching and ruling elders from across Ireland, who say that "this level of feeling is unprecedented in our pastoral experience".
They commit themselves to ensuring that the decisions "will be subject to the urgent attention they deserve, and for which many in the Church are calling".
Signatories include former moderator Dr Ken Newell, the former Clerk of the General Assembly, Dr Donald Watts, and retired north Belfast minister the Rev Liz Hughes.
When it met in Belfast last month, the General Assembly - an annual gathering of lay people and clergy drawn from each of its 500-plus congregations in Ireland - backed a proposal to finally end its historic public links with the Church of Scotland because of its support for gay marriage.
Differing approaches to Biblical authority and marriage have meant that in recent years the Presbyterian Church in Ireland has refused to send its Moderator to attend the Scottish General Assembly.
The June vote formalised the boycott and brought an end to the practice of inviting the Church of Scotland Moderator to attend the Irish General Assembly.
That decision sits a little uneasily - or incoherently, perhaps - with the assembly also resolving to continue its collaborations with the Church of Scotland on matters of "mutual benefit" - a case of pursuing the private but not the public.
As well as tearing the tartan, the assembly also affirmed that same-sex couples could not be communicant members of the Church, nor their children be baptised.
The votes followed reports from the Church's doctrine committee which restated the traditional Biblical view of marriage.
A thread running through the debates on both issues was a concern that the Presbyterian Church's witness could be damaged if it adopted too harsh a tone.
"We gladly acknowledge that we ourselves have been constantly enriched and challenged by the diversity of views found in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland," says the statement.
"Therefore, as we participate in this work of critical engagement and discernment, we hold that any unnecessary narrowing of the range of acceptable theological perspectives within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will damage our credibility and limit our future."
The signatories described the statement as "a prayerful expression of appropriate loyalty to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland at this moment in our history".
Signatories to 'A Cry from the Heart', a statement in response to decisions of the 2018 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
1. Arthur Acheson
2. Martin Agnew
3. Derek Alexander
4. Frank Arnold
5. Liz Arthur
6. Maurice Arthur
7. Olive Bell
8. Ronnie Bell
9. Heather Best
10. Sandra Bickerstaff
11. Christopher Blake
12. Patricia Blake
13. Paul Blease
14. W. D. Boyd
15. Amy Brackenridge
16. John Brackenridge
17. Leonard Brown
18. Anne Buchanan
19. Christina Bradley
20. Hilary Brunt
21. Ronnie Calvert
22. Denis Campbell
23. Purvis Campbell
24. Audrey Carruthers
25. Walter Carruthers
26. Maureen Collins
27. Susan Cooke
28. Joan Cowle
29. Dennis Crawford
30. Jim Dale
31. Ann Davey
32. John Davey
33. Grace Davin
34. Prof John Davis
35. Helen Dawkins
36. Norma Dawson
37. Molly Deatherage
38. George Derby
39. Helen Derby
40. Lucinda Dickey
41. Rae Dickson
42. Roy Dickson
43. Sylvia Dingley
44. David Dodds
45. Alan Dowd
46. Derek Drysdale
47. Barbara Dunlop
48. Bill Dunlop
49. E. H. Dunlop
