Girls as young as 13 will be able to get the morning-after pill without their parents' knowledge under a controversial sex health scheme. John Deighan, of the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: "We believe there are serious problems introducing such a confidential service to kids as young as 13. It shifts the duty that teachers have to parents to the children. And far from causing a drop in unwanted teenage pregnancies in the Lothians, they have actually gone up. We are also deeply concerned that the anonymous nature of this programme could encourage illegal sex."
Source: Sunday Mail.
posted at 1:58 PM

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, says the Asylum and Immigration Bill "falls short" of international conventions on human rights. O’Brien said the vote in the House of Commons tomorrow would be a test of whether Scotland was a welcoming country or not. The Catholic Church has also hit out at proposals to revamp Scotland’s system of sex education and welfare. It condemned the "gravely irresponsible" plans, saying they diminished the role of parents and accused ministers of operating in a "moral vacuum".
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 1:55 PM

Couples that include a partner who has changed sex will be allowed to marry in Anglican churches in England under the Gender Recognition Bill, due to become law by mid-March. Anglican church weddings in England and Wales will be affected as Anglican priests have the legal powers of a registrar. In other religions, a wedding service is not legally binding until the civil registrar has approved it. Muslims, Catholics and others could therefore continue to deny religious marriages to transsexuals without such couples’ civil rights being affected.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 1:52 PM

Mark Kermode writes: "It's based on the Gospels, so first the good news; never again will I have to endure another sermon from some sanctimonious God-botherer on the inherent evils of violent cinema ... If nothing else, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, which presents a gruelling, graphic depiction of the crucifixion, should at least put paid to the notion that sensational shockers like Blood Feast and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre are the sole prerogative of satanists ... Personally I have found more of religious substance in the 'secular' prison drama of The Shawshank Redemption, or the strangely comedic ramblings of the cult psychological thriller The Ninth Configuration."
Source: The Observer.
posted at 1:46 PM

Ian Bell writes: "It will be interesting ... to see how well The Passion Of The Christ does in Britain. The publicity will help, but the market for a subtitled film acted in Aramaic and Latin does not seem vast. Nor is it likely that a country that refuses to make a fetish out of being born again will be buying dozens of seats at a time, as American Christians have been doing, for the sake of its spiritual welfare."
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 1:39 PM

Gerald Warner writes: "Make no mistake, this [The Passion of The Christ] is an intensely Catholic film. Mel Gibson is a traditional Catholic who rejects the humbug and chaos of the Second Vatican Catastrophe - as do an increasing number of the disillusioned survivors stumbling around in the ruins of the once-mighty Roman Catholic Church."
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 1:21 PM

Dundee artist Nathan Coley been awarded £10,000 to investigate the bizarre Jerusalem Syndrome, a rare travel psychosis afflicting up to 10 people a year. Symptoms include an inexplicable nervousness and anxiety, coupled with a strong need to visit the holy places of Jerusalem. Sufferers often need to carry out acts of purification and repeatedly wash themselves, shave their body hair and cut their nails. Others find it necessary to don white robes in an effort to resemble biblical figures – most often John the Baptist for men and the Virgin Mary for women. Coley’s exhibition of Jerusalem Syndrome will go on show from November 1 and last four weeks.
Source: PA News/The Scotsman.
posted at 9:50 PM

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has written to Scottish MPs expressing 'serious concerns' about the Asylum & Immigration Bill currently before Parliament. The Cardinal is a member of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 9:36 PM

Church representatives on the education committee will not be allowed to vote on a £100 million plan for the future of East Dunbartonshire schools. This week legal teams from the Roman Catholic Church and Church of Scotland were looking into the legality of challenging the controversial ruling. However, the Scottish Episcopal Church's representative, the Reverend Bryan Owen, was happy for the council lawyers to sort the matter.
Source: Kirkintilloch Today - Kirkintilloch Herald.
posted at 9:31 PM

Rev Malcolm Maclean of Inverness has accepted a call to the vacant charge of Scalpay Free Church. Previously involved with the production of Christian Focus books, Mr Maclean is expected to move to the island in April.
Source: Stornoway Gazette.
posted at 9:25 PM

Rev Hazel Wilson held her last service at Ardoch Parish Church joined with Blackford in Perthshire on Sunday. She is to take up post at Lochee Old and St Luke's Parish Church in Dundee.
Source: icPerthshire - Strathearn Herald.
posted at 9:17 PM

Rev Brian Mulraine will be inducted next month as the new minister of Dumbarton Baptist Church.
Source: icDunbartonshire - Lennox Herald.
posted at 8:57 PM

The fire which destroyed Auchtergaven Parish Church in Perthshire on Wednesday caused the loss of the roll of baptisms, stretching back decades, and a rare bell in the tower which was added to the building by the Duke of Atholl in 1812.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 4:02 PM

