THANK you for drawing our attention to the recent developments at St George's Tron ("Minister told to quit manse", The Herald, October 15, and Letters, October 15, 16 & 17).
While my initial sympathies lay with the Presbytery of Glasgow and its resolve to secure the church and manse from the seceding congregation, three things challenge this.
First, the outcome of the Disruption and the recent history of legal wrangling within our sister denominations should make us wary of wasting our resources on non-creative activity centred on buildings. The whole thrust of the Church Without Walls initiative was to refocus our attention from buildings to people and from the congregation to the world beyond.
Secondly, the intention to secure the church building to raise a new congregation within the centre of Glasgow seems to be in keeping with the third declaratory article which declares it is the Church of Scotland's "distinctive call and duty to bring the ordinances of religion to the people in every parish of Scotland". However, our recent discussion of this article didn't preclude the possibility of fulfilling it in conjunction with other Christian denominations and even in association with erstwhile congregations of the Kirk.
Thirdly, while the actions of the minister, Kirk Session and congregation at St George's Tron were premature, they have chosen to belong to a part of the church which doesn't ordain openly gay men and women to the ministry. Notwithstanding the decision of the General Assembly on this issue next year, their breach of trust and lack of inclusion shouldn't unduly influence the Kirk's response to them. The principle of inclusion is one which should also be extended to those ministers and congregations who sacrifice the peace of the church for purity of belief. After all, the congregation at St George's Tron has belonged to the Kirk for centuries and its distinctive ministry has been much admired.
Our unity is not to be found in what we do nor even in what we believe but in what Christ does and has done for us.
Witnessing the grace of God through the ordination of gay men and women to the ministry and a continuing association with seceding congregations may lead us to a very surprising, more inclusive and an ultimately more glorious destination.
Rev David D Scott,
The Manse, Preston Road, East Linton.
The debate over possession of St George's Tron in Glasgow prompts Chris McLaughlin to suggest Scottish medieval churches be returned to "the Catholic Church" and allows him to indulge in inter-denominational point-scoring about the "defects of Protestantism" (Letters, October 17).
The problem with his argument is that he confuses the pre-Reformation Catholic Church in Scotland with a modern denomination, the Roman Catholic Church. This denomination is not just a chaplaincy for successive modern waves of immigration into Scotland. It has a proud history of continuity with the pre-Reformation Church in places such as Banffshire. Continuity is also, however, found in those Mr McLaughlin would describe as Protestants.
Catholic writing in Scotland before 1560 reveals little interest in the claims of the papacy. The intellectual tenor of the Scottish pre-Reformation Church placed much more emphasis on church councils than on the Bishop of Rome. Catholic reformers in Scotland divided in 1559-60 with some, notably in the south, adhering to the Reformed Church and others, especially in the north-east, rejecting this as a reform too far. When the Scottish Church divided again in the late 17th century, the books used by the Episcopalians of the north-east show their roots were in pre-Reformation Catholic Reform as well as in the Reformed Church of Scotland.
It is a complicated picture. What is certain is the three main Christian denominations in modern Scotland share spiritual roots in, and institutional continuity with, the pre-Reformation Scottish Catholic Church. The Scottish Episcopal Church has inherited the historic Scottish bishoprics, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the ancient parishes, and the Roman Catholic Church communion with the Bishop of Rome. All inherit the scriptures and the apostolic faith of the creeds.
This heritage belongs to us all, and to all Scots, and all churches have their own disputes and defects.
Stephen Holmes,
48/10 Eyre Place, Edinburgh.
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