A retired GP has proved that it is never too late to learn by graduating with a BA in Theology at the age of 83. Dr John Robertson of Rosemarkie, on the Black Isle, studied part-time two days a week at the Highland Theological College, Dingwall, for the past six years. He said yesterday that he was too old to be ordained as a Church of Scotland minister, but he would continue preaching occasionally as a "reader".
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

"Before lights out at the [Buckfast] abbey, there is just time for compline, the prayers at the end of the monks' working day, where they sing plainsong and psalms. As they file silently to bed along the once-more hushed corridors, their day is over. Somewhere in Scotland, an entirely different Buckfast night will just be beginning," writes Emma Cowing. "In the Lanarkshire town of Coatbridge - the heart of Scotland's 'Buckfast Triangle' and known to some as 'the Buckfast Capital' - the streets are littered with teenagers drinking Buckfast straight out of the bottle."
Source: The Scotsman.

The Scottish Executive's high-profile campaign against Buckfast is backfiring, critics warned last night, as every effort to demonise it turns the tonic wine into a "cult" drink among the young. Buckfast is particularly popular in west and central Scotland. The tonic wine is made by Benedictine monks at Buckfast Abbey in Devon and distributed, marketed and sold by J Chandler & Co. Turnover is about £30 million, while some of the revenue is donated to charity, little information is forthcoming about where the rest of the profits go.
Source: The Scotsman.

Father Benedict Seed, 73, who spent many years as a monk at Fort Augustus monastery yesterday celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination with his flock in Sutherland. Father Benedict is responsible parish covering around 3,000 square miles which is home to fewer than 200 Catholics. He conducts two services every Sunday - one in Brora and one in Dornoch.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

A series of events to mark the bicentenary of Marykirk Church culminated in a special thanksgiving service yesterday. There has been a church in the tiny Mearns village since 1242 with the existing church having been built in 1806.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Work has started on a £4.6million extension of Scotland's first and largest hospice. Reverend Alan McDonald, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, laid the first brick as builders moved in at St Margaret's Hospice in Clydebank, which is run by the Sisters of Charity.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

Scottish Baptists got together over the weekend for their annual assembly – the first to be joint hosted by the Baptist Union of Scotland (BUS) and BMS World Mission. Aids, injustice and human trafficking were just some of the topics discussed at the event, which ran under the theme of ‘World Service? Listening to the Global Church’.
Source: Christian Today.

The task of penning a prayer to the crew of the lost trawler Meridian fell to Ruth Warmer, 75, a retired teacher and faithful parishioner of St John's Episcopal Church in Pittenweem. Yesterday morning she stood at the altar, before a congregation whose bowed heads were illuminated by bright sunlight on stained glass...
Source: The Scotsman.

Review of the just-published How To Read The Bible by Richard Holloway, former Episcopalian Bishop of Edinburgh and chair of the Scottish Arts Council.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

Scotland's biggest council believes that a state-funded Islamic faith school would lead to the "social isolation" of young Scottish Muslims, a secret document has revealed. A group of Muslim parents have been lobbying for a state-funded Islamic school in Glasgow, similar in principle to Roman Catholic and Jewish schools. But in a document obtained under Freedom of Information legislation, senior officials at Glasgow City Council have told the head of the authority's education committee, Margaret McCafferty, that they have serious reservations about the plans. It refers to "serious concerns about an inclusive education for Muslims in the city beyond faith and the social isolation of Muslim children within the city". It added: "Why would we assume that a state-funded Muslim school would not see the same problems that the privately funded Iqra Academy in Glasgow experienced and was subsequently closed by Her Majesty's Inspectors of Education?"
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

Pope Benedict XVI yesterday issued a condemnation of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and instructed bishops to do whatever was necessary to prevent such offences. In rare comments about the sensitive issue, the religious leader said the church needed to establish the truth about abuses and ensure that “the principles of justice are fully respected”. “In the exercise of your pastoral ministry, you have had to respond in recent years to many heart-rending cases of sexual abuse of minors,” the pope told Irish bishops gathering at the Vatican. “The wounds caused by such acts run deep, and it is an urgent task to rebuild confidence and trust where these have been damaged.” In Scotland, the Catholic Church attempted to deal with the issue in 2001 when Archbishop Keith O’Brien, now a cardinal, issued an apology “to those who, over the years, have suffered any form of abuse at the hands of those representing the Catholic Church”.
Source: Sunday Herald.