A plea for mercy from former Kirk moderator the Very Rev John Miller yesterday helped restrict a killer brother's jail sentence to six years. William McFarlane, 27, had admitted punching and kicking heroin-addicted George McFarlane during a row at their mother's home in Castlemilk, Glasgow.
Source: Daily Record.
posted at 3:57 PM

Peter Peacock, the Scottish education minister, is facing growing pressure to publish a potentially controversial five-month-old report on religious observance in schools. Church leaders have called on the minister to explain the delay in publication, with Church of Scotland ministers particularly anxious to see the report made public before their General Assembly in May. The report, produced by a group of representatives of a number of faiths, teachers, and parents, has been in the minister's hands since late September last year and its publication was anticipated before Christmas.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 3:42 PM

One of the senior Jewish leaders in Scotland yesterday warned that Mel Gibson's controversial new film, The Passion of The Christ, could be used by extremist groups to encourage anti-Semitism. Ephraim Borowski, director of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, saw the film at the first British screening in London yesterday. He said: "It can be abused. I am concerned not so much about the film itself being anti-Semitic, but that anti-Semites can use it for their own purposes. The way it is being block-booked by fundamentalists in the States shows that it is being used in some political way."
Source: The Herald.
posted at 3:40 PM

Auchtergaven church in Bankfoot, Perthshire, was destroyed by fire yesterday.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 7:27 PM

Former Church of Scotland moderator the Reverend John Miller, a friend of the family, urged the High Court in Edinburgh to show mercy to William McFarlane, 27, who pled guilty to killing his brother George, 28, at their mother's home in Castlemilk, Glasgow, last year.
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 7:23 PM

Obituary of Pastor John T A (Jack) Glass, who first rose to national prominence when he travelled to Rome in March 1966 with Ian Paisley to protest at Dr Michael Ramsey, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, meeting the Pope.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 7:17 PM

Pastor Jack Glass, who died on Tuesday of cancer, claimed recently he had "defeated" the disease, which "Satan" visited upon him.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 7:12 PM

Obituary of Pastor Jack Glass by the Rev Ron Ferguson.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 7:07 PM

Pastor Jack Glass, founder of the Zion Baptist Church and described by another churchman as someone "who never learned that no human being is absolutely right", died on Tuesday night at his home in Killearn, near Glasgow.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 7:06 PM

The presence of a Polish church in Partick, Glasgow, should be used to help attract eastern European workers to Scotland, says The Scotsman. [The paper is referring to the celebration of the Mass in Polish at St Simon's church in Partick since World War II.]
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 3:45 PM

One of Scotland's most controversial religious figures, Pastor Jack Glass, has died at the age of 67. The founder of the Zion Baptist Church in the south side of Glasgow had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 3:25 PM

A new mixed-faith schools campus is to be built in Midlothian as part of a £50 million private finance deal announced today. Loanhead Primary and St Margaret’s RC Primary are to be brought together on a shared site under proposals to revamp schools across Midlothian.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 3:19 PM

Dumfries and Galloway's only Catholic secondary school is proving so popular for non-Catholics pupils that education officials have been forced to limit their intake. Of the 647 pupils on the roll at St Joseph's College in Dumfries, about 70% are non-denominational – sent there rather than to their designated schools as a result of parents' successful placing requests.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 3:13 PM

Visually impaired guests were today given a red carpet tour of Glasgow Cathedral and the neighbouring St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art. The tour was organised to celebrate International Tourist Guide Day.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 4:30 PM

A £5 million Sikh temple is planned on land beside the Tramway Theatre in Glasgow. The gold-domed building will be used by up to 500 worshippers if the plan is approved by city councillors tomorrow. A new adjoining community centre will be available to all sectors of the community. Last August, Glasgow City Council gave the go-ahead for a £10m domed Gurdwara, or temple, in Berkeley Street, which can hold 1500 people. There are about 10,000 Sikhs in Scotland, most of them living in Glasgow.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 5:39 PM

The Catholic Church last night attacked calls by a group of Labour MPs for faith schools to be abolished in Scotland, saying it bordered on anti-Catholic bigotry. In particular, it criticised comments made by Dr Lewis Moonie, the MP for Kirkcaldy, and Martin O’Neill, the chairman of the Commons trade and industry committee, who said faith schools promote sectarianism and should not be funded by the state. John Oates, a former Scottish Catholic Education Commission national field officer, said: "Opinion without evidence is prejudice."
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 5:26 PM

In the face of dwindling congregations and the perceived failure of religious groups to attract young people, the success of St Paul’s and St George’s is astonishing. The Episcopal church in York Place, Edinburgh, is drawing up expansion plans to cope with its growing membership, bucking a nationwide trend of declining congregations. Known to its followers as "St P’s and St G’s", it has a steadily rising congregation of about 700. In 1985 it was below 20. The success reflects the growth in popularity of Episcopal churches in Scotland and is in stark contrast to the Church of Scotland, which has warned it may cease to exist in 30 years if numbers continue to fall.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 5:23 PM

