AID agencies across Scotland have united to join a new global fight against poverty. Oxfam, SCIAF and Christian Aid are among the charities that have launched the Global Call to Action Against Poverty Scotland.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

A knifeman has admitted raiding a coffee morning at Hilton High Church in Aberdeen earlier this year. Sentence on George Durkin was deferred at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Archbishop Mario Conti today joined marchers taking part in the Long Walk for Peace from Faslane to the Scottish Parliament.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.

"These are aggressively secular times but I don't see why Christians should keep quiet on vexed issues of social and public policy, and on current political conflicts," writes Harry Reid.
Source: The Herald.

Controversial plans to allow gay and unmarried couples to adopt children were backed by MSPs yesterday. Joseph Devine, the Bishop of Motherwell, said the Catholic Church will fight on. He said: "The result is very worrying, especially for children who will be caught up in these disturbing adoption processes. But there are another two stages of the bill yet to go through Parliament, so this file is far from closed. The Church is not going to stay quiet." Dr Gordon Macdonald, parliamentary officer for Christian group Care, said his organisation was also against the changes.
Source: The Scotsman.

A cross-country protest march against replacing the Trident nuclear weapon system has got under way. Up to 100 campaigners, including senior church officials and peace campaigners, set off from Faslane Naval Base in Argyll and Bute on Thursday.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Old churches, offices and hospital sites are being targeted in a new drive to tackle the city's affordable housing crisis. The city council is hoping to strike deals with some of Edinburgh's biggest employers to snap up land they no longer need in order to build thousands of homes for those priced out of the city's housing market. Alastair Cameron, chief executive of Scottish Churches Housing Action, said his organisation was in talks to convert a number of city churches following the success of Duke Street United Reformed Church, which is being rebuilt to make way for 22 new flats with a church underneath.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

The Moderator of the General Assembly, the Right Rev Alan McDonald, is set to embark on Scotland’s Long Walk for Peace, part of a campaign against replacement of the UK’s Trident missile defence system. The walk will set out from the North Gate at Faslane at 9am on Thursday 14 September and will make its way across Scotland, finishing outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on Tuesday 19 September with a rally addressed by figures from the worlds of music, politics and Scotland’s faith communities.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Two Church of Scotland ministers who quit their parishes to take up influential public posts have been given back their right to a say in Kirk decisions. City council leader the Rev Ewan Aitken and Chief Inspector of Prisons the Very Rev Dr Andrew McLellan had been barred from taking part in meetings of Edinburgh Presbytery or the Church of Scotland General Assembly because they were no longer working for the Church.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

A Catholic bishop deepened the rift between the Labour party and the Catholic Church yesterday by warning the party it was losing the support of large numbers of Catholic voters in Scotland. Bishop Philip Tartaglia, of Paisley, was also scathing about the standard of Labour candidates in his own town and the west of Scotland, adding: "They could field almost anyone and expect Catholics to vote for them because they always did in the past." However, he warned: "Catholics are tired of being bullied into accepting an intolerant new orthodoxy on issues such as homosexual unions while the family and marriage are constantly attacked by a very anti-family Labour party."
Source: The Scotsman.

The Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Greenock and Paisley today signed a covenant of mutual support and fellowship with the Presbytery of Zimbabwe of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. The ceremony follows an international appeal for support from the UPC which feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated in the current political climate in Zimbabwe.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

More anti-sectarian teaching tools for teachers and youth workers have been unveiled by the Scottish Executive. A DVD, 'Challenging Sectarianism: anti-sectarian education in practice', and a revamped website offer new sources of materials to be used in working with youngsters on "issues surrounding sectarianism".
Source: Scottish Executive news release.

