Uplifting music for Syria on Ascension Day
An Ascension Day concert for Syria uplifted people’s faith as well as helping refugees fleeing persecution and conflict. Up to 200 people attended the Marilla Ness concert at St Francis Xavier’s Church, Carfin which raised more than £700 for Aid to the Church in Need’s Syria campaign. Neville Kyrke-Smith, National Director of Aid to the [...]
Dumfries and Galloway churches’ landmark ecumenical link-up hailed a success
Church leaders from across Dumfries and Galloway met in Lockerbie last Thursday for a landmark meeting. The ecumenical gathering was to celebrate the first year of the Learning Agreement signed between the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church. The two churches are working together in sharing resources, support, expertise and training. It is [...]
Margo MacDonald: Cardinal Keith O’Brien ‘should stay in Scotland’
The MSP Margo MacDonald has voiced her support for Cardinal Keith O’Brien following reports the Vatican ordered the disgraced former archbishop to leave the UK. Ms MacDonald, a friend of 75-year-old cleric, said if the reports were true then the Vatican’s position showed “a lack of charity”. The cardinal was last week seen moving his [...]
Vatican ‘orders Cardinal Keith O’Brien to leave Scotland’
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s most senior priest, has been ordered by the Vatican to leave Scotland, it has been reported. The cardinal, who retired from the leadership of the church in Scotland after admitting inappropriate sexual conduct with priests, has been advised against going ahead with his plan to move to a house in Dunbar [...]
Impartiality of Scottish judiciary undermined by religious ceremonies, say secularists
The National Secular Society has written to Kenny MacAskill MSP, the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Justice, to draw his attention to a possible undermining of the impartiality, integrity and independence of the Scottish judiciary. The NSS complaint relates to two ceremonies, the Red Mass (Catholic) and the ‘Kirking of the Court’ (Protestant). At the [...]
Scottish Catholics urge Vatican: act now over Keith O’Brien
Scotland’s Catholic leadership has appealed to the Vatican to take action on Cardinal Keith O’Brien after it emerged the disgraced cleric had returned to live in Scotland. Within hours of revelations that the Cardinal had been seen publicly for the first time since the scandal surrounding his gay relationships and abuse allegations broke, senior figures [...]
Cardinal Keith O’Brien ‘snubbed the victim at the centre of the Carfin Grotto sex abuse probe’
The victim at the centre of the Carfin Grotto sex abuse probe yesterday revealed he was snubbed by Cardinal Keith O’Brien after begging him to investigate his tormentors. Devout Catholic Pat McEwan sent a hand-written letter to O’Brien, then Scotland’s most senior churchman, in 2010 after undergoing years of counselling about his experiences. The 63-year-old [...]
Church not told of Cardinal O’Brien’s return
The bishops of the Catholic Church were not warned of Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s return to Scotland, with sources saying they are angry at his decision to continue with his retirement plan to move to East Lothian. The former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who scandalised the Church by admitting to having inappropriate relations with [...]
Cardinal Keith O’Brien: I’ve said sorry … now I’m trying to live best Christian life I can
Cardinal Keith O’Brien vowed to be a “good Christian” as he begged forgiveness over his gay sex scandal. The disgraced churchman — who emerged from hiding this week — confessed to The Scottish Sun he has failed to live his life according to his own religious teachings. But he claimed he has been swamped by [...]
Man who claims to have been raped by priest at Catholic grotto is a fantasist, says Bishop Joseph Devine
A senior churchman yesterday said an alleged sex abuse victim who claims he was raped at Carfin Grotto is “living in a fantasy world”. Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell branded Pat McEwan an “alcoholic” and said he doesn’t believe claims he was abused by priests when he was a boy. In Monday’s Daily Record, Pat, [...]