The best way to enhance the standing of local councillors is to cull them, says The Observer, focusing on Edinburgh. "On the Labour benches, the Education leader Ewan Aitken was equally odd. Given that he is a Church of Scotland minister, he could be forgiven the ornate wooden cross he wore from a chain round his neck, and perhaps even tucking his jumper into his trousers. The earring of entwined hoops seemed beyond the pale, though. He'd better hope that St Peter overlooks matters of taste. "
Source: The Observer.
posted at 4:36 PM

Six Scottish Labour MPs have broken ranks with party policy to demand the abolition of Catholic schools, which they say are divisive and promote sectarianism. They include Calum MacDonald, former Scottish Office minister, Martin O’Neill, chairman of the Commons trade and industry committee, Ian Davidson, chairman of the Scottish Labour group of MPs, Malcolm Savidge, the Aberdeen North MP, and Frank Doran, MP for Aberdeen Central.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 4:32 PM

Feature on Pluscarden Abbey, an enclosed community of Roman Catholic Benedictine monks, whose monastery buildings are set in a beautiful Morayshire glen, six miles south-west of Elgin, and date from the 13th century.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 4:27 PM

Profile of the controversial Bishop Michael Ingham, head of the Vancouver-area Diocese of New Westminster in Canada, who attended Edinburgh University and trained for the priesthood in the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Source: Vancouver Sun.
posted at 10:31 PM

Retired missionary Mary Macdonald (Mairi Dhomhnaill Eoghainn), formerly of Paiblesgarry, North Uist, has died at the age of 104.
Source: Stornoway Gazette.
posted at 10:47 PM

British organists have a snob value, and are being appointed to church positions in the United States at the expense of native talent and the advancement of the American repertoire, suggests the president of the American Guild of Organists, Frederick Swann.
Source: Church Times.
posted at 10:18 PM

Faith groups and aid agencies joined the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and the Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn, for a conference about international poverty, “Making Development Work for All”, on Monday.
Source: Church Times.
posted at 10:14 PM

Bank-robbing gangster Ian 'Blink' McDonald gets out of jail on day release to help the Salvation Army serve meals to OAPs and do furniture deliveries in Dundee. The 42-year-old, once sentenced to 16 years for a bank robbery in which a woman was shot in the head, is hopeful of winning his freedom within a few weeks.
Source: Daily Record.
posted at 10:08 PM

In the March issue of the Church of Scotland magazine Life & Work, Lorna Hill speaks to former Moderator, the Very Rev Dr Finlay Macdonald, about his visit to Burma where brutal and shocking conditions have been imposed on the lives of millions. Mark Greene, executive director of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity and a former advertising executive, explains why he believes Christians should be actively encouraged to make a difference in their workplace. And Rev Alistair McGregor graphically describes the reality of daily life in the Holy Land for Palestinians.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 11:45 PM

Last night, Dr Donald Bruce, of the Church of Scotland's Religion, Society and Technology Project, hit out at the prospect of cloning babies. Professor Ian Wilmut, head of the Roslin Institute, wants permission to clone human stem cells. He said: 'I do envisage producing cloned babies would be desirable under certain circumstances such as preventing genetic disease.'
Source: Daily Record.
posted at 11:39 PM

A descendant of David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary, is to return to Africa to make peace with tribes who slaughtered her grandfather, David's grandson, almost a century ago. Deirdre Livingstone, 48, the great-great grand-daughter of the famous Scot, has been fascinated by her grandfather's horrific murder during the vicious but little-known Chilembwe Rising in Malawi in 1915.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 11:30 PM

Bishop John Mone, President of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland, has written to Home Secretary David Blunkett asking for the Ay refugee family to be allowed to return to Britain from Germany, where they are awaiting deportation to Turkey.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 12:08 PM

Three sisters married yesterday in what is thought to be the first wedding of its kind in Scotland. Canon Basil O'Sullivan, a family friend, married Irish girls Martina, Colette and Philippa Scallan to their English fiances, Patrick Harrison, Stephen Pearce and Nigel Mottram, at the Holy Family Church in Dunblane.
Source: Daily Record.
posted at 12:04 PM

An Aberdeen clergyman is in the running to become the new Episcopalian Bishop of Argyll and the Isles. Canon Alexander Emsley Nimmo, of St Andrew's Cathedral, is on a shortlist of four. The service of consecration and installation of the new bishop is provisionally planned for June 8, in St John the Divine Cathedral, Oban.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 12:02 PM

Church leaders have welcomed a £10,000 bird-proofing scheme to tackle noisy birds which have been disrupting funeral services at Hazlehead Crematorium in Aberdeen. A council spokesman said "Oyster catchers were causing a noise nuisance walking on the roof of the chapel buildings and pecking on glass windows."
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 12:00 PM