50. Gordon Dunlop
51. Roberta Dunlop
52. Johnston Dunseath
53. Pamela Elliot
54. Ronnie Elliot
55. John Erskine
56. Hilary Fairman
57. William Ferguson
58. David Flinn
59. Lorraine Foster
60. Jonny Frazer
61. Robin Frazer
62. John Fulton
63. Paul Fry
64. Cecil Graham
65. Gordon Gray
66. Jenny Gray
67. Mark Gray
68. Randal Gray
69. Joan Halliday
70. Rodney Hamill
71. Sylvia Hamill
72. Lesley Hamilton
73. Walter Hamilton
74. Sheila Hammonds
75. Dr Heather Hanna
76. Jill Hannah
77. Elspeth Haren
78. David Harrison
79. Denise Henry
80. Gavin Henry
81. Jon Henry
82. Cecil Hetherington
83. Mary Hewitson
84. Maurice Hobson
85. Gay Hogan
86. Alison Houston
87. Norman Houston
88. James Hudson
89. Brian Hughes
90. Liz Hughes
91. John G Hunter
92. Mary Hunter
93. Rosemary Hunter
94. Sarah Hunter
95. David Irwin
96. Hilary Jess
97. Ian Kelly
98. Alastair Kilgore
99. Heather Kilgore
100. Campbell Killick
101. Billy Kyle
102. Jeremy Kyle
103. Victor Laing
104. David Latimer
105. Dr Derek Lee
106. Dr Malcolm Lees
107. Muriel Lilly
108. R. G. Little
109. Jean Long
110. Janice Lowry
111. Robert Magee
112. Trevor Magowan
113. Dennison Mahood
114. Christopher Maitland
115. Jimmy Mallon
116. Lowry Manson
117. David Mark
118. Ben Matson
119. Kim McAnespie
120. Trish McBride
121. Sally McCahon
122. Chris McCall
123. Mervyn McCall
124. Colin McCandless
125. Derek McClelland
126. Ronald McClintock
127. Colin McClure
128. Bruce McCormack
129. Liz McCormack
130. Ian McCracken
131. Stephen McCracken
132. Sylvia McCracken
133. Fiona McCreedy
134. Margaret McCreedy
135. Richard McCreedy
136. William McCreedy
137. Colin McDowell
138. Mildred McIlwaine
139. Joyce McKee
140. Janis McKnight
141. Dennis McLeod
142. Elizabeth McLeod
143. Derek McMaster
144. Samuel Carson McMullan
145. Gillian McNaugher
146. Alastair McQuoid
147. Louise McWatters
148. Elaine Molyneaux
149. Richard Molyneaux
150. Susan Moore
151. Maud Moorhead
152. Hilary Morrow
153. Johnston Morrow
154. Judith Morrow
155. Mervyn A Morrow
156. Katherine Meyer
157. George Nesbitt
158. Robert Nesbitt
159. Ken Newell
160. Bobby Niblock
161. Elaine Nixon
162. Julie-May Noteman
163. Wilfred Orr
164. Dr Michael Parker
165. Ted Parks
166. George Patterson
167. Robert Patterson
168. Ruth Patterson
169. Winston Patterson
170. Judith Payne
171. Valerie Payne
172. Henry Plester
173. Eddie Poots
174. Kenneth Porter
175. Michael Potter
176. Marina Proseckina
177. Ian Rankin
178. David Purce
179. Roger Purce
180. Arthur Rainey
181. Desmond Rainey
182. Alastair Rankin
183. Margo Rankin
184. Laureen Rolston
185. Barbara Reid
186. Colleen Rimmer
187. John Robinson
188. Susan Rocke
189. Gordon Ruddle
190. Caroline Russell
191. Cecil Russell
192. Jane Savage
193. Ron Savage
194. Anne Scott
195. Joan Scott
196. Malcolm Scott
197. Bill Shaw
198. Ralph Sheppard
199. Lyndsey Shields
200. Ann Simmons
201. Robin Simmons
202. Dot Simpson
203. Allen Sleith
204. Catherine Smith
205. Ruth Smith
206. Steven Smyrl
207. Sadie Somerville
208. Alan Spence
209. Doreen Steenson
210. Ivor Stevenson
211. Heather Taylor
212. Gary Tenant
213. Joy Tennis
214. Audrey Thomas
215. Dave Thompson
216. Marion Thompson
217. Brian Topping
218. Bert Tosh
219. John Vance
220. Ann Walsh
221. David Walsh
222. Michael Warnock
223. Donald J Watts
224. Derek Weir
225. Alastair White
226. Leslie White
227. Merle White
228. Jeffrey Whitford
229. Campbell Wilson
230. W. Richard Wilson
231. David Workman
232. Gilbert Young