St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Carden Place, Aberdeen

Pro-Cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney

Nichola Mills

From the Rectory

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As I write this, we have rain and an overcast sky. We must not grumble though, after all, we did have a few days of really nice sunny and hot weather not very long ago.

Since our last Magazine, I have been very busy. The status of our Covid awareness regulations seems to change on a 24 hour basis. The Province, in conjunction with the Scottish Parliament, has worked extremely hard to keep all of us updated with regards to our shared worship. Of course, it always gives me great pleasure to pre-record a service each week to provide access to our worship for those who do not yet feel 100% confident to join us again in a more physically communal sense. As we move forward with the ever-fluid situation, we watch with great hope and much caution, for the next changes to be announced.

We have recently started singing again in church and this is such a welcome and joyous return to near-normal status. During the preceding months, our very own Louisa Donaldson has stepped up to the plate as our Cantor for numerous services and I am sure I speak for us all when I say that she has done, and continues to do, a magnificent job, adding great depth and feeling to our worship. I think it is incredibly brave for one person to be relied upon so much, and in Louisa we have experienced such humble appliance to her task. I would also like to thank Matthew McVey our Organist, who has been extremely diligent, providing music for our live and pre-recorded services, plus directing a very recent choral accompaniment at one of our Sunday services. We have all, it seems, learned to adapt and improvise. Hopefully, it will not be too long before we have all of the remaining pews back inside the main ‘body of the kirk’, thereby allowing us to tidy up and begin to use the choir vestry once more.

St Mary’s Vestry Committee has also been extremely busy of late. We have been successful in an application to the Provincial Buildings Committee for funding to assist with the ongoing maintenance of our Church buildings and I am deeply grateful to all those who worked hard to make it happen. We are also working through other funding streams to assist with work and with other ventures, one of which is the Recovery and Renewal Fund, set up by the Province to assist in our mission to the community, and to enable us as a church to reach out in more diverse and adaptable ways. As you will know, we are hoping to re-develop some of the parking space at the west end of the church with a therapeutic/peace garden, and it is hoped that should we be successful with our application to the Recovery and Renewal Fund, this would go some way to offsetting the cost of the work carried out.

Many of you will remember the late Canon Jim Alexander, who passed away recently after a long battle with dementia. Canon Jim was a stalwart of St Mary’s for just under 20 years and a great servant to the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney for many more. It was the desire of Canon Jim’s family that his funeral service be carried out at St Mary’s, and I was deeply honoured to be able to officiate.  We also lost another Priest of great renown, the late Canon Ken Gordon. Canon Ken passed away peacefully at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after a brave battle with cancer. Again, Ken was another long-time servant of this diocese, having been Rector at St Devenick’s for 30 years combined with service in other churches well past his retirement. I was very humbled to be able to provide the final sacrament to Canon Ken two days before he passed away. May they both rest in God’s peace.

General Synod was again, an online affair, taking place over 2 days in early June. I have to say that it was, in my opinion, a very successful gathering from across the Province, and much was discussed during that time. None more so than the St Andrew’s Declaration, which outlines much closer collaboration in the ‘Common Calling’ with our brothers and sisters from the Church of Scotland. The declaration was approved by a majority vote which indicated that there was work to do.

There was also much discussion about environmental issues by which we as a Church should continue to address and lead by example. I am acutely aware of the need to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we possibly can, and I look to everyone to be of the same mind. You will have noted recently that I no longer print orders of service. This is not a new concept for me, but rather a return to a previous practice. Of course, I accept that there will be special occasions when a printed order of service is required, however, when that is not the case, we will use the resources already to hand in the way of pre-printed service books etc. By doing this we are making an effort to contribute to the Scottish Episcopal Church’s aim that we can be as environmentally aware as possible in all that we do. I am of course always open to suggestion about other areas we can improve upon.