An ancient building with original mud and straw walls at Logie, on the outskirts of Montrose, is creating a national stir among historians. It may be too late to save the 300-year-old B-listed former Logie United Free church. Its wattle and daub walls made of dried clay bound with pebbles and straw are now mostly covered over in harling and brick, and a roof would once have been thatched.
Source: Dundee Courier.
posted at 11:53 AM

Cardinal Keith O'Brien is to be awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by Edinburgh University.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 7:18 PM

Just days after fresh controversy reared up at Scotland’s first mixed-faith secondary school campus, the Catholic Church has given its blessing to a plan for a similar school complex in Edinburgh. Church leaders say reports over several months of trouble from Dalkeith Schools Community Campus, in Midlothian, will not stand in the way of the plan to put Forrester and St Augustine’s in new buildings on a single site.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 7:10 PM

Four candidates have been short-listed for the post of Bishop of Argyll & The Isles within the Scottish Episcopal Church. They are the Very Revd Richard Fenwick, Dean of Monmouth; Canon Martin Shaw, Residentiary Canon of the Cathedral of St Edmundsbury, Bury St Edmunds; Canon Philip Noble, Rector of St Ninian's, Prestwick; and Canon Emsley Nimmo, Rector of St Margaret's, Aberdeen.
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.
posted at 10:16 PM

The February edition of Baptist Union of Scotland News is now available online.
posted at 10:08 PM

An English widow has honoured the memory of her gun-loving husband by having his ashes loaded into cartridges for use by his close friends in the last shoot of the season on an estate in Aberdeenshire. Alistair Donald, the Church of Scotland minister from the nearby village of New Deer, who blessed the cartridges, said he had no qualms. "It was a perfectly normal scattering of ashes, a few words and prayers. After all, he had a lifelong interest in ballistics," he said. According to the widow, the special cartridges accounted for 70 partridges, 23 pheasants, seven ducks and a fox on January 31.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
posted at 9:56 PM

In a new bid to protect children, Church of Scotland ministers and elders are to be asked to confess to any sex crimes they have committed. Letters have been sent to all 1,200 Church of Scotland clergy and senior lay members ordering them to detail any sex offences, including spent convictions and unproven charges. Presbyteries will continue to have the final say as to whether offenders should be expelled or allowed to carry on in their posts.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 9:42 PM

Church leaders have condemned Edinburgh University for banning prayers at graduation ceremonies amid fears they may cause offence and spark legal actions. Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Scottish Catholic Church, said: "More than 600,000 Scots attend church every week. We consider Scotland to be a Christian country."
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 9:39 PM

The University of Edinburgh has scrapped the centuries-old tradition of holding prayers at its graduation ceremonies in favour of a secular ‘reflection’ period following fears that continuing Christian prayers would offend atheists and those from other faiths. The move was widely opposed by church groups, and more than half of the university’s 14 chaplains and honorary chaplains, including those from Jewish, Muslim and different Christian faiths, challenged the decision.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 6:46 PM

Children should learn about atheism in RE lessons as part of moves to make the subject more relevant to the modern world, a think-tank with close ties to New Labour said last night.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 6:39 PM

The number of humanist funeral ceremonies taking place in Scotland has risen seven-fold in the past five years. Ivan Middleton, secretary of the Humanist Society of Scotland, said: “People want something different. They want to celebrate someone’s life instead of mourning their death, and that’s where we come in.” Brian Kearney, a spokesman for the Catholic Church said: “Many people find that the Church can provide great solace for them at times of loss and often come back to us.” A spokesman for the Church of Scotland said: “It seems to us the requirement for church funerals is as great as ever."
Source: Sunday Herald.
posted at 6:29 PM

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, primate of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland, who received his cardinal’s hat in Rome last year, is to receive an honorary degree from Edinburgh University.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 9:05 PM

Hazel Falconer, 23, completed a 12-hour non-stop stint playing the organ in St Leonard's Church, Forres. She hopes that her organ-playing marathon will have raised several hundred pounds for the international Leprosy Mission.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 9:02 PM

Two national obsessions are to be brought together when the latest bizarre craze from the United States hits Edinburgh. Combining exercise and window shopping, mall walking is being targeted at office workers, elderly people, shop staff and people with health problems. The project is the brainchild of Leith Churches Together, an organisation which represents 13 churches in the port.
posted at 11:36 PM

As the House of Commons prepares to debate the new Gender Recognition Bill, the Evangelical Alliance UK is calling on people concerned about the implications of the Bill to write to their MPs and to the Prime Minister. "While we are supportive of the human rights of transsexual people, we are deeply concerned that this Bill does not do enough to recognise the rights of many others who will be affected by it," said the Alliance's public affairs manager, Dr Don Horrocks.
Source: Evangelical Alliance news release.
posted at 11:24 PM

