The Most Rev David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Very Rev Dr John Armes, Rector of St John’s Episcopal Church, Princes Street and Dean of Edinburgh met yesterday with members of Occupy Edinburgh in St Andrews Square.

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The head of Scotland’s Episcopal Church has launched a veiled attack on the opposition from senior Catholics to same-sex marriage, claiming it raises “significant issues” about the “relationship between church and state”.

In an intervention that shows the deepening split in Scotland’s faith communities over the issue, the Most Rev David Chillingworth, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, defends the SNP government’s “right” to give full legal status to gay wedding ceremonies.

Writing in The Scotsman today, Rev Chillingworth, who is also the Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, hints that his church may “consider changing our canonical definition of marriage”.

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In the Scottish Episcopal Church, we’re thinking about our response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on same-sex marriage and other related issues. The definition of marriage set out in our Canons is that, “marriage is a physical, spiritual and mystical union of one man and one woman”. That is the position of our church. It’s a difficult issue for us ”“ as it is for all churches and faith groups. We have among our membership people who feel passionately that change is needed ”“ and those who feel equally strongly that we should resist any attempt to broaden society’s understanding of marriage. The consultation period is very short. Among the things we shall say will be that if ”“ and it’s a big “if” ”“ we were to consider changing our canonical definition of marriage, that would require a two-year process in our General Synod, the outcome of which could not be predicted with any certainty.

We haven’t got involved in public debate about this. We’ve been asked for our view and we shall give it in a considered manner ”“ believing that the time for public debate comes later. However, it seems to me that some of the points being made ”“ particularly comments from our ecumenical partners in the Catholic Church ”“ raise significant issues about how we understand the relationship between church and state. They also raise important questions about the nature of the church itself.

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A leading cleric has launched a withering attack on the Catholic leaders of a campaign against gay marriage, labelling them “out of touch, arrogant, conceited and rude” and warning that they risk damaging the reputation of the wider Christian community.

In a sermon that exposed the gap between liberal and traditional opinion, the Very Reverend Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, Glasgow, called the views of senior Catholics on gay marriage “unpleasant and ill-judged”. They “embarrassed” him.

[The] Rev Holdsworth was preaching a month after the Scottish government launched its consultation on same-sex marriages. Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister, said that the Government tended towards the opinion that they should be introduced.

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Kelvin Holdsworth is the Provost of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin in Glasgow.

You can watch and listen to the sermon here under the date of 9 October 2011 (it lasts some 12 minutes). His text is “The Parable of the Wedding Banquet” which is in Matthew 22:1-14.

A Scottish Anglican priest will learn later if she has become the first female bishop of a major UK church.

The Rev Canon Dr Alison Peden is on a shortlist of five hoping to be elected Bishop of Brechin in the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Dr Peden stood for election to be a bishop in 2010 but failed in her bid.

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The Very Rev Kevin Pearson was today elected the new Bishop of Argyll and The Isles. The See became vacant following the retirement last year of the Rt Rev Martin Shaw who had served the diocese as Bishop for five years.

Kevin Pearson is currently Rector of St Michael & All Saints Church in Edinburgh, a Canon of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh and the Provincial Director of Ordinands (responsible for the discernment and selection process for candidates for ministry), a role which he was instrumental in creating in 1991 on behalf of the College of Bishops.

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The Scottish Episcopal Church’s College of Bishops has approved inclusive language prayers, authorising optional changes that remove “Lord”, “He”, “his”, “him”, and “us men” from its 1982 Eucharistic Liturgy.

On Aug 2, the SEC published a list of seven permitted changes. Spokesman Lorna Finley said the changes were offered by the College of Bishops as an “interim measure” as the General Synod Liturgy Committee prepares new Eucharist rites.

The permitted changes include altering “God is love and we are his children” in the Confession and Absolution to “God is love and we are God’s children.”

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Professor Harries lauded Pullman for writing with “moral clout” and said he had enjoyed the book.

And he agreed with Pullman about the humane qualities of Jesus.

However, he said the author had put a “great abyss between Jesus the Good man and what the church has done to him”.

Prof Harries said this was not true to the New Testament.

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The General Synod of the Church of England will consider a report on its ecumenical relationship with the Church of Scotland (the CoE is established (entangled with the government) and observes an episcopal polity (government with bishops) whereas the CoS is a national church (largely disentangled from government) and observes presbyterian polity (government with councils of elders)). That is all to the good; the relationship of these two ecclesial bodies has long been vexed, and rapprochement would count as a very good thing.