A shocking new study has revealed the true extent of methadone programme failure in Scotland, with only a tiny proportion of addicts becoming drug-free through the heroin substitute.
Fewer than 4% of heroin addicts who are given methadone are drug-free less than three years after beginning treatment. Yet almost 30% of addicts who underwent treatment at a residential rehabilitation centre became drug-free over a similar period. Calum Murray, head of service for addictions with the Church of Scotland’s CrossReach arm, which provides 11 community and residential drug rehabilitation programmes across Scotland, argued that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a more effective treatment than methadone.
Source: Sunday Herald.

It takes real courage to take on the ancient rites and traditions of the Church of Scotland. Helen Percy did, and won, writes Tim Luckhurst. "Percy’s case illustrates the grip illiberalism still exerts on the grassroots of a church that prefers to present itself as leftist and socially aware."
Source: Sunday Times.

The leaders of the Catholic Church in Scotland have descended into an extraordinary public spat over claims by a "rogue bishop" that they do not speak out enough against homosexuality. In an unprecedented move, the Church's two most senior clerics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Archbishop Mario Conti, have moved publicly to rebuff a third bishop, Joseph Devine of Motherwell, after he claimed the Church was embarking on "a policy of appeasement". Devine claimed that John Deighan, the Church's liaison officer at Holyrood, and his fellow Catholic leaders had been effectively bought off by the Scottish Executive on the matter.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

He is nicknamed the Del Boy of the cloth - because he knows how to duck and dive to save and enrich lives around the world. And last night, larger-than-life Rev Neil Galbraith - whose passion for helping people has inspired countless others - was crowned the Sunday Mail's 16th Great Scot. Neil set up the Glasgow The Caring City charity five years ago and with the help of ordinary people raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for causes at home and abroad. The 52-year-old minister at Cathcart Old Parish Church, Glasgow, and his organisation were among the first to respond to the Asian tsunami and Iranian earthquake.
Source: Sunday Mail.

Helen Duncan, the last person in Britain to be tried as a witch - in a 1944 case Winston Churchill called "obsolete tomfoolery" - is to receive a special mention in a ceremony to remember 81 people from Prestonpans who were killed during the witchcraft trials of the 16th and 17th century. Her granddaughter, Mary Martin, 72, from Edinburgh, said: "I still remember it. My brother and I were at school at the time and it was awful, we got called names like demon child."
Source: The Scotsman.

Sixteen more victims of abuse at Catholic children's homes have been awarded compensation. Payments varying between £1000 and £2600 were awarded to former residents of the Nazareth House homes in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Kilmarnock.
Source: Daily Record.

A Daughter of Charity who has dedicated more than 50 years of her life to a church in the Edinburgh has received a special medal from the Pope. Sister Patricia Fallon, 86, was presented with the Bene Merenti medal by Cardinal Keith O'Brien at St Patrick's Church in the Cowgate, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary.
Source: The Scotsman.

Obituary of Church of Scotland minister Rev Moses Donaldson; born March 22, 1935; died October 15, 2006. "Moses Donaldson always had a story to tell. His family speak of his stories from his childhood in Auchenheath to his tales of travels in the Middle East.
His friends enjoyed his oft-repeated story of how he believed God had taken him 'f'rom pit to pulpit'. Moses was a natural evangelist who could not help sharing the Good News."
Source: The Herald.

Interview with Helen Percy, who this week, in an out-of-court settlement, she ended her sex discrimination case against the Church of Scotland, thus seeing the conclusion of a nine-year battle to clear her name of accusations that led to her giving up her office as a Church of Scotland minister. "The Church has spent well in excess of six figures defending their exclusive jurisdiction. I don't know the figure, but I know what my own legal fees were that were awarded against the Church, and they fell into over six figures. So they spent so much money that came out of little old ladies' pockets, who would be furious if they knew that's how their offering on a Sunday was spent." The warnings friends gave her years earlier must have haunted her: "I remember being told when I accepted the post in Angus by ministers from Glasgow, they said, think carefully about accepting that post. They crucify ministers in Angus."
Source: The Herald.