When members of Dunfermline United Reformed Church in Dunfermline turned up for service on Sunday they found vandals had stolen valuables, smashed several doors and ripped out the church’s recently upgraded sound system. The break-in was the second such incident at the church in the past six months, and the Rev Janet Adamson said she would “place bets” on it happening again.
Source: icDumfries - Dunfermline Press.
posted at 11:16 PM

Charity worker Margaret Ann McShane swapped her office desk for a life-saving African adventure. A member of staff at the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), she has recently returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo where she helped organise a workshop on HIV/AIDS.
Source: icLanarkshire - Rutherglen Reformer.
posted at 10:54 PM

A grant of £45,000 has been awarded to the congregation of Holy Trinity Church, Haddington, by East Lothian Council to help them reach their target of £250,000 needed to redevelop their church hall as a community centre, to be known as The Trinity Centre.
Source: East Lothian Courier.
posted at 10:46 PM

The new minister of the linked parish of Gladsmuir with Longniddry is Rev Dr Robin Hill, 39, a former editor of the Church of Scotland magazine ‘Life and Work’ who has a degree in international law and a PhD in international relations, and undertook a postdoctoral project on terrorism.
Source: East Lothian Courier.
posted at 10:45 PM

A bellringer had to be rescued from the tower of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh after slipping on the stairs.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 9:07 PM

Scotland's first mixed-faith secondary school campus has been hit by fresh controversy following news that the headteacher of the Catholic school at the complex was ordered to take down religious artefacts. The Scottish Catholic Observer reports that Mrs Marion Docherty was ordered to take down a crucifix, a picture of the Pope on a visit to nearby Rosewell, and two ecclesiastical 'zucchettos' - small round skullcaps worn by clerics. The items were on display in a corridor where Dalkeith High and St David’s have responsibility for decorating one wall each.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 9:05 PM

An Aberdeen minister living and working in Israel is to return to the north-east to speak to parishioners about life in the Middle East. Local churches will welcome the Rev Clarence Musgrave and his wife Joan to the city when they return later this month from Jerusalem, where Mr Musgrave is minister of St Andrew's Church.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 9:03 PM

Catholic Church leaders have conceded the principle of allowing Catholic children to share certain mainstream classes with non-denominational pupils in a deal which would create the first Catholic secondary school in Bearsden and Milngavie.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 8:52 PM

The Roman Catholic Church has retained its hardline stance over the destruction of embryos, describing it as "murder" and suggesting that the use of adult stem cells in research was more ethically sound. The Church of Scotland, however, was not as steadfast yesterday. Dr Donald Bruce, the director of its society, religion and technology project, said: "We are in favour of cloned embryos, but that is not to say that we are enthusiastic about it. It is a case of, if you have to, okay. We recognise that we have a divided church on this issue."
Source: The Herald.
posted at 8:51 PM

The cloning of human embryos by South Korean scientists raises widespread concern for the abuse of the science, says Dr Donald Bruce, director of Society Religion and Technology (SRT) Project of the Church of Scotland. Dr Bruce is attending this weekend's meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Seattle where the results will be presented formally. "Despite the claims being made, therapeutic cloning seems unlikely ever to become a clinical reality," he said.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 6:51 PM

Obituary of Elspeth Elder, teacher and missionary in Ghana; born 29 September 1903, died 18 January 2004, aged 100.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 12:37 PM

The new national convener of the Church of Scotland Guild will be Elspeth Dale from Tarbolton in Ayrshire, an elder of Laigh West High Kirk. She will take up post after this year's General Assembly in May along with her vice-convener, Norah Summers from Falkirk, an elder at Falkirk Old and St Modan's with a keen interest in ecumenical matters.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 11:33 PM

Instead of providing an international arts venue in Aberdeen, the Salvation Army has decided to refurbish its historic Citadel for use by business and community groups.
Source: Aberdeen Evening Express.
posted at 4:29 PM

Tourism chiefs are planning ''an early Christian super highway for tourism'' spanning the 35 miles separating the town of Downpatrick in Northern Ireland from Whithorn, in Scotland. Both towns are often described as the ''cradle of Christianity''.
Source: icNorthern Ireland.
posted at 1:11 PM

Controversy over sexuality gives the Church an opportunity to set an example to the world as to how debate on matters involving deep disagreement and sincerely held conviction could be conducted. So says the College of Bishops in the Scottish Episcopal Church, commenting on responses to a study guide on human sexuality. On events which threaten to split the Anglican Communion, the bishops believe that differences over matters concerning sexuality are "second-order" disagreements, which should be capable of being handled within the life of the Communion, and are not ones that should cause a major fracture in it.
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.
posted at 1:04 PM

The Rev Canon Kevin Pearson has been appointed Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church, succeeding the Very Rev Jim Mein, who retired in January.
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.
posted at 12:48 PM