On the other hand, the report in question minimises ”” almost ignores ”” the relation of these two dominant groups to the middle term, the Scottish Episcopal Church (and I suppose it ignores English Presbyterians, too).

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You may find details here.

(ACNS) Three new videos from the Edinburgh 2010 world missionary conference are available here.

Anglicans attending the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh say it is set to be a crucial moment for global Christianity.

The Rt Revd Mark McDonald, Canada’s first National Indigenous Bishop, said the conference was giving people a real sense of the trajectory of God’s future for the church. “I expect a Christian identity to emerge out of this conference that will transcend what we’ve been before. This is really about building the relationships that will carry the worldwide church to a new level.”

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The Right Rev David Chillingworth accused the Scottish Secretary of doing a “grave disservice” to religion by suggesting it could be “shrink-wrapped” to fit the manifesto of a political party.

His comments came after the leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics accused Labour of an “unrelenting attack on family values” and warned the Pope could give the party “hell” on his state visit later this year.

They were both responding to a speech last week in which Mr Murphy tried to woo religious voters by promising their concerns would be reflected in Labour’s policy agenda.

The Scottish Secretary argued Labour was founded on the principles of Christian socialism and had led the trade union struggle for working class rights.

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Dr [Alison] Peden, 57, had been shortlisted for the role of Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway in the Scottish Episcopal Church.

But the Very Rev Dr Gregor Duncan, 59, rector of St Ninian’s Church, Pollokshields, Glasgow, was chosen for the role.

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Listen to it all from the BBC (about 2 3/4 minutes).

Britain might soon have its first female Anglican bishop, serving the 38,000-member Scottish Episcopal Church, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Rev. Alison Peden, 57, is one of three candidates for the post of bishop of Glasgow and Galloway. The election is scheduled for Jan. 16.

Observers say that if Peden is elected it is likely to increase pressure on the neighbouring (Anglican) Church of England to allow the appointment of women bishops.

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Traditionalist Anglicans in Scotland are setting up a new community in Edinburgh. This is being made possible because of a generous offer from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh to provide a place of worship for their first service this Christmas Eve.

Canon Len Black, Regional Dean of Forward in Faith Scotland, the organisation which represents orthodox Anglicans world-wide, said, “This move has come about because of the rapid drift of the Scottish Episcopal Church away from the traditional faith, morals and practices of the universal Church. We are most grateful to Cardinal Keith O’Brien for the generosity he has shown us in making a place of worship available, not just for Christmas but in the months ahead, as we seek to serve those Episcopalians who look to us for spiritual and sacramental support.”

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Oxford graduate Dr Alison Peden has been chosen as one of three candidates for the vacant episcopal see of Glasgow and Galloway in Scotland. If she is elected on 16 January, she will become the UK’s first woman bishop. It would in many ways be fitting for Scotland to be the first UK province to have a woman bishop. The US had the first one in the world, Barbara Harris, who incidentally was nominated back in the 1970s by Mary Glasspool, now lesbian bishop-elect in Los Angeles. Scotland and the US church go back generations. After the American Revolution, the Bishop of London, who had previously ruled over the American church as if it was a far-away London parish of little importance, refused to give newly-independent US Episcopalians a bishop of their own. So they went to Scotland, which duly obliged. The surprising thing about Scotland is that it has taken this long to put a woman on a shortlist after their General Synod voted in favour back in 2003.

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The question of gay clergy threatens to tear Anglicans in Scotland apart, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC), Bishop David Chillingworth, has warned.

In an interview published Aug 21 in the Scotsman, Bishop Chillingworth said the gay clergy question was “an issue that has been threatening to tear us apart, and many of us live across a spectrum in which out of one side of our minds we can say there is a justice and inclusion issue here, and out of the other there is a dialogue that needs to go on with the traditional teaching of the Church and what the Bible says.

“You can’t wish either of those away. You have to deal with both,” he said. The Primus’ comments come as a push is underway from within the liberal wing of the Scottish church to end its ban on gay bishops and blessings, and in the wake of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s statement that [noncelibate] gay clergy were outside the bounds of Anglicanism.

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LEADERS in the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church have backed the Scottish govern­ment’s decision to release the Locker­bie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, from prison last week on the grounds of ill health. He has advanced prostate cancer.

