Methodist Church Appoints First Female Leader

The first ever female president of the Methodist Church in Ireland is being appointed today.

Rev Heather Morris, a director of ministry at Edgehill Theological College in Belfast, will become the first woman to lead one of the four major Christian churches in Ireland.

The 48-year-old will be appointed at a ceremony at Joymount Presbyterian Church, Carrickfergus, this evening.

Rev Morris was born in Nigeria and educated in Belfast and Dublin.

She was ordained in 1992. Before entering ministry, Rev Morris trained and worked as a speech therapist in Dublin.

In an interview with UTV, she said the Church would be supporting the IF campaign ahead of the G8.

The campaign is aiming to raise the issue of world hunger and is calling upon the eight leaders at the summit to work towards ending it.

"We are working with other churches and many other organisations to highlight issues like aid and tax and ask that land wouldn't be grabbed and that there would be transparency," she told UTV.

"So we have definite things to say about social justice across the earth and here on this island."

(IT/CD)