Profile of Lesley Ballantyne, the new managing director of John Lewis's giant department store in Glasgow. "This is a managing director who taught Sunday school, spent her formative years as a Girl Guide leader, is a regular church-goer, offers her skills free of charge to a Christian charity and helps provide education, hope, food and accommodation to the poor in equatorial South America."
Source: The Herald.

Plans for a new kirk in a Perthshire village were given the green light this week despite serious road safety concerns. Members of Perth and Kinross Council’s development control committee gave Auchtergaven and Moneydie Church the go-ahead to build a replacement church in Bankfoot following the loss of the congregation’s previous hilltop premises in a devastating fire three years ago. Reverend Iain McFadzean stressed: “It will be both a church and a community facility with easy access for every age group.”
Source: Perthshire Advertiser.

All nine Church of Scotland congregations in East Kilbride are inviting local people to take part in their special 'Back to Church Sunday' this weekend.
Source: East Kilbride News.

An assistant pastor who lost her four year old son to leukaemia has written a book to give hope to other families who are in the depths of despair. In Harvest from Heartache, Gail Chamberlain describes the events leading up to Matthew’s diagnosis aged two, his subsequent chemotherapy and radiotherapy and the traumatic years leading to his death.
Source: Inspire Magazine.

Shotts Salvation Army Corps are celebrating their 100th anniversary this weekend.
Source: Wishaw Press.

Monsignor Thomas Monaghan, the parish priest at St Ninian’s, Gourock, and Monsignor Gerard Gallagher, Vicar General of the Diocese of Paisley, have been made Prelates of Honour to Pope Benedict XVI.
Source: Paisley Daily Express.

An interdenominational group of church representatives met yesterday with Liam Byrne, MP, the Minister for Immigration, on his visit to Edinburgh, where they voiced concerns about a range of asylum issues. They included Eileen Baxendale of the Baptist Union, Rev Graham Thain of the Church of Scotland, and Nelu Balaj, Scottish Churches' Racial Justice Officer.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Former showbiz correspondent James Hastings and Peter Kearney, media director for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, have teamed up to launch Speaking Out, a media training programme aimed at making Christians front page news.
Source: Inspire Magazine.

A twinning project between Newport and the Ukrainian town of Zolotarevo has been formally agreed by Fife Council. The idea began in 1998 when a members of the Church of Scotland in Newport decided to provide a holiday in the town for disadvantaged children as part of a millennium project, and has been developed by an ecumenical group.
Source: Fife Herald.

A new resource has been launched by Care for the Family to help thousands of people caught up in debt to master their financial problems. The 10-session course has been developed from the best-selling book The Money Secret by Rob Parsons, complete with lesson plans and tutor’s notes and it is completely free to download.
Source: Christian Today.

Churches in the countryside should consider setting up farmers’ markets and using school buildings after hours to organise café-style events to reach out to rural communities, argues a new book released today by the Church of England. Mission-shaped and Rural, written by the Rev Sally Gaze, comes one week after a report supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs showed that the actions of people of faith enhance and sustain vibrant rural communities.
Source: Christian Today.

A landmark decision today from the Employment Appeal Tribunal holds that ministers of religion are entitled to claim unfair dismissal. They have until now been regarded by the UK courts as appointed to a holy office and not as employees of a church. The Reverend Sylvester Stewart was removed as pastor from the Harrow, north-west London, congregation of the New Testament Church of God in June 2005, due to allegations of financial impropriety (which he denied). He claimed unfair dismissal, which the New Testament Church of God resisted on the grounds that he was not its employee, and therefore he could not bring a claim against it. The Employment Appeal Tribunal rejected this argument, stating that “if the relationship between church and minister has many of the characteristics of a contract of employment…these cannot be ignored simply because the duties are of a religious or pastoral nature”. The New Testament Church of God is seeking permission to appeal this decision. If permission is granted, the appeal will probably be heard in summer 2007. If not, the case will return to the employment tribunal to decide whether Reverend Stewart was fairly or unfairly dismissed.
Source: Workplace Law.