The Catholic Church in Scotland is hoping that a legal challenge to the obligation of local councils to provide free transport for Catholic pupils attending schools north of the border will not see a repeat of the domino effect witnessed in England where a host of councils have axed free transport to faith schools. Last week Scottish Borders Council officials confirmed that they would be seeking a legal opinion on their obligation to provide transport for pupils attending the region's Catholic schools, citing concerns over the cost of providing long journeys. But the Church is confident that law will uphold the current situation. "Local Authorities are obliged to provide free transport irrespective of distance," said Director of the Scottish Catholic Media Office Peter Kearney.
Source: The Universe.

The leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics has welcomed Jack McConnell's decision to support calls for St Andrew's Day to be declared a national holiday. Cardinal Keith O'Brien said he was "delighted" by the move. Workers will not get an extra day off on November 30 to honour Scotland's patron saint. Instead, employers will be encouraged to swap an existing local bank holiday for one on St Andrew's Day.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Organisers hope up to 1000 people will join an anti-nuclear march to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh next week. The march is the culmination of an 85-mile hike from the Faslane naval base to Edinburgh by 50 protesters calling on politicians not to replace the base's Trident nuclear submarines. Cardinal Keith O'Brien, leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, is expected to address the crowds outside the Parliament, as is Bruce Kent, former chairman of the UK-wide Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Janet Fenton, co-ordinator at the Peace and Justice Resource Centre at St John's Episcopal Church, said there was to be a ceremonial foot washing at the church before the group set off down Princes Street.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Relations between the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and the Scottish Executive are claimed to be at a new low, with a bishop calling for back benchers to rebel over proposals to allow homosexuals to adopt. A letter from the Bishop of Motherwell, due to be arrive on MSPs' desks today, calls for a rebellion of Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs against the proposed legislation. The executive's apparent lack of interest in Bishop Devine was last night exemplified by its staff issuing a statement saying the Education Minister's door was open to "Cardinal O'Brien". A spokeswoman said the wrong name should be replaced by "the Catholic Church", as follows: "The Education Minister has made it clear to the Catholic Church that his door is open for any discussion the church wants to have."
Source: The Herald.

The most senior figures in the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland have "lost any confidence" in Jack McConnell and the Scottish Executive, according to sources within the Church. Bishop Joseph Devine is today writing to all MSPs to protest about the Scottish Executive's backing for a bill which would allow homosexuals to adopt. A source close to the Bishop of Motherwell said: "Mr McConnell's public claims of support of Christian ideals are dismissed as nothing more than political posturing serving only to protect his own narrow electoral interests."
Source: The Herald.

Scotland's faith leaders will meet Jack McConnell, the First Minister, today in a bid to forge stronger ties across religious communities and promote social justice. Among those attending the meeting in Edinburgh will be Cardinal Keith O'Brien, leader of the Scottish Catholic Church, and the Rt Rev Alan McDonald, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.Buddhist monks, imams, and rabbis will also be present.
Source: The Herald.

"Scotland is full of incredible women, and for over four decades the Evening Times has been celebrating their inspirational work. Our Scotswoman of the Year award is one of the most prestigious in Scotland and our roll call of honour down the years is a pretty impressive one. Tell us about the Scotswomen you know who inspire you and others with their courage and strength, women with passion and commitment, dedicated to righting wrongs and fighting for what they believe in ... From politicians to medical pioneers, from charity workers to community champions, our Scots-women of the Year have been ordinary women doing amazing things. We're not expecting to find a saint, although Maxie Richards (1994) comes close. She is still taking drug addicts into her Bearsden home to help them become drug-free."
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

Firefighters and police officers who died in the 9/11 attacks on New York have been remembered at a memorial service held at Old Cathcart Parish Church in Glasgow. It was attended by charity volunteers from Glasgow the Caring City. The group has provided holidays in Scotland to about 50 children who lost their fathers in the attack. A letter was read out from Barbara Mahon, the family liaison officer with the Port Authority Police, who said the children and their mothers were "forever grateful".
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Catholics are no longer discriminated against in the workplace, according to research that claims the sectarian divisions of the past are disappearing. A study by Lindsay Paterson, professor of education policy at Edinburgh University, finds that the socio-economic status of Catholics has risen, largely because of the success of denominational schools. He believes the strong ethical and moral code instilled in Catholic pupils has made them more ambitious and raised their educational attainment. Paterson and his colleague, Dr Cristina Iannelli, examined the class, education and employment records of more than 9,000 households.
Source: Sunday Times.

