Following the publication on Tuesday 17th April of report of the Commission on Women Offenders the Board has sent the following letter to the editor of the Herald and Scotsman.
Dear Sir,
The Joint Faiths Advisory Board on Criminal Justice applauds The Commission on Women Offenders for the Report which they have produced. We would heartily concur with their findings and support their vision of a radically different approach. Too many fine reports on Women Offenders remain only words on paper, this time we call upon the Government to have the same courage as the writers of this report and to implement the recommendations.
Rev Elaine H. MacRae
Convenor Joint Faiths Advisory Board on Criminal Justice.
The full text of the Commission report is available to read at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/commissiononwomenoffenders/finalreport-2012
]]>The major items of business were consideration of how the principles behind the Australian Churches’ Covenant could be applied to the Scottish situation and discussion of how the “ecumenical memory” of Scotland could be preserved for the future.
Considerable progress was made on the Australian Covenant proposal. A questionnaire, designed to establish where denominations can already agree and to identify the places where agreement is, at the moment, clearly not possible, was discussed. The next step will be for each denomination’s representative(s) on the Network to complete a questionnaire as a “trial run” both to provide an unofficial picture of the level of agreement and disagreement between the denominations and alos to allow for refinement of the wording of the questions.
At its next meeting the Network will consider the implications of that unofficial response to the survey and agree on any necessary changes to the questions before deciding when and how the questionnaire might be submitted officially to the denominations.
The Network was hopeful that the Australian Churches’ Covenant’s methodology might allow smaller denominations, which did not feel ready to seek full membership of ACTS, to become more closely involved with the ecumenical movement.
From the discussion of the fear of the loss of ecumenical memory came a recommendation that a small task group, to be convened by ACTS’ General Secretary, should be set up to consider ways in which the memories might be gathered and preserved. The Network itself put forward a suggestion that a library of video interviews of people who had played significant parts in the development of the ecumenical life of Scotland should be compiled. It was envisaged that the material gathered would be made available on the web as well as on DVDs.
]]>18 June 2012
Programme for Conference
Developing Spiritual Care in FE Colleges
10.00 – 10.30 Registration and Coffee
10.30 – 10.45 Welcome; Housekeeping; Worship
(Rev. Ian Galloway, College Chaplain)
10.45 – 11.00 The Minister or Representative (Invited)
11.00 – 11.30 The Value of Spiritual Care -
(Moderator of Church of Scotland –
Rev. Albert Bogle)
11.30 – 12.15 Draft Guidance Booklet –
Introduction and Discussion
(Leslie Barrett and Jack Laidlaw)
12.15 – 13.00 Workshop Leaders' Introductions
13.00 – 13.45 Lunch
13.45 – 14.30 Workshops
Multi-Faith Chaplaincy
Operating as a Team
Setting Up a Chaplaincy Room
Setting up a Spiritual Care Team
14.30 – 14.45 Closing Plenary & Worship.
Other Speakers confirmed: Maureen Sier, Georgina Nelson, Heather Hughes
]]>A second Conference, which discussed “Putting the Learner at the Centre”, was held in West Lothian College in December 2011 and now a third Conference is being planned. This is to be held in City of Glasgow College on June 18th and will have as its theme “ Developing Spiritual Care in F.E. Colleges”.
A draft paper with the working title “Guidance on Setting up a Chaplaincy/Spiritual Care Team” will be presented by the Planning Group to the Conference for comment and discussion.
Publicity material for the Conference should be in Colleges shortly after the Easter break. The Conference is being hosted by the City of Glasgow College and, thanks to the College’s generous offer to do this, those who wish to attend will not have to pay a Conference fee.
The Planning Group has also received an offer from Scotland’s Colleges to assist in setting up a web site on which exemplars of material used by Teams will be able to be displayed and through which discussions between Teams will be enabled. The site should be on line after Easter.
Until the new site is available ACTS has agreed to feature on its site the first material to be shared by the existing teams in West Lothian and Reid Kerr Colleges. The material can be found by following the links.
]]>The event started with a moving act of worship, adapted from a ‘A Service of Welcome’ – Iona Abbey Worship Group, and including bible readings to reflect the themes of the day. This was followed by a short video on what the partnership (Murrayfield Parish, The Church of the Good Shepherd ,and Saughtonhall URC) does together and included scenes from a nativity play, their varied community work, study groups and involvement in an overseas project in Nairobi (see below).
]]>The RET is a grouping of church leaders, or their representatives, now centred on the city of Aberdeen. It includes a number of the denominations which are members of ACTS as well as others who are not and also independent Christian fellowships. Workplace Chaplains are also involved as members of the RET.