"After the settlement of the Helen Percy case ... the Kirk is able to walk away from one of the most disgusting episodes in its inglorious history," writes Rev Edward Andrews of Haddington. "The failure of the Kirk to act justly is made all the worse by 'justice' in the Kirk being administered in 'the name of Jesus Christ the only King and Head of the Church'. The number of un-Christlike actions which have taken place in this case, from the presbytery being economical with the truth in its press statement through the legalism of the Kirk fighting the case through the courts, down to the ungracious settlement at the last moment, presumably to keep the lid on whatever revelations were about to be made, show the Kirk and its servants in a very unfavourable light."
Source: The Herald.

A secret Church of Scotland document has revealed that the controversial minister Helen Percy was paid £10,000 by the Kirk as a "nuisance settlement". Miss Percy settled out of court with the Church earlier this week on the eve of a sexual discrimination employment tribunal. Miss Percy, 39, left the pulpit after she allegedly had an affair with a married elder. A letter sent by the Church to its presbytery clerks reveals that she settled for just £10,000, after initially seeking £300,000 in damages. The agreement is described in the letter by the Kirk's legal representative, Janette Wilson, as a "nuisance value" settlement.
Source: The Scotsman.

When he caught sight of the bright red pentagon glowing above the great rose window of Rosslyn Chapel, Alan Butler - co-author with John Ritchie of Rosslyn Revealed - knew beyond doubt that Rosslyn Chapel was far more than just another medieval church. Forgotten for hundreds of years, a hidden window lets a blood-red stream of light flood into the chapel twice a year - on 21 March and again on 21 September, St Matthew's Day.
Source: The Scotsman.

Kevin Franz, general secretary of Action of Churches Together in Scotland for the past eight years, is to take up a new appointment as general secretary of the Quaker Peace and Social Witness organisation.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.

Protesters have collected almost 1,000 signatures opposing a plan to install a mobile phone transmitter inside Haddington West Church. Members of the newly-formed action group NO 2 O2 staged silent protests outside the church prior to the start of services on Sunday.
Source: East Lothian Courier.

Controversial plans by Deeside Christian Fellowship to build a new church on greenbelt land in Aberdeen were dramatically thrown out last night. The would have included a multi-purpose hall and gym, a coffee lounge and meeting rooms, next to a 216-space car park.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Bishop of Paisley, Bishop Philip Tartaglia, told a prayer service in St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow that "the unborn child has a fundamental and inalienable right to life that cannot be abrogated by any man-made law". He was speaking after a torchlight procession marking the 39th anniversary of the passing of the Abortion Act.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.

Academics from a leading Islamic institute in Dundee have warned that the creation of Muslim schools will only cause further divisions in British society. Professor Abd al-Fattah El-Awaisi and Professor Malory Nye, from the Al-Maktoum Institute, called for a radical overhaul of the education system to halt the “mutual incomprehension” between most Britons and the Muslim community.
Source: Dundee Courier.

A church is included in plans for a new town on the site of the former Ravenscraig steel works in Motherwell.
Source: The Herald.

Muslims in Scotland have criticised Cardinal Keith O'Brien, after Scotland’s leading Catholic suggested that Muslims should apologise for the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks. Ashraf Anjum, president of the Glasgow Mosque, said the cardinal was wrong to blame the entire Muslim faith for acts by extremists. "These remarks have caused a great deal of concern among Muslims here in Scotland,” he said. "When the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks happened every Muslim in the world condemned them, except for a few odd people here and there."
Source: The Universe.

Obituary of Charles Smith; born 16 June, 1920, in Edinburgh; died 9 October, 2006, in Edinburgh, aged 86. Involved in youth work with the Young Christian Movement in the early 1940s, in the 1950s and 1960s Smith was in the forefront of the movement to bring social problems to the agenda of the Catholic Church. As head of the Lay Apostolate of Scotland, he participated in many conferences in Europe, particularly in Rome which he loved. He was involved in drawing up resolutions which eventually contributed to the change of attitude after the Vatican Council when the Church moved nearer to the people and to modern society and commenced dialogue with other faiths.
Source: The Scotsman.

Dalkeith resident Harry Fletcher, who served as an elder in St John's and King's Park Church for 50 years, has celebrated his 100th birthday.
Source: Midlothian Advertiser.