Professor Kathleen Marshall of Glasgow University has been named Scotland's first children's champion and will take up her £72,000-a-year post as Children's Commissioner in April. Professor Marshall is the author of 'Honouring Children: The human rights of the child in Christian perspective'. The book will be launched at a conference in Edinburgh on March 16-17.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 10:46 PM

Court Circular, February 9: The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh were represented by the Very Reverend Professor Robert Barbour (Extra Chaplain to The Queen in Scotland) at the Funeral of the Reverend Colin Forrester-Paton (formerly Extra Chaplain to The Queen in Scotland), which was held at Leckie Memorial Church, Peebles, Tweedale.
Source: The Times.
posted at 2:50 PM

Donald MacKay, Midlothian's director of education, has explained why Cardinal Keith O'Brien wasn't asked to give a blessing at the formal opening of the joint school campus in Dalkeith. "Pupils attending the three schools on the campus are from many different religions or non- secular backgrounds, so it was not felt appropriate to include a blessing by one religious representative," he said. "Cardinal O'Brien had previously blessed the new St David's school when he celebrated Mass at the end of last year."
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 12:21 PM

Scotland's 200-year-old Jewish population is shrinking. From a 1940s community of an estimated 17,000, the number of Jewish people has dropped by two-thirds to between 5000 and 6000, with the majority living in Glasgow, and around 1000 people in Edinburgh and smaller groups scattered around the country. The birth rate has plummeted and the older generation outweighs the young.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 12:17 PM

Full text of the statement from Cardinal Keith O’Brien on the opening of the Dalkeith shared campus.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 12:05 PM

The 69-bedroom Tiberias residential centre, located by the Sea of Galilee in Israel, is to reopen in May after five years of refurbishment and redevelopment. The centre is run by the Church of Scotland's Board of World Mission.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 12:03 PM

The Right Rev Professor Iain Torrance, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, has written to Monsieur Michel Roche, Consul General of France, to protest about the French Government's moves to ban the display of religious markers in schools and to regulate their use in the workplace.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 12:00 PM

The official opening of Scotland’s first mixed-faith campus for children at secondary school yesterday was marred by a diplomatic incident over the absence of any input to the ceremony from one of the most senior international figures in the Catholic Church. Cardinal Keith O’Brien was at the opening ceremony of the £33 million scheme in Dalkeith, in Midlothian, but was not invited by the local authority to make a formal speech.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 11:06 AM

The BBC has received "thousands" of complaints about controversial cartoon Popetown from viewers angry at the portrayal of a "corrupt" Roman Catholic church. The row over the series - estimated to be costing £2.5 million - was reignited today after human rights campaigner James Mawdsley vowed to boycott the licence fee and risk going to jail over the show. His case was highlighted on the Today programme this morning after Catholic commentator Clifford Longley accused the BBC of trying to incite ill-feeling towards the 6 million Catholics in the country.
Source: The Guardian.
posted at 7:46 PM

First Minister Jack McConnell today officially opened Dalkeith Schools Community Campus, and paid tribute to the values and attitudes of young Scots. He said: "Councillors, officials, teachers and parents must help future generations to develop the values that will help create a more civilised Scotland. A modern country, celebrating diversity, where old attitudes have been dumped in the dustbin of history." [That's enough vacuous drivel. Ed.]
Source: Scottish Executive news release.
posted at 5:48 PM

Scotland's first shared campus between a Roman Catholic and non-denominational secondary school has been opened officially]. First Minister Jack McConnell was joined by Cardinal Keith O'Brien and the Very Reverend Dr John Cairns, former moderator of the Church of Scotland for the ceremony at St David's Roman Catholic High School and Dalkeith High in Midlothian.
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 3:43 PM

The millionaire winner of a popular television reality show is giving up a life of luxury to work with orphans in India. Jonny Gibb, who won in the reality show 'Survivor', is joining a Scots-led project which is working to improve the lives of 250 children in India, some of whom have AIDS. He will work at the Scottish Love in Action school at Tuni that was set up in 1999 following a youth group visit to the area by Greenbank Parish Church in Edinburgh.
Source: New Kerela.com.
posted at 12:33 PM

The minister of St Andrew's High Church in Musselburgh, East Lothian, who was placed on the sex offenders register after admitting an assault on a 14 year old boy, is still living in his manse eight months after being suspended indefinitely by a presbyterial commission. Some church members are convinced moves are afoot to bring Ian Andrew, 39, back to the fold. One, who did not want to be named, said: "There is something dodgy going on here. It doesn't seem there's any rush to get a replacement and people are beginning to get suspicious that senior members of the kirk are leaving the door open for him to come back." Others believe he should be given a second chance and allowed to return to the pulpit. One said: "The Church has been far too harsh on a good man who made one silly mistake. Most people at St Andrew's would have him back tomorrow."
posted at 12:28 PM

