A JUDGE has urged two factions created by a split in the Free Church of Scotland to make peace after a 20-year feud.
The comment came as three judges upheld a decision rejecting a claim by the breakaway Free Church (Continuing) group to the ownership of a church and its manse. The row dates back to the schism that followed allegations of sexual misconduct against a senior figure in the Free Kirk in the 1980s.
Rev Donald Macleod was cleared after a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court but continuing bitterness among some congregations led to the formation of the FCC in 2000.
Since then there have been a number of disputes about property. One centred on the occupation of Broadford Church in Skye where the minister, Reverend Allan MacIver, was part of the breakaway group.
On his retiral in 2007, the Free Kirk sought to re-take the Broadford church and manse but Reverend John Morrison and others in his congregation tried to hang on to the Broadford property. They lost a Court of Session action and the legal arguments continued until yesterday when they lost an appeal.
Three judges issued a written ruling running to 116 pages dealing with the arguments based both on law and on church doctrine which they had heard.
One of the judges, Lord Drummond Young, noted that in modern housing estates there were churches shared by different denominations.
“May I, in conclusion, respectfully suggest that this is a case where such an arrangement might be reached?” the judge wrote.
A spokesman for the Free Church said: “We are very thankful and relieved that the judges in this case have ruled in favour of the Free Church of Scotland so decisively. With reference to Lord Drummond Young’ suggestion about sharing property, we have always been and continue to be open to all helpful proposals and indeed, in some areas, sharing already takes place regularly.”
A spokesman for the FCC said: “The legal committee of the FCC are disappointed at the major aspect of the finding, and are currently giving very careful consideration to its implications.
“The FCC have consistently sought an equitable solution.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article