A €1.27m advertising campaign encouraging Christians to return to their faith has been postponed until September, because of fears that the public would confuse it with the abortion referendum.
Leading churchmen, such as the Catholic Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Seán Brady and the Church of Ireland Archbishop Robin Eames, have publicly supported the "Power To Change" campaign.
The advertising "blitz", funded by a group of Christian businessmen from the Republic and Northern Ireland, was scheduled for national and local newspapers, billboards and cinemas in March.
"However, our best advice is that the abortion referendum is taking place then," said the chairman of "Power To Change", Mr Basil Good, yesterday, even though there are indications that the Taoiseach is keen on having it on February 28th.
"We feel it is unwise to have two national campaigns of this scale and nature in the same month as this would dilute what we are trying to achieve," he went on.
The organisers decided to delay the advertisements until September: "It would also not be possible to have it during the general election expected in May, or in summer holiday months."
Archbishops Brady and Eames, the President of the Methodist Church, Rev Harold Good, and the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Right Rev Dr Alastair Dunlop said: "We are happy to endorse 'Power To Change' as a potentially significant North-South initiative for evangelisation and reconciliation at this critical time in our country and in our world. 'Power To Change' will facilitate local congregations to share the Good News with all the people of this island, who all matter to God."
In recent months "Power To Change" has organised information meetings around the country and it hopes to run 100 training seminars in March.
"The momentum is increasing. We are confident that any inconvenience caused by changing the date will be significantly outweighed by the increased impact and effectiveness of the later media campaign," said project director Mr Paddy Monaghan.
"Power To Change" began in Canada in 1951and spread internationally to encourage evangelism and discipleship.