Newmachar Church in Aberdeenshire is launching a final appeal for relatives, as plans for the exhumation from ancient graves to make way for a modern extension move forward. Only a few graves, dating from about 1790 when the present church was erected, will be disturbed. The minister said any remains found would be reverently removed and reinterred in a service at a nearby spot in the historic churchyard.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 12:22 PM

The Catholic church’s leaders have a right to express an opinion on pertinent matters, says the Sunday Times. But who is going to listen if they sound like latter-day Torquemadas, stirring up bitterness and division when they should be spreading peace and harmony? When the church demands fairness it must be fair, too. If it wants to repair its reputation, it should lay off the BBC and start healing itself. Conti and Devine, battle-ready and on the warpath, should first confront the enemy within.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 9:13 PM

A playground ‘peacekeeper’ is to be appointed at a Scottish mixed denomination campus which has been affected by pupil violence. Midlothian council leaders are hiring an educational specialist in an attempt to tackle increasing friction at the Dalkeith campus that is home to both Catholic and non-denominational secondary schools.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 9:07 PM

Profile of Cardinal Keith O'Brien.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 9:03 PM

The leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, concedes that the country’s 344 Catholic primary and 59 secondary schools rely solely on the backing of parents. "If the Catholic community said one day, ‘Look, we would rather integrate’, then fine," he said. "It is in the hands of the Catholic community; it’s not bishops laying down the law, it’s the people."
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 8:59 PM

The youth worker of Rutherglen Baptist Community Church, Tim Lessels, has died aged 24. Tim was heavily involved in community groups and worked with the church for five years after moving from Lossiemouth. He was lead guitarist of the group Poor Old Ben, and also taught guitar to local kids. An internet book of condolence has been opened on the Poor Old Ben website at www.pooroldben.org.
Source: icLanarkshire - Rutherglen Reformer.
posted at 10:52 PM

Rev Andrew Dick of St Michael’s Inveresk Church has been given leave by Lothian Presbytery to apply for repair grants after threatening to resign.
Source: East Lothian Courier.
posted at 8:31 PM

The new youth café and community centre in Burntisland High Street is to be called the 'Solid Rock Café'. After several months of planning, Burntisland Parish Church took possession of the building at the beginning of the year and it is hoped it will open for business in March.
Source: Fife Now.
posted at 8:25 PM

The World Youth Cross - the religious equivalent of the Olympic torch - is coming to Scotland for the first time in its 20-year-history. It will be on view at a special Mass at St Charles' Church in Union Street, Paisley.
Source: icRenfrewshire - Paisley Daily Express.
posted at 8:12 PM

A new move to fill the continuing vacancy for a minister in Upper Donside will be discussed at a congregational meeting this month. The huge rural area between Lumsden and the Lecht has been vacant since last autumn when the Rev Richard Darroch moved to a new post in West Lothian, following four years at Lumsden.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 6:39 PM

Millionaire Survivor winner Jonny Gibb is turning his back on a life of luxury to work with orphaned children in India. He flies out next week to spend the next few months working at the Scottish Love in Action school in Tuni, which was set up in 1999 following a youth group expedition to the area by Greenbank Parish Church in Edinburgh.
Source: Daily Record.
posted at 4:21 PM

The controller of BBC Scotland last night mounted a spirited defence of the corporation's coverage of the Catholic Church in the face of criticism by the Archbishop of Glasgow. John McCormick dismissed Archbishop Mario Conti's attack on the corporation as "unfounded and unjustifiable", and cited support from the Scottish Religious Advisory Committee.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 4:16 PM

Thirty Church of Scotland ministers attending a seminar were among those evacuated when fire broke out at the Dunblane Hilton hotel in Stirlingshire.
Source: PA News/The Scotsman.
posted at 11:06 AM

The centuries-old tradition of prayers at Edinburgh University graduations could be scrapped by students and academics in favour of a more inclusive approach. Other universities have signalled they may follow suit but the Kirk insisted that Christian prayers did not necessarily exclude people of other faiths.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 10:48 AM

The February edition of the Free Church of Scotland's Monthly Record is now online.
posted at 6:57 PM

An Aberdeen minister has been appointed chaplain of the city's prison - more than a year after the last man to hold the position left the job. The Rev Louis Kinsey, a Church of Scotland minister with a parish in the Bridge of Don, will serve as a part-time pastor to inmates in HMP Aberdeen. Last night a spokesman for the Presbytery of Aberdeen admitted the failure to fill the post before now had troubled the local church.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 2:53 PM

Obituary of religious broadcasting executive and former Iona Community industrial secretary Penry Jones; born 18 August 1922, died 25 January 2004, aged 81.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 2:46 PM