Monks at St Mary's Monastery, a B-listed sanctuary situated astride picturesque Kinnoull Hill overlooking Perth, want to build dozens of houses on a prime six-acre development to raise around £1.5 million to carry out repairs to their abbey, crypt and accommodation quarters. But the proposals have angered users of the woodland hill, which attracts around 2,000 people every week, including ramblers, dog walkers, mountain bikers, horse riders and sightseers.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

He may be little known in his own country but to thousands of Koreans he is hailed as the "father of the Bible". Scottish missionary and one-time Edinburgh minister John Ross, who died in 1915, became the first man to translate the New Testament into Korean. A memorial plaque has been sent to a church in Youngnak, Seoul, which has 50,000 worshippers, making it the biggest Presbyterian congregation in the world. The money was raised by Mayfield Salisbury Church in Newington, where Mr Ross became a church elder after retiring to Edinburgh in 1910.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Scotland's first full-time Christian radio station has been launched, ending a ten-year battle for a permanent place on the airwaves. Revival FM broadcasts a mix of music and talk as well as programmes such as Bible studies and Sunday church services from its purpose-built £80,000 studio. Backers predicted that up to 85,000 people each month will tune in. Based in Cumbernauld, the station can be heard at 100.8FM in an area including much of Glasgow, and stretching west to Paisley, north to Falkirk and east to Linlithgow. Religious leaders welcomed the launch and said there was an "untapped market" for Christian broadcasting. Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: "At the moment, the Christian perspective on many major issues is either ignored or marginalised by the media. Compared to the amount of time dedicated to football, it begs the question of why we don't have a dozen Christian radio stations." Morag Mylne, convener of the Church of Scotland's church and society council, added: "I don't necessarily see it as a mechanism for getting people back into church but it may get people thinking about living a Christian life."
Source: The Scotsman.

Scotland now has its first full-time Christian radio station. Revival FM has been broadcasting on a part-time license for ten years in Scotland, but that temporary license was good for up to only two months every year. But as of Sunday September 3, the station is broadcasting full time on a five-year community license in the central Scotland areas of North Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire. Listeners can also tap into the broadcasts online at Revival.FM.
Source: WDC Media, Los Angeles.

This year's reflections for Advent have been published by Action of Churches Together in Scotland. Prepared by Rev Stephen Brown of Fraserburgh United Reformed Church, they include a hymn based on hymn, after Robert Burns’ song Scots Wha Hae.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS).

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has released a list of organisations scheduled for removal from its register in September. The 641 charities on the list - which include several churches and Christian organisations - have failed to respond to the Regulator's considerable efforts to make contact and have until 21st September to ask OSCR to review its decision.
Source: Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

The results of an audit of ecumenical activity in Paisley, Inverness and St Andrews have been released by Action of Churches Together in Scotland. The brief for researcher Mairi Munro was to identify current insights, opportunities and needs on the "ecumenical journey".
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.

The Reel to Real Film Festival - claimed to be the UK's first Christian film festival - will be held in Motherwell in Scotland from 2-5 November.
Source: Inspire Magazine.

The future of the Church could be under threat unless biblical illiteracy among young people is not urgently addressed, a group of Christian evangelical agencies has warned. So the Evangelical Alliance has launched Essential, a project designed to engage young people with biblical truth. The Alliance has worked alongside Capital Youthworks, CPAS, CWR, Damaris Trust, GroundLevel, Ignite, Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, Scripture Union, Wesley Owen and Youth for Christ. Future developments being discussed include a DVD series, a residential conference and an online training academy for youth leaders.
Source: Evangelical Alliance news release.