I very recently completed my training to become a member of the Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) panel system. This will not affect my ministry, but enhance it, as it gives me an opportunity to work closely with a team of other dedicated volunteers who have great concern for children and young people in this country. It goes without saying that my priorities will always be as Rector to St Mary’s, however, this enables me to provide outreach in a unique fashion to our community.

I am also now a member of the ‘Global Partnerships Committee’, which is a committee responsible for supporting church projects and people across the world. It enables the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC), to reach out in prayer and commit to the needs of the wider church community. The Global Partnership Committee is part of the Mission board of the SEC and will meet several times a year to discuss and action if necessary, applications received.

I was delighted that our Photograph Competition was such a resounding success. As many of you will know, I have recently just launched the next challenge, which is a ‘Short Poem’ competition. I sincerely hope that this also meets with the same enthusiasm as the previous one.

It continues to be a joy to minister to both St Mary’s and St Andrew’s congregations, and now that restrictions are easing somewhat, I am hopeful of making home visits once more. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t just turn up on your doorstep without prior warning or approval. I have really missed this essential part of my pastoral ministry, and it is really important to me to get back into the groove as far as this is concerned. By the time this is published I hope to have begun visiting again, and where necessary, providing the Holy Sacrament of Communion when requested.

Sunday the 15th of August will be our Patronal Festival and I am hoping to ensure it is one to remember. The easing of restrictions should allow us to accommodate a larger choir, more musical choices and increased involvement from all attending.  We are also using the occasion as a ‘Gift Day’ to St Mary’s as part of our continued fund-raising requirements. Please give this some thought, whether you are able to attend or not.

I would like to conclude by thanking everyone who has volunteered their help over the past several months since our last publication. No matter what type of ministry is undertaken to ensure we are an open, friendly and welcoming church, each is as important as the other which is why I am so grateful for your support in my own ministry as your Rector. To my Vestry Officers, Sacristan, Flower arrangers, church cleaning team, Organist, Rota providers, Readers, Intercessors; to each and everyone who steps through our doors, no matter how often, thank you and may God’s blessing be with you always.

Reverend Canon Terry Taggart

Rector

St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral


Report from the General Synod

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Much business at this year’s General Synod (again on Zoom but this time over two days) was preliminary or ongoing, with no momentous votes. Topics covered included the form of future elections of bishops, bullying and harassment policies, clergy wellbeing (including the very important matter of clergy time off) and of course the perennial discussions on quota, stipends, pensions and investments.

For three topics we were able to form break-out groups for detailed discussion. One of these was episcopal elections, and the other two were the climate emergency and, with some reference to the peri- and post-pandemic world, the strategic direction of the Church. Church in Society has provided some very useful guidelines for how a congregation might head towards carbon neutrality, and our stewardship of the environment is one of the Anglican Five Marks of Mission that stimulated some useful discussion on the Church’s strategic direction.

This was our second Zoom General Synod – last year’s was one day in December to deal with important or urgent business. This year in some ways felt stranger – the weather was right, the business extended over two days with morning and evening prayer, and it was easier to imagine again meeting in person, sharing coffee breaks and meals, and renewing old acquaintances. At least this time we had some more input from our interfaith and interdenominational guests, though technology, as so often, meant that there were one or two problems along the way. On the whole, however, all was well, and we can look forward, perhaps, to more normal times next year.

General Synod was postponed this year from its usual June two and a half day session in Edinburgh to a one-day Zoom meeting on 5th. December.  The technology, already tested at the General Assembly, allowed all the participants (around 130 of us) to raise questions, make comments, and vote, just as we would at St. Paul’s & St. George’s, where this time only the General Synod Office staff and a few others were gathered. Mostly the technology worked, though there were inevitably a few glitches.

The meeting began not with coffee and chat but with a refresher on the new way of doing things. Then we had the Synod Eucharist with the Primus officiating and his charge to Synod, which concentrated chiefly on fighting bullying within the church, something highlighted by a clergy welfare survey last year.