The Catholic Church has taken the unprecedented step of withdrawing its co-operation from one of the BBC's flagship news programmes, Newsnight Scotland. Archbishop Conti said last night he bore no grudge against the BBC, but asked how accountable it was to those who funded it. "Too often the response to constructive criticism is rebuttal rather than reflection."
Source: The Herald.
posted at 2:31 PM

A prisoner got Scottish jail chiefs in a flap after complaining about being asked for his Christian name as he wasn't a Christian. The inmate at Saughton jail in Edinburgh, thought to be Jewish, created the political correctness bother while filling out a form.
Source: Daily Record.
posted at 4:30 PM

The Church of Scotland’s Edinburgh presbytery agreed by an overwhelming majority to urge MSPs to support Margo MacDonald’s bill allowing councils to set up tolerance zones for prostitutes. A report warned that rejecting the zones would leave prostitutes at increased risk of violence. It said that while the church moralised, women faced the danger of assault, rape and murder. The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland and other religious groups have taken a stand against tolerance zones. And Bill Combe, an elder from Bristo Memorial Church, Craigmillar, said he feared the presbytery was sending the message that the church supported prostitution.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 4:22 PM

Moves by the prison service to curb sectarian violence through education have been praised by MSPs following a visit to Polmont Young Offenders' Institute in Falkirk.
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 4:08 PM

Criticism of the BBC by Archbishop Mario Conti was described by National Secular Society vice-president Terry Sanderson as "a blatant attempt to stop the BBC examining the church's activities in a critical manner." He added: "To try to blackmail the corporation into ceasing any investigation into the church is to directly threaten its journalist integrity. It is also a demonstration of disgraceful opportunism, to try to push this demand at a time when the BBC is reeling from the Hutton Report."
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 4:07 PM

The Church has been urged to rediscover its relationship with the art world as a new exhibition of contemporary images of Jesus was launched yesterday. 'Presence – Images of Christ for the Third Millennium' features work by artists such as Tracey Emin and Bill Viola, and includes an exhibition at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, which will be displaying Peter Howson's 14 Stations of the Cross and two large new paintings of the crucifixion by the same artist.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 4:03 PM

THE Archbishop of Glasgow today accuses the BBC of encouraging "a tabloid culture", in which it has been guilty of "gross insensitivity" to the Catholic church. In a letter to The Herald, the Archbishop Mario Conti singles out four examples of BBC insensitivity to the church.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 3:59 PM

Obituary of Penry Jones, the former industrial secretary of the Iona Community who went on to shape early religious broadcasting on independent television; born August 18, 1922, died January 25, 2004.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 8:44 PM

Plans to open Scotland's first topless barber shop have led to a furious row, with the deputy justice minister and a Kirk minister among those denouncing the plans as shear madness. The Rev Tom Cant, of the Laigh Kirk in Paisley, said that even if the company did not need permission to open the shop, it should still consider its moral obligations. "These plans really do beggar belief and this company is just lurching from one sordid venture to another. I believe this venture would be degrading to both women and men and there is no place for this shop."
Source: The Herald.
posted at 8:29 PM

Church of Scotland ministers will be urged tonight to give their blessing to tolerance zones for prostitutes. The call to Edinburgh Presbytery to back proposed legislation allowing councils to designate areas where soliciting would be legal has come from within their own ranks. A report drawn up by ministers in Edinburgh says the Kirk should recognise the tolerance zones would protect prostitutes from violence.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 8:26 PM

Rev Eric Cramb, the Church of Scotland's convener of ecumenical relations, will urge the World Alliance of Reformed Churches' forum to establish better contacts with other world communions, interfaith and social movements when it meets in St Alban's later this month.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 8:20 PM

The Church of Scotland in Edinburgh is set to give its blessing to Margo MacDonald’s Bill for prostitution tolerance zones. Ministers and elders in the Capital will be asked at a meeting tomorrow night to back a report which warns against "moralising" about sex for sale while women’s safety is at stake. The report to the Kirk’s Edinburgh presbytery describes prostitution as "contrary to human dignity" but concludes Ms MacDonald’s Bill offers the "most realistic" way to deal with the issue.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 3:50 PM

Shadow puppets, Bible stories, candlelight, prayer and song featured in a thanksgiving service for the Archie Foundation and the new Aberdeen children's hospital last night. The Candlemass service, presided over by the Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, the Most Rev Bruce Cameron, was held at St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 3:39 PM

One of Scotland’s leading Roman Catholics has compared critics of separate faith schools with Islamic extremists and communists. Joseph Devine, the Bishop of Motherwell, says in a Sunday Times article that those who opposed denominational education would find support for their views in countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and China.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 8:37 PM

The most recent Scottish Social Attitudes survey reveals that more than half would be concerned if a family member married a Muslim. The survey of 1,500 Scots also found that one in three felt that Muslims living in Scotland were depriving Scots of jobs, homes and healthcare provision. It also found that Pakistanis and English people living in Scotland felt “surrounded by nationalist distrust”.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 8:35 PM