Tag Archives: Church of Scotland

LGBT Catholics have welcomed Pope Francis’ call for Christians to apologise to gay people and others marginalised by the Church. On his flight back to the Vatican from Armenia, he told journalists: “I repeat what the catechism says: that they (LGBT people) must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and accompanied pastorally.” He also said the Church ...

    A group within the Church of Scotland opposed to same-sex marriage has issued an apology after posting a statement about LGBT rights on Monday, the day following the massacre in Orlando. Covenant Fellowship Scotland, a protest movement set up in 2014 to oppose the Kirk’s proposals to permit congregations to appoint ministers and deacons in same-sex relationships, said ...

  Vigils are to be held in Glasgow and Edinburgh after fifty people were killed, and over fifty others injured, during the attack on Pulse nightclub in Orlando. The killings represented the worst mass shooting in US history and, as LGBT people were clearly the target, must be seen as a hate crime as well as a terrorist act. There ...

The Church of Scotland‘s General Assembly has today voted to allow individual congregations to call ministers and deacons in same-sex marriages. The General Assembly voted last year to permit individual congregations to “depart” from the church’s official position, which upholds a traditional view of matrimony, and appoint ministers in civil partnerships. It also agreed to extend this to clergy in ...

Don’t you just love a feel good story? In a week in which the Church of Scotland convenes in Edinburgh for its General Assembly, it’s more than appropriate that a positive story of a religious nature should be making headlines. Unfortunately, those headlines do not centre on anything the Kirk has said or done – or even on the pending ...

Paul O’Grady’s new BBC TV series “The Sally Army and Me” is certainly good popular light entertainment and Paul is his usual camp self, often funny and seemingly able to get the best out of those he meets. At the same time as we laugh at his antics – for example, getting the drum beat wrong when playing with the ...

The Moderator of Church of Scotland has welcomed the Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling the growing problem of loneliness through its new Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund. A fund has been set up to tackle loneliness and isolation, Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil announced the establishment of the fund this week, which aims to tackle loneliness and social isolation. Speaking ...

In our weekly “Belief matters” column we have taken a look at various faith issues, often within the context of how they affect LGBTI communities – or from the perspective of LGBTI people of faith. Today, being Christmas Day, we are publishing a message from the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Dr Angus Morrison. While his ...

  The first Christmas after I was ordained nearly 20 years ago, I happened to come down sick before Christmas. My senior colleague had to take all the services instead of us sharing them and all I could do was drag myself to midnight mass and sit at the back of the church amongst the congregation. The lights were low, ...

    The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland will debate whether congregations should be allowed to consider calling a person in a same-sex marriage as a minister or deacon when it meets in next year. The discussion will take place in May 2016, after a majority of the Kirk’s 45 Presbyteries voted in favour by approving an Overture ...