In November 2022, Rev Dr Iain Greenshields (the then Moderator of the General Assembly) and the Most Revd Leo Cushley (Roman Catholic Archbishop and Metropolitan of St Andrews and Edinburgh) signed the St Margaret’s Declaration in the presence of Her Royal Princess, the Princess Royal at Dunfermline Abbey. Dr Greenshields said: "I am deeply honoured and privileged to be one of the signatories of the St Margaret's Declaration at Dunfermline Abbey in its 950th year and on St Margaret's Day. This new friendship agreement has been many years in the making and is aptly named after a Scottish Queen who was venerated for her missionary Christian faith and her kindness and generosity to poor people. The declaration reflects the steadfast desire of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland and the Church of Scotland to continue to journey together and to see the healing of division within our nation. Friendship is a very deep relationship, a relationship of conscious and deliberate choice in which individuality is respected but there is room for disagreement. This is a relationship in which we stand alongside one another, support one another, rejoice together and weep together, pray for and with each other, and work together. I would want people across Scottish society to look at this new relationship between the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church and take away a powerful message – there is more that unites us than divides us as we strive to be an ever more united Christian voice in this land.”
Our friends from the Roman Catholic Church contacted us last year regarding a joint venture at Birnie Kirk, one of our buildings earmarked for disposal. This Kirk is steeped in pre-reformation history and an ideal setting and opportunity as part of our ecumenical partnership in connection with the Church of Scotland’s and the Roman Catholic Church’s St Margaret’s Declaration. After Elgin Parish Kirk Session’s approval in January, the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in Scotland have made a bid to keep Birnie Kirk in regular use and have been holding ecumenical mid-week Evensong and monthly Mass on the first Saturday of the month. These services have been well attended by multiple faiths followed by some refreshments and fellowship in the Kirk Hall.
By repute, the Irish Celtic missionary, St Brendan the Navigator, is said to have visited the site and indeed to have established a Church there in place of a pagan shrine in the early 6th century. The Mass on Saturday 3rd August was dedicated to St Brendan starting with a procession from the hall to the Kirk carrying a panel depicting St Brendan in his boat carved from fine sandstone by Pluscarden’s resident stone artist. The Pluscarden Monks were invited to sing the Gregorian Propers. Birnie Kirk is one of the first churches where the early bishops of Moray based their See. Approximately 80 people attended Mass, again mixed faiths. It was indeed a wonderful and joyful occasion conducted by Fr Len Black.
In his sermon at the signing of the Declaration in 2022, Archbishop Cushley said: "The declaration is a consciously new approach to ecumenism, an attempt to re-imagine the path towards Christian unity. Instead of listing our problems and points of friction or grievance, old or new, the Declaration chooses to focus on what we have in common and underline that we treasure together, so much that is inspiring and ancient, profound and beautiful. We stand shoulder to shoulder before an unbelieving world and we wish to respect each other, to be a support to each other, and to do all we can to achieve the unity that the Lord prayed for. And if St Margaret and the first men who came here nearly a thousand years ago were here with us now, I would like to think that they would welcome and approve of us setting out in this way. In friendship, to face the next thousand years, not as enemies or rivals, but as sisters and brothers and friends in Jesus Christ." Amen.
Weekly services are held at Birnie Kirk on Wednesdays at 7pm followed by refreshments in the hall. All will be made most welcome.
