The Free Presbyterian Church has launched a campaign directed at Ireland's 3,000 Catholic priests. The Church, which is headed by Ian Paisley is to send every priest on the island a CD containing "the message of the gospel" which is aimed at "converting them to Christianity"
The CD will be accompanied by a letter of introduction "asking people to become Christians".
The Rev David McIlveen of the Free Presbyterian's morals and standards committee said that while he was open to the possibility that Catholic priests might already be Christians he had not met one he considered to be so.
However, Mr McIlveen stressed that the new "conversion initiative" – which is entitled Our Samaria after St Paul's exhortation in Acts 1:8 for the disciples to go forth and spread the word – was not seeking to draw converts to Free Presbyterianism, but to "share the gospel".
Three thousand 'message of the gospel' CDs are to be sent out to Catholic clergy in the coming weeks.
"We feel that we have a responsibility," Mr McIlveen said.
"Everyone who is a Christian is meant to reach out to other people and no-one is excluded from that.
"Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer, knew what it was to be brought up in the Roman Catholic faith.
"It is our responsibility to share the gospel with everyone.
"We don't take the line of discriminating, that it's for this one or that.
"It is about reaching out to others.
"We look on the south of Ireland as our spiritual Samaria."
The CD will feature sections of St John's Gospel aimed at focusing the recipient's mind on the need to enter into a personal relationship with God.
Mr McIlveen admitted that the ultimate aim of the outreach was to bring people into his Church.
"We are presenting the gospel and if people get converted as a result of that, then we have fulfilled the purpose of our ministry which is to persuade people to become Christians," he said.
"We are most certainly asking people to become Christians, if eventually they come to the Church and are open in their hearts we would welcome them.
"Just because a person is a priest doesn't make them a Christian.
"That is a fundamental mistake that many people make.
"Personal acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as his saviour, repenting of sin and accepting that Jesus Christ died is the only way to be a Christian."
Father John McManus a priest in the diocese of Down and Connor and spokesman for the Catholic Church has yet to receive his copy.
"We as Catholics are happy to enter into open dialogue in an atmosphere of mutual respect with all other Christians and those of other faiths or none," he said.