Helen Percy was yesterday celebrating a substantial 11th-hour out-of-court settlement in her claim for sex discrimination against the Church of Scotland. Miss Percy found herself at the centre of one of the Kirk's biggest scandals after having a sexual encounter with a married elder, Sandy Nicoll, while serving as a an associate minister at the rural parish of Kilry, Perthshire. Angus Presbytery minuted and did not dispute Miss Percy's statement that this "single sexual encounter" was "without her consent", but omitted this reference from a press release. In June 1997 she was suspended from the Kirk and subsequently resigned, citing pressure from the Church. But she claimed the Church would have treated her differently if she had been a male minister. In 1998, an industrial tribunal refused to hear the case, saying that because it was against the Church of Scotland, her complaints were "matters spiritual". Ms Percy took her case to Scotland's highest court, the Court of Session in Edinburgh. There, judges ruled that her duties as a minister were "essentially spiritual" - in effect, she was a servant of God and not subject to protection in employment law. She appealed all the way to the House of Lords.
Source: The Scotsman.

Obituary of Professor James Barr, one of the most enthusiastic controversialists in Biblical studies and theology, who died peacefully at home in California on 14 October. "He was born in 1924, son of Allan Barr (New Testament scholar) and grandson of James Barr (leader of the United Free Church continuing and Labour MP) ... Not a few specialists in Hebrew Bible rate James Barr's first book, on The Semantics of Biblical Language (1961), as the most influential title published in the twentieth century, at least in the English language, on the study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament ... A distinctive sub-group of his publications presented a vigorous critique of more conservative evangelical Christian appeals to biblical authority. Fundamentalism (1977), The Scope and Authority of the Bible (1980), and Escaping from Fundamentalism (1985) developed themes already addressed in 1966 in the wider context of Old and New in Interpretation."
Source: The Scotsman.

As the Right Rev Alan McDonald, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, continues with his tour of the Presbytery of Dumbarton a meeting of Scotland’s four leading churchmen will take place tomorrow followed by worship at Dumbarton Riverside Parish Church. Joining the Moderator will be the Most Rev Mario Conti (Scottish Catholic Church), the Most Rev Idris Jones (Scottish Episcopal Church) and the Rev Andrew McMillan (United Free Church of Scotland).
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

People who allegedly suffered abuse at Catholic children's homes will have their claims for compensation heard this week. Twenty-one former residents at Nazareth House homes in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock are seeking awards after claims they were abused by some of the nuns who ran the homes.
Source: The Herald.

Obituary of the Rev Professor James Barr, theologian and leading Old Testament scholar; born March 20, 1924; died October 14, 2006. James Barr was one of the greatest scholars the Church of Scotland produced in the twentieth century, although he only spent five years of his teaching career in Scotland. He was professor of Old Testament in Edinburgh University's New College from 1956 to 1961. In 1952 he left Scotland for two years as the kirk's minister in Tiberias, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He became professor of New Testament in the Presbyterian College in Montreal in 1953 and took up the Edinburgh chair two years later. When he left Edinburgh, he was a professor first in Princeton Theological Seminary, then at the University of Manchester before spending most of the 1970s and 1980s in Oxford, where he was Oriel professor of the interpretation of scripture from 1976-78 and regius professor of Hebrew from 1978-89.
Source: The Herald.

A new Scottish political party has been launched with the aim of ridding the country of its “non-Christian” parliament. The Scottish Christian People’s Alliance – whose members include Sikhs, Jews and a Muslim ethnic minorities officer – is to field candidates in all eight of Scotland’s list seats at the Holyrood elections next year. Formed by Teresa Smith, a disillusioned Labour activist who was chair of the party’s Dumfries constituency, the party intends to attract voters from the mainstream “secular parties” by standing on an anti-war, pro-family ticket. Smith said: “People are absolutely sick of a government in Holyrood which is politically correct to an extreme degree, is listening to the homosexual lobby, the feminist lobby and ignoring the wishes of the overwhelming number of ordinary people opposed to a raft of anti-family legislation." She added: “In May, 2003, there was a huge intake of anti-Christian MSPs into the parliament. Seven Greens, six SSPs, along with the existing Labour, LibDem and SNP, combined to make the most vehement pro-feminist, pro-equality, anti-Christian government in Britain, if not in Europe. It is time for the Scottish Christian Democrats.” Those sharing a platform with Smith at a launch conference in Glasgow yesterday included Glasgow University’s emeritus professor of English Patrick Reilly, anti-poverty activist Bob Holman and Philip Tartaglia, the Bishop of Paisley.
Source: Sunday Herald.

