The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland said John Knox would be "birling" in his grave after more than 200 women ministers paused before his statue as part of a procession to celebrate 50 years of female ordination.

Overlooked by founding father Knox, who infamously decried the “monstrous regiment of women”, the female Church leaders marched to the top of The Mound In Edinburgh for the Kirk's annual gathering of around 730 senior figures, the General Assembly.

The Herald:

Moderator Right Rev Susan Brown (wearing tartan), next to former Moderator Very Rev Lorna Hood. Picture by Gordon Terris.

Right Rev Susan Brown, the Moderator, said as they arrived "I hope you all notice that John Knox is now pointing the other way", and repeated a suggestion from one of the group that: "He’s birling."

However, the women also brought a poignant message to the assembly, calling for still better acceptance of women in the Kirk, education and backing for oppressed women and girls, and also the end of withholding the ordination of women in other denominations.

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The Roman Catholic faith is one that is yet to consider the ordination of female clergy.

The Herald:

Inside the Kirk hall, Rev Dr Margaret Forrester, above, who worked to achieve the 1968 breakthrough, said: “Moderator, you invited us to walk, and we have been walking, and for some of us it was a long walk."

She told how the pioneers were refused a proper place to prepare ahead of the historic general assembly five decades ago.

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"Effectively we were gagged by the church we loved and sought to serve."

They still won the vote which paved the way for Rev Catherine Macconachie to become the first woman to be ordained to ministry of word and sacrament on March 27, 1969.

The Herald:

One of the first five female ministers, Rev Jean Montgomerie, above, was also among those taking part in the walk.

Dr Forrester added: "There is much still to be done; where girls are not permitted to be educated we must speak out.

"Where women are abused or marginalised, we must speak out.

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"Where sister churches withhold ordination for women we must encourage them to think again and I grieve that in our own Church of Scotland, there are some congregations where there are no women elders.

"We must take up that dialogue with them again."

The Herald:

The marking of the anniversary comes as more cash is to be ploughed into recruiting new ministers from all backgrounds under plans to stem an 80 per cent drop in the number of candidates for clergy between 1985 and 2015.

An extensive financial review is now under way to ensure that recruitment and training is “focusing funds in the most critical areas”, according to the Interim Report on the Rethinking Initial Training programme released under the Ministries Council.

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The report based on over two years research and consultation on recruitment of clergy said the Kirk should “increase student funding to enable people from all backgrounds to embark on training and financial rationalisation across the whole of training will ensure consistent and sustainable model of funding”.

The Herald:

The length of time of some aspects of training are also under review.

The report said: “The structures of recruitment and training have served the Church well, but are now under incredible strain and pressure.

“The numbers below show the scale of the challenge.

"Action is required to ensure that recruitment and training meet the needs of the Church as it is today, and anticipating the road ahead."

It included figures that showed membership was down 30 per cent in ten years from 520,940 to 363,597.

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The report continues: "The number of congregations has dropped by 9.8 per cent. The number of ministers has reduced by 23.8 per cent.

"The impact on serving ministers is exponential.

"The skills and resilience required in ministry today is significantly different to even just ten years ago.

"The clear way ahead requires significant investment in continuing ministerial development."

The Herald:

Above: Extract from Interim Report on the Rethinking Initial Training programme.