This year’s Church of Scotland National Youth Assembly takes place in Dundee’s Apex City Quay Hotel from Friday 8 to Monday 11 September. Around 240 young adults aged from 16 to 25 will attend the event from all parts of Scotland.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Veteran churchgoer Jim Gunn has accused Caithness Presbytery of acting in a mercenary way over the impending closure of the 180-year-old church in his home village of Berriedale. The new set-up merges the former parishes of Berriedale, Dunbeath & Latheron and Lybster & Bruan into one. Presbytery clerk James Houston said the new arrangements had been arrived at after full consultation and votes taken by the respective congregational boards and kirk sessions.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Rocker Rod Stewart has made a £5000 donation towards the refurbishment of South Leith Parish Church in Edinburgh where his son was baptised in June.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Church Action on Poverty is calling upon churches to lead by example and pay their employees, lay or ordained, a living wage of at least £7.25 an hour in London and £6.80 an hour elsewhere in the UK from 1 October 2006. The Methodist Church, Church of Scotland, United Reformed Church and several Anglican and Catholic Church leaders have already signed up to the principle.
Source: Ekklesia.

The Catholic Church in Scotland has recommended that the Government stop pandering the growing culture of materialism after figures released by the Office for National Statistics indicated that between 1991 and 2004 the suicide rate among Scottish men was a staggering 50 percent higher than amongst the rest of the UK.
Source: The Universe.

A super-casino in Glasgow would lead to the creation of 2,500 jobs and attract more than half a million visitors each year, Glasgow City Council claimed at a meeting of the Casino Advisory Panel. But Major Ivor Telfer, West Scotland divisional commander of the Salvation Army, said: "The casino's very presence may contribute to the normalisation of gambling as a safe leisure activity in the minds of young people." He added: "We would urge the Casino Advisory Panel to select the local authority which demonstrates the most serious commitment to social responsibility and is proposing a venue which is likely to incur the least harm to the community."
Source: BBC Scotland News.

The Vatican has backed Scotland's Catholic Bishops' opposition to the Trident missile system and its possible replacement. In a letter to Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, endorsed the Bishops' April 2006 declaration which urged " the Government of the United Kingdom not to invest in a replacement for the Trident system".
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.

Police have appealed for information after a ceremonial ring worn by moderators of the Church of Scotland general assembly was reported missing. The moderator, Rt Rev Alan McDonald, reported it lost after he attended a Guild meeting in Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall on Saturday,
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Campaigners against nuclear weapons are preparing for a major escalation of their protests ahead of a decision on replacing Britain's nuclear deterrent. Daily blockades of Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Firth of Clyde are being planned for an entire year, in place of just two mass events in each of the past six years. Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien, leader of Scotland's Catholics, and the Rt Rev Alan McDonald, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, are also to take part in a peace march later this month, from the nuclear base to Holyrood. A new campaign, known as Faslane 365, is signing up groups from around Britain and abroad to take part in a rolling programme of sit-down protests, aimed at making it impossible to operate the Firth of Clyde base.
Source: The Herald.

A Kirk elder will tomorrow stand alone against plans for Scotland to host the UK's first supercasino. Grandad Ken Rolwegan, 70, will speak in front of the government's Casino Advisory Panel in Glasgow. Ken, of the city's Sandyford Henderson Memorial Church, said: "It's David versus Goliath."
Source: Sunday Mail.

Twelve of the personnel killed in yesterday's crash of an RAF Nimrod in Afghanistan were from 120 squadron, based at the quiet Scottish coastal town of Kinloss. Reverend Duncan Shaw, minister at the Church of Scotland's Kinloss and Findhorn Parish Church, said: "People are saddened by the loss and today in local churches people who have no connection have been expressing their loss and wanting to send their wishes."
Source: BBC Scotland News.