A militant Catholic group is harassing [sic] a priest as part of its campaign to “out” homosexual clergy. Catholic Truth, a right-wing newsletter edited by Patricia McKeever, has demanded that Edinburgh-based Father Ed Hone reveal his sexual orientation. Hone, a Redemptorist at St Patrick’s in Edinburgh, said: “I’m not concerned personally. But I’m worried about other priests who might be more vulnerable. People like her rule by fear, harassment and intimidation. This is nothing more than a witch hunt motivated by spite. Everyone’s talking about the rise of fundamentalism in the Muslim community at the moment. But we should address the fundamentalists in our own midst. Are we witnessing the rise of a Catholic Taliban?” A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said of the anti-gay campaign: “It’s important for all of us to remember the words of St Paul, that we must live in faith, hope and charity. Without charity, everything else is a waste of time.”
Source: Sunday Herald.

The leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has called for Muslims to apologise for the 9/11 and 7/7 bomb attacks, declaring that the public should not have to live "in fear of attack" from believers of the Islamic faith.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

The long-simmering row between Labour and the Catholic church boiled over last weekend when Cardinal Keith O’Brien said he would be happy for Scotland to become independent. The Sunday Times invited prominent Catholics on both sides to make their case, publishing the views of Michael McMahon MP, Professor Patrick Reilly, the first Catholic professor of English literature at the University of Glasgow since the Reformation, and former Labour activist Alan Clayton, now a member of the SNP.
Source: Sunday Times.

Celtic have become the first Scottish football club to set up their own online poker site, prompting warnings from the Catholic Church. A spokesman said: "Gambling is not intrinsically wrong. We are all entitled to indulge a little ... but only providing the gambling is kept under control and does not damage you personally or your family."
Source: The Herald.

Legislative measures in Scotland and elsewhere have jeopardised family life, according to Bishop Philip Tartaglia. The bishop of Paisley defended marriage and family in his homily to members of the legal profession during the annual Red Mass earlier this month in St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Edinburgh.
Source: Zenit News Agency.

The 650-year-old gravestone of Abbot Giles at Dundrennan Abbey near Kirkcudbright, which was in danger of being eroded away by the weather, has been moved inside the Abbey. A replica now covers the grave. Barbara Thomson, Historic Scotland’s monument manager, said: "The 14th century grave slab of Abbot Giles is extremely beautiful, covered in raised ornamentation, which is rare for the usually restrained Cistercians."
Source: Dumfries & Galloway Standard.

Her Majesty The Queen has appointed John L Duncan QPM as Lord-Lieutenant for Ayrshire and Arran. He is an elder in St Columba’s Church, Stewarton.
Source: Ayrshire Post.

Help the Aged is calling on church groups across the UK to get into the Christmas spirit by taking part in the charity’s Carol Appeal 2006. Running throughout November and December, the appeal involves organising carol singing events to raise funds for Help the Aged to help older people facing loneliness.
Source: Inspire Magazine.

John Daniel, the assistant pastor of Larbert Pentecostal Church, has returned to earth after raising almost £700 for the Christian Blind Mission with a tandem parachute jump at Strathallan.
Source: Falkirk Herald.

A 22-year-old man has appeared at Dingwall Sheriff Court charged with conning church parishioners and a minister out of cash. Mark Rhodes, of no fixed address, faces four charges of obtaining cash by fraud in alleged incidents at Nairn, Alness and Tain.
Source: Highland News.