One of the key roles that the RET has is to work in conjunction with the City Council to promote Christianity and the churches at key events through the year. Many of these take place around Christmas with the RET co-ordinating the churches contribution to the Street Light Parade, the blessing of the Christmas crib in the grounds of the Kirk of St. Nicholas Uniting and the switching on of the lights on the Christmas trees when there is a service of readings and carols. Through these events the RET feels it is able to present the public face of the church to the people of Aberdeen.
The RET also works to bring people in the churches of Aberdeen together. Services are held during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in January each year and on Good Friday there is a pilgrimage walk visiting seven churches in the city centre, each visit focusing on a particular station of the cross.
Another service the RET provides is through the annual wedding fayre held at the Aberdeen Conference Centre. The churches have a stand at the fayre and volunteers provide advice to couples on arranging weddings either in a church or hotel if the couple are looking for a minister to conduct the wedding.
The RET is a loose grouping of churches in Aberdeen that has no formal structure but the Secretary, Joyce can be contacted via the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen office (tel 01224 319154) for further information.
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The Network members discussed the “Future of Scotland” initiative launched by SCVO and noted that ACTS’ Trustees had agreed to support the initiative. John Deighan, Parliamentary Officer of the Roman Catholic Church, and David Bradwell, Scottish Churches’ Parliamentary Officer, encouraged churches to become involved in the debate on independence and to submit responses to the current consultations on independence and the proposed referendum.
Church of Scotland representatives drew attention to the soon to be published Report from the Special Commission on the Purposes of Economic Activity which had been set up by the General Assembly. Network members recognised that this would be a Report of considerable significance and decided to invite a speaker from the Church of Scotland to address an afternoon session of the Network on May 2nd. They also decided that an open invitation to attend the afternoon session should be extended to Churches.
Alastair Cameron, Chief Executive of Scottish Churches Housing Action, spoke of the work his organisation had done, in partnership with the Church of Scotland, to establish what progress local authorities had made towards achieving the Homelessness Targets set in 2002. Alastair argued that there was a need for a national homelessness policy to eliminate what he saw as a “postal code lottery” resulting from local council’s differing interpretations of the targets. He asked all Church representatives to argue in their denominations for discussion of homelessness at their Assemblies and Synods in 2012.
The Network noted that Margo Macdonald MSP had decided to attempt to introduce a new Bill on “Assisted Suicide” to the Parliament. Representatives of several denominations indicated that they thought that their Churches would be submitting responses to her initial consultation.
Other topics featured on the agenda of the meeting included human trafficking; the criminalisation of the purchase of sex; asylum seekers; the proposal to use churches to solemnise civil partnerships; the training of teachers to present Religious and Moral Education; bio-ethics; ageing; and issues which might arise for Churches in a post-referendum Scotland.
Download 'The Light Dawns' here.
Hard copies are available from the ACTS office. Please contact Shona Paterson for more information.
]]>The LEP Gathering is a day event bringing together people from congregations which work together in Local Ecumenical Partnerships to share experiences, celebrate and worship together.This year's event is entitled, 'Stories from the Heart' and will focus on mission. There will be a keynote address from Lt. Col. Alan Burns, Scotland Secretary for the Salvation Army and an opportunity to engage in 'Heart to Heart' conversations led by people from different LEPs.
]]>a report of the ACTS 21 service in Coatbridge;
More than Gold - the 2012 Olympics;
Royal Highland Show 2012;
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and much more.
If you would prefer to receive a hard copy of the newsletter, please contact Shona Paterson.
Network members heard from Lindsey Sanderson, Assistant General Secretary of ACTS, of the Covenant which Australian Churches had adopted. This provided a multi-dimensional way of looking at the relationships between the Churches. Lindsey pointed out that agreement in the Covenant could range from a willingness to support each other in prayer to concurrence on matters of theological principle. The Covenant was not a complete and final document. It was still being added to and amended.
Network members accepted that the Australian Covenant might provide a useful pattern to try to apply to Scotland and which might encourage Churches, which did not feel able to join ACTS, to become more closely engaged with ecumenism. Plans were made to put a proposal to ACTS’ Members’ Meeting which, if approved, would begin the process of exploration of areas of agreement which could form the basis of a Scottish Churches’ Covenant.
The Network also discussed the study paper “One Baptism – Towards Mutual Recognition” which had been produced by the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Group. Members agreed to bring to the next meeting of the Network reports on what their denominations were doing with the paper.
A Thanksgiving Service for the contribution of Scottish Churches House to the work of ecumenism in Scotland and beyond will be held in Dunblane Cathedral on Sat 21 Jan 2012 at 2.30pm.
The service takes place on the Saturday during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and will use the theme for the Week of Prayer, 'We will all be changed.' We encourage as many people as possible to come along to the service and to remember the occasion in their local Unity Week celebrations.
]]>After hearing from The Local Church partnership in Edinburgh's Old Town, they shared experiences and ideas for working together in a number of ways including worshipping together, mission and outreach, developing ministry teams and youth and children's work.
The full report of the morning is available to download.