In the United States, anger was expressed at the decision taken by the Scottish Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill. The US President, Barack Obama, called the release a “mistake”. The director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, said that it gave “comfort to terrorists”.

But the Primus of the Scottish Epis­copal Church, the Most Revd David Chillingworth, said that the decision sent the world “an important and positive message about our values”, and was “a brave political choice taken in the face of strong pressure from outside Scotland.

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The Scottish Government’s decision to release the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, on compassionate grounds has been hailed as “a brave political choice” by the Most Rev. David Chillingworth, primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Megrahi, 57, who has terminal prostate cancer, returned to Libya August 20 to live out his final days.

Megrahi was jailed in January 2001 for 27 years when a bomb he had planted exploded aboard Pan American Flight 103 over the southern Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988. The terrorist attack killed 270 people, including 180 Americans.

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General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) met June 11 ”“ 13, 2009. Elaine Cameron, IAWN Provincial Link for SEC and Marion Chatterley, SEC representative with the Anglican Consultative Council Non-Governmental Organization delegation at the United Nations Commission on the Status Women, March 2009, presented the work of the International Anglican Women’s Network to Synod, at the invitation of the Most Revd Idris Jones.

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A Senior Scottish clergyman has “come out” and launched a campaign for gay couples to be given the right to get married in church.
The Very Reverend Kelvin Holdsworth has spoken publicly about his sexuality and called for Holyrood to change the law to allow same-sex partners to tie the knot in the same way as straight couples.

In a frank and outspoken interview, the Provost of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow said that gay clergy would eventually be able to get married in their own churches and offered a “blessing of peace” to an Anglican bishop who called on homosexuals to “repent”.

He also claimed he was aware of “numerous” gay and lesbian priests employed by his church and insisted that Scotland was “more grown up” than England in dealing with issues of sexuality.

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“The Scottish Episcopal Church has a very rich history,” Chillingworth, who is bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, told Ecumenical News International. “We need to review that rich history and become more certain and confident about our place in Scottish society today.”

He explained that his Anglican Communion denomination is a small church compared to the much larger (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland.

“[The Scottish Episcopal Church] has felt acutely its status as a ‘minority’ church. We need to learn to engage with the whole of Scottish society in partnership with other churches,” said the bishop.

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The Rt Rev David Chillingworth was today elected Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church – at an Episcopal Synod held during the annual meeting of the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Bishop David was the single nomination and his election was supported by all other six bishops.

Bishop David has been Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane since 2005 and succeeds the Most Rev Dr Idris Jones, Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway who stepped down as Primus last night following his recent announcement to retire from the office of diocesan bishop.

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BISHOP of Edinburgh Rt Rev Brian Smith is expected to be chosen tomorrow as the new leader of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

He is the longest-serving of the church’s seven bishops and the favourite to be elected as Primus ”“ the equivalent of Archbishop ”“ in succession to Bishop of Glasgow Most Rev Dr Idris Jones, who is retiring after three years in the post.

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For the first time in the history of General Synod, members will witness the election of a new Primus. This will take place during an Episcopal Synod on Saturday morning (13 June) – where all seven bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church (known collectively as the College of Bishops) will elect a new Primus following the retirement of the Most Rev Dr Idris Jones (current Primus and Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway). The role of Primus, which is taken from the Latin ”˜primus inter pares’ – meaning ”˜first among equals’ is to preside over the College of Bishops and represent them and the wider Church at home and throughout the world-wide Anglican Communion.

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Richard Holloway says the worldwide Anglican Church has made room for “happy clapping” evangelicals, bells-and-smells Catholics, women priests and, in the United States, openly gay clergy and even practitioners of other faiths. So surely, he argues, it can find room for people like him – Christians who don’t believe in God.

Holloway, contrary to popular belief, has not left the Episcopal Church, as Scottish Anglicanism is known. He may have taken early retirement as Bishop of Edinburgh but the writer remains an ordained priest and consecrated bishop, who still preaches from the pulpit, performs baptisms and weddings and even presides at communion.

“I had a crisis in 1998 and I was in a kind of internal exile for a bit,” he told the Herald yesterday, while en route to Sydney, where he is a speaker at the Sydney Writers’ Festival.

“I am in a slightly mellower place with the church right now. I’ve still got my pilot’s licence, so to speak. They didn’t take it away from me.”

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