A range of commentators offer their views on the use of embryonic stem cells in medical research in the November issue of the Church of Scotland's magazine, Life & Work. The subject of the monthly profile is Drena O’Malley, a Church of Scotland elder in Lenzie and resources manager for the charity Deafblind Scotland.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

The Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly will visit to Dumbarton Presbytery from 20 to 30 October. The Right Rev Alan McDonald's programme includes a tour of Faslane Naval Base hosted by Admiral Phillip Wilcocks followed by a meeting with protesters at Faslane Peace Camp.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

"Last weekend, Scotland on Sunday ran as its front-page story, 'Catholic leader backs Scottish independence'," writes John Haldane, professor of philosophy at the University of St Andrews. By Wednesday, The Scotsman was running the headline: 'Blair goes head to head with cardinal in war of words over independence'. "I have followed these and related events with special interest, for their source is an interview I conducted with the cardinal [O'Brien] for the Catholic Herald newspaper and which appears there for the first time today. Here, then, for the record was my question and the cardinal's response..."
Source: The Scotsman.

The Rev Ian MacLeod, a former minister of St Andrews Church in Arbroath, with Angus connections dating back almost half-a-century, has died aged 81.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Students have threatened to picket a new Edinburgh University course which promotes marriage over claims it is homophobic. The Christian Union's (CU) Pure course looks at the 'Orthodox Christian teaching on relationships and sex', which focus on the traditional biblical view that sex was intended by God within the life-long commitment of marriage. But the teachings have outraged the university's Student Representative Council (SRC), who branded it "homophobic" and want it to be banned. The SRC has already been backed by the university's chaplain, who said the course can no longer be held at the chapel for fear of upsetting people. But Matthew Tindale, a CU staff worker, has denied it is discriminatory against homosexuals. "The CU is not homophobic. There is a member who is a homosexual Christian, so we are open to everyone."
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

The Reverend Mark Malcolm (32), minister of Ormiston and Pencaitland Parish Church, has been named as the new moderator of the Presbytery of Lothian – becoming, it’s believed, the youngest ever to take on the role.
Source: East Lothian Courier.

Peter Howson, one of Scotland's leading artists, has produced what he describes as his "most difficult painting" yet - a searing image of the death of the nation's patron saint, St Andrew. It will form the central image of his first major show in Scotland for years, Andrew: Portrait of a Saint, which is to be staged at the City Arts Centre in Edinburgh.
Source: The Herald.

Hundreds of people gathered in Glasgow last night to pay their respects and say a final farewell to Angelika Kluk, the murdered Polish languages student whose body was discovered in a church last month. As well as gospel readings, chosen by Aneta, tributes were heard from some of those closest to Angelika.
Source: The Herald.

Family, friends and strangers touched by the murder of the Polish student Angelika Kluk last night gathered at St Peter's church in Glasgow's west end. "I want you to remember her not by the way she died, but by the way she lived," her older sister, Aneta, told the congregation, which included the girls' father, Wladyslaw. The ecumenical service was also attended by Father Tadeusz Kroz, a family friend who had flown from Poland. He gave a sermon in Polish in which he urged the congregation to remember that this night was about solidarity, and talked of the difficulty of confronting the mystery of evil. Monsignor James Ryan read from the Book of Romans, while the Rev Dr Angus Kerr, of Glasgow Churches Together, read the story of Jesus raising a little girl from the dead. Half a dozen police officers - including Detective Superintendent David Swindel, who led the inquiry into Angelika's disappearance - were among those who attended.
Source: The Scotsman.

A Highland minister has died while on holiday on Mull. The Rev Moses Donaldson, 71, had been visiting family on the island when he died in his sleep on Sunday. Mr Donaldson, of Garden Place, Beauly, had been minister at Fort Augustus and Invergarry before retiring about five years ago.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

A former dentist, an ex-senior civil servant and a woman minister who preached to the Royal Family at Crathie Kirk are in the running to become the next Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The Rev Sheilagh Kesting, 53, who gave the sermon last month at Balmoral, would become the first female minister to hold the post. Since 1993, she has been secretary to the committee on ecumenical relations in the Church of Scotland, liaising with other churches. The Rev Dr Norman Shanks, 64, who started his life as a career civil servant and was private secretary to the Scottish secretaries Willie Ross and Bruce Millan between 1975 and 1977, is a former leader of the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian group, and since 2003 has been minister at Govan Old Parish Church in Glasgow. The third nominee is the Rev William Wallace, 67, who was a dentist before joining the Church and has been the minister for Wick for over 30 years. The three names will go to the 54-member nomination committee, which will hear the proposers and seconders speak before voting on 31 October. Whoever is chosen will replace the Rt Rev Alan McDonald at the Kirk's General Assembly in May next year.
Source: The Scotsman.

Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, took on the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland yesterday, insisting that Cardinal Keith O'Brien's newly-declared support for Scottish independence should carry no weight with his flock. At a Downing Street press conference, Mr Blair effectively accused the cardinal of wanting to "take the country backwards" by supporting independence, and he insisted the priest's words should have no political influence on the 750,000 Catholics in Scotland. Mr Blair is a practising Anglican with strong Catholic sympathies - some expect him to convert to Catholicism when he leaves Downing Street.
Source: The Scotsman.

Canon Robert Hill, Monsignor James Ryan and Rev Dr Angus Kerr, of Glasgow Churches Together, will preside over the ecumenical service to be held at St Peter's RC Church in Partick, Glasgow, tonight in memory of Angelika Kluk. There will be two hymns from Irish composer Liam Lawton, On the Journey and Journey of a Soul, to reflect Ms Kluk's love of all things Celtic. A member of Strathclyde Police Pipe Band will play a lament outside the church. The student's friends will give tributes to her and readings from the gospel will be heard in English and Polish.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

A memorial service for tragic Polish student Angelika Kluk will be held tonight at 7 pm. The doors of St Peter's RC Church in Partick, Glasgow, will be open to anyone who wants to pay their last respects to the 23-year-old, whose body was found in St Patrick's Church in the city's Anderston area on Friday, September 29. Daily Record readers have raised £4504 to pay for her body to be flown back to her home town of Skoczowin. If you wish to donate to the Angelika appeal, the account number is 00657802 and the sort code is 83-44-00. You can make donations at any branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Alternatively, send cheques to The Angelika Fund, c/o Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd, One Central Quay, Glasgow G3 8DA.
Source: Daily Record.

A man has been arrested by police investigating an alleged assault on 53-year-old Imam Mohammed Shamsuddin at the Dawat ul Islam Centre in Glasgow's west end last Friday.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Scotland's leading Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, made headlines by saying that he would be happy if Scots backed political separation from the rest of the UK. Here, in his own words, he explains his point of view.
Source: Daily Record.

A memorial celebration is to be held for Angelika Kluk, the Polish student who was recently murdered in St Patrick’s RC Church, Anderston, Glasgow. The celebration will take place in St Peter’s RC Church, Hyndland Street, Partick, at 7 pm on Wednesday 18 October. The invitation to attend is open to all. This celebration will provide an opportunity for people of many traditions and faiths to remember Angelika and to express their support and prayers for her sister, Aneta, and family; for the Polish community; for the community of St Patrick’s; and, for the wider local community – all of whom have been deeply affected by her death. Please remember all of these individuals and groups in your prayers.
Source: Glasgow Churches Together.

Parents of children at Our Lady of the Mission Primary in Thornliebank, East Renfrewshire, have been told they can't board school buses to check on their kids - because they don't have clearance from Disclosure Scotland - the Executive body that runs criminal checks on adults working with children. Sales representative Kenneth Palmer, 45, of Netherlee, whose kids Matthew, 10, and Sarah, 6, use the bus every day, said: "The driver isn't allowed to put the seatbelts on. Parents are ultimately responsible, it's just absurd." He and his wife Catherine, 44, already have Disclosure Scotland clearance because they're involved in church activities. And she blasted the bus ban, saying: "Nobody is taking responsibility for the safety of the children."
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

An Aberdeen minister who has shared in the joys and sorrows of up to five generations of his flock is to retire at the end of the month. The Rev John Anderson took up his ministry at Mannofield Church in October 1975. He has twice christened babies whose great-great-grandmothers he buried, having also conducted most of the weddings and christenings in between.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Muslim leaders have accused MPs of trying to make political capital out of the ongoing debate over the wearing of veils. Osama Saeed, Glasgow-based spokesman of the Muslim Association of Britain, said: "Muslim women around Scotland have been reporting a rise in abuse, people have tried to pull their veils off. The government's debate has polarised people."
Source: The Scotsman.

Imam Mohammed Shamsuddin who was beaten up at the Dawatul Islam centre in Hillhead, Glasgow, on Friday, said yesterday the intruder had tried to pick a theological argument with him three months ago.
Source: The Herald.