"I believe Strathclyde Fire and Rescue was wrong to require firefighters to take part in – support – a gay pride march earlier this summer," writes Archbishop Mario Conti. "And for the record, it needs to be stated that the men handed out leaflets in the vicinity of the march. What they would not do was participate, which in their eyes would have amounted to an acceptance and indeed celebration of the message of the parade – certainly not a core duty of firefighters. A comparison can be illuminating: effective fire-safety advice for members of the Orange Order would not be best delivered in the rarified atmosphere of a July 12 parade. No, it seems to me that the real reason for the order to participate was not to offer life-saving advice to the individuals present – it was to enable the brigade as an institution to be seen as tolerant, “embracing diversity” and politically correct. The firefighters were caught in the middle – ordered to support the march as a means of demonstrating their employer’s commitment to “tolerance”."
Source: Sunday Herald.

Webcams are to be installed in Scottish churches to allow relatives from around the world to log on to weddings, funerals and christenings. A pioneering scheme at Glasgow University Chapel has proved such a success that other Church of Scotland parishes are to install cameras in their buildings. The Rev Stuart McQuarrie, Glasgow University’s chaplain, said he had installed webcams in his chapel because of demand from former students who are now living abroad.
Source: Sunday Times.

The Church of Scotland is to seek compensation from the Israeli government for loss of revenue following the Lebanon conflict from a hotel it owns on the Sea of Galilee.
The Scots Hotel in Tiberias, recently named as Israel’s boutique hotel of the year, was forced to close for almost a month during the crisis earlier this summer, and was so close to the fighting that at one point the majority of the guests were journalists there to cover the war. Walter Dunlop, associate secretary for Israel and Palestine with the Kirk’s Board of World Mission, returned from a visit to the hotel on Friday. He said: "Business has recovered with the locals, but a lot of tour groups have cancelled."
Source: Sunday Herald.

A five day mission to spread the Christian message gets underway in Helensburgh later this month. Famous singer Helen Shapiro and former international footballer Brian Irvine are among those taking part in Living Hope, a joint venture by churches in Helensburgh and Loch Lomondside. Jim McLatchie, chairman of Living Hope, said: "So much of the Good News of the Christian message is seen as do’s and don’ts and church on a Sunday. Living Hope will demonstrate that real Christianity is much more than that and is very much relevant and useful for living in today’s harsh and difficult world. It is a message of living hope through knowing God’s love and forgiveness."
Source: Lennox Herald.

Three Easthouses residents who attend Destiny Church in Edinburgh are getting ready to carry out aid work in Serbia thanks to an award from Mayfield and Easthouses Grants Association. Catherine Crew, Maureen Reid and Catherine's 16-year-old daughter Dawn will travel with Christian organisation Oak Hall to spend 10 days working in an orphanage. They will also visit refugee camps in Belgrade.
Source: Midlothian Advertiser.

The Church of Scotland Guild will welcome around 2000 members its annual meeting in Glasgow this weekend, where the organisation's new strategy - Let’s Live: Body, Mind and Soul - will be launched.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Roman Catholic parishioners at the Sacred Heart Church in Torry have been told that their building faces closure because it is too expensive to refurbish. They would instead use a nearby Scottish Episcopal Church building for worship.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Six clients of the Moving On project, which supports disabled people in the workplace, are about to embark on the creation of a Remembrance garden at Brae Church of Scotland, the first project of this type they have carried out. Support worker Sonja Hansen thanked those involved in designing the project, including Rev Winnie Munson and Rev Bob McGregor.
Source: Shetland Times.

Nine firefighters who refused to offer safety advice to people attending a gay pride march have been disciplined. Strathclyde Fire and Rescue said all nine would undergo 'diversity training'. Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow said: "We have followed this case with concern. They were asked, while in uniform, to hand out leaflets during a demonstration where they had legitimate concerns about being the subject of taunts and jokes, and in which in some cases, their religious sensibilities would have been grossly offended by people dressed as priests and nuns lampooning the Church." He added: "That the officers concerned are being forced to undergo diversity training is alarming. The duty to obey one's conscience is a higher duty than that of obeying orders."
Source: BBC Scotland News.