]]>Statement concerning Scottish Churches House.
For further information please contact the ACTS General Secretary, Br. Stephen Smyth on 01259 216980
]]>To order a hard copy please contact Shona Paterson.
]]>Agreed that the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council should identify a nominee to represent ACTS on the Justice and Peace Commission of the Roman Catholic Church. The nominee will become a member of the Network.
Agreed to give permission to the Anti-Human Trafficking Group to issue a draft letter, encouraging MSPs to support a Private Member’s Bill to criminalise the purchase of sex, to the Churches at an appropriate time.
Received invitations from the Church of Scotland for ecumenical involvement in work on Gaza; Homelessness in Scotland; and the Church of Scotland’s legal position should the Treaty of Union be re-written.
The Network’s next meeting is scheduled to take place on February 8th 2012.
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With the closure of Scottish Churches House in July 2011 SFOE are in a process of re-evaluating their aims and purpose. A task group has been set up which will produce a report with recommendations for the future. This will be presented to the AGM of SFOE in June 2012.
Meanwhile regular bi-monthly mailings are sent to members; day mini-conferences will be held three times a year; and in Edinburgh Ecumenical Friends arrange weekly lunchtime gatherings on Thursdays (September – March).
Friends' activities are coordinated by a Committee, elected at the Annual General Meeting. The office bearers for 2011/2012 are:
Convener : Rt Rev Bruce Cameron
Secretary : Rev Margaret Stewart
Treasurer and Membership Sec. : Mrs Margaret Boland
Further information contact Margaret Stewart at [email protected]
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SFoE Day Conference
MARRIAGE - UNCHANGING OR EVOLOVING ?
The next day Conference is on Saturday 10th March from 10.15am – 4.00pm at Falkirk Old and St Modan’s Parish Church, Falkirk.
Three speakers – Professor Lynn Jamieson, Dr Lesley Orr, and Dr Jean Morrison will help to explore Marriage today from a sociological, biblical/historical, and pastoral context. There will be group discussion and a final plenary with the speakers, addressing some of the contemporary issues for Christians today.
Further information and registration : Margaret Stewart [email protected]
]]>A dedicated Task Group of ACTS worked hard to bring this initiative to Scotland in its promotion and hosting of Gathering events which attracted interest from the First Minister who asked Convener, Ken Lawson, to provide a prayer for Scotland. This year we anticipate it may even become a national holiday!
]]>The date of the next meeting of SCRG is Thursday 9 February 2012 at Inglewood House, Alloa FK10 2HU. Members should gather from 10am (coffee/tea) and the meeting aims to begin when all are gathered or at the latest by 10.30am. Lunch is at 12.30pm and the meeting aims to end by 3.00pm. This Meeting will welcome Bill Harvey as the new Convener taking over the reins, expertly held for many years by David Atkinson.
Looking over the past year the SCRG has been engaged in many initiatives and events, as well as Consultations on matters relating to rural matters.
A very successful Rural Conference was held on 30th August at Falkland Estate. The day's programme coordinated by Convener David Atkinson attracted 33 delegates attending from all over Scotland (and a couple of people from England and Wales!) The Opening Address about the issues facing churches in rural Scotland was extremely interesting. Speaker Rt Rev Mark Strange gave an honest and comprehensive account of the difference between what people perceive life to be like in Rural Scotland, and what it is really like, and how very often people's expectations of life when they move to a rural area are not always realised, and his often difficult and demanding role as Bishop of a large rural landscape. Neil Anderson, Transitional Steward from Falkland Centre for Stewardship spoke about the work of Community Development at Falkland Estate and this was followed by an account of the success of Community Development on South Uist from Deacon Martin Matheson of Storal Uibhist who presented something different. Both accounts were interesting and informative and were very much appreciated by conference participants. In the afternoon session, Rev Lorna Murray from 'Choose Life' spoke about the high incidences of suicide in rural areas and of her work with 'Choose Life' and also with'Breathing Space' (watch out for her article in the next edition of ACTS Newsletter which come out at the end of November). Then participants heard from Pete Ritchie of Whitmuir Organics and his work to offer food fairly produced for communities and the environment. They were both engaging and extremely interesting. The day's reflections were beautifully captured by Dr Elaine Cameron and Bill Harvey as the day ended, everyone leaving with more knowledge than they had before and having enjoyed an exceptionally good conference.
Following on from the success of the two events earlier this year which brought the concept of pilgrimage routes throughout Scotland, Church Leaders gathered at this years Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh and signed a Declaration of Intent (now available to view on this website) Pilgrimage Working Group Convener, Nick Cooke and Network Officer, Shona Paterson have been part of a Long Distance Routes Forum run by Scottish Natural Heritage as part of this work. The next stage will be to set up a Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum, a move which will include those from Scotland's Churches Scheme and will work to deliver the idea in practical terms.
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