The Church of Ireland Primate, Dr Robin Eames, is expected to urge the rector and select vestry of Drumcree parish church to reconsider their support for the Orange Order following the violence which accompanied this year's annual Drumcree parade.
Just before the annual parade eight days ago, Archbishop Eames had asked Portadown Orangemen to give an immediate undertaking that they would respect pledges on the sanctity of worship and church property and obey the law endorsed by the General Synod.
To date, the Portadown District has not responded to the archbishop's request. A spokesman for the Primate said: "In the light of this year's events, which were a disgrace, and the comments of Mr Harold Gracey [Portadown District Master] after the service last Sunday, it behoves the parish to consider their position very seriously indeed. That would apply to both the vestry and the rector".
Dr Eames has studied statements made before and after the annual parade, saying the responsibility of his office "demands that I evaluate those words and subsequent actions against the standard of the Christian Gospel".
"The events at Drumcree ignore some very basic biblical teaching which the Orange Order claims to uphold and promote," Dr Eames said. "Serious action, consistent with its biblical foundation, must be undertaken by the Orange Order".
Meanwhile, agreement has been reached between the Grand Orange Lodge and Portadown District on a joint approach to future action on the Drumcree issue following emergency discussions at the weekend.
Although neither party was prepared to comment, it is believed that in future the Portadown Orangemen will keep the Grand Lodge fully informed on all matters concerning the Drumcree issue. In return, the Grand Lodge has given an undertaking to become much more involved with Drumcree.
A source said yesterday: "Both sides recognise that there needs to be a cooling-off period, but with an agreement that the whole issue over Drumcree will now be talked about more fully. There has now been a realignment between the Grand Lodge and Portadown in deciding to face these problems together.
"The feeling has been that they had been singing off different hymn sheets. It was obvious that what Portadown had done didn't go down well."
Yesterday about 150 Orangemen gathered at Drumcree church for morning service. Earlier, Portadown District had received a letter from the Parades Commission informing it that any proposed march from the church to the police lines yesterday would be illegal, leaving the organisers open to prosecution. The Orangemen subsequently formed small groups before walking down to police lines. They later dispersed at about 2 p.m.
Meanwhile the British army has started to withdraw some of the 2,000 troops drafted into the North to deal with the Drumcree crisis. About 400 members of the First Battalion the Scots Guards returned to their London barracks on Saturday.