The usual elections followed, allowing us plenty of practice with the voting buttons. Then Standing Committee presented the annual report and accounts and the unfamiliar news that quota this year, the amount of money that each diocese pays to the province, was to be reduced significantly to allow some leeway to churches struggling in the current circumstances. This was followed by group discussions on what we had found particularly valuable during lockdown, and how the church could be resourced to enhance or improve that for the future.

There was a generous lunch break to allow us time away from the screen, and this was followed by a review of the process of reforming Canon 4, concerning the election of bishops. The committee working on this would like input from everyone who has an involvement in these elections or who has had in the past. The afternoon session also looked at the revised Safeguarding Policy for the church, and at conditions for the clergy – stipend, time off, and again bullying.

Standing Committee returned to report on ethical investment, an ongoing revision of where the church’s money is used, and this was linked to the next topic of debate, Church in Society’s motion concerning climate change and the church’s reaction to it. It was felt that the church should be leading, not simply following, in this matter. Again this topic had echoes in the Provincial Youth presentation that followed, which covered reactions to lockdown, climate change and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Evening prayer closed the meeting, which like so many other things this year had notes of the familiar and layers of the strange. So little chance to socialise with our friends across the Province, or to greet visitors from other denominations and faiths; so strange to see everyone in gilets and thick jumpers when we usually meet in June; so odd to have synod business in the middle of one’s own home. But on the plus side, as someone remarked, at least we didn’t have to queue for the ladies’ loo!

Nicola Mills

Lay Representive

Jane Haining

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At General Synod 2021 Synod approved the inclusion of Jane Haining in the SEC Calendar. This account of her life is taken from the Synod papers:

Jane Haining was born in the Borders, lived in Glasgow and felt called as a Church of Scotland Missionary in Budapest, Hungary. Her mission work was caring for Jewish children. At the outbreak of World War II, she was asked to return to Scotland and refused. She was subsequently arrested and transported to Auschwitz having refused to abandon the children in her charge. She is the only Scot known to have died in Auschwitz … On account of her refusal to abandon those for whom she had care, and her death as a result, she is recognised as Righteous among the Nations (an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis). She is also an outstanding example of Christian witness in a life lived for others – and in this case, those of other faiths – and the willingness to face death as a result.

Our Favourite Hymns

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The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord
She is his new creation
By water and the word
From Heav’n he came and 
    sought her
To be his holy bride
With his dear love he bought her
And for her life he died.

Here’s one of the first hymns we sang in St. Mary’s as soon as singing was allowed again in June! It’s surprising that this seems to be the only hymn by Samuel John Stone in our hymnbooks, as he was a prolific and, in his time, popular, hymn writer. Born in 1839, he was the son of a clergyman (who was also a hymnwriter and botanist) and followed him into the church. Like his father he served in several churches: he was curate first in New Windsor from 1862, and while he was there he wrote a collection of hymns for the congregation based on the twelve articles of the Apostles’ Creed, Lyra Fidelium – this hymn was one of them. Later he served as his father’s curate at Haggerston in Middlesex, at that time a new parish. He succeeded his father to the living in 1874, and died there in 1900.

The tune to which we usually sing it, Aurelia, was written by Charles Wesley’s grandson, Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810 – 1876), as a setting for Jerusalem the Golden. Wesley was a professional organist and composer, holding posts at the cathedrals of Hereford, Exeter, Winchester and Gloucester, and worked hard to raise the profile of church musicians. He composed many hymn tunes and also wrote the words to several, including Lead me, O Lord.


Book Review

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Letters to a Diminished Church, Dorothy L. Sayers: Goodness, this could have been written last week, instead of just after the Second World War. Sayers is knowledgeable and witty, and can take us from the Apostles’ Creed to crime fiction to T.S. Eliot with ease and purpose, and you find yourself nodding and agreeing with all of it. Though there are excursions elsewhere, the main theme running through the book is human creativity, how it reflects that of God and how it is essential for our happiness and fulfilment in our spiritual life, whatever that life may be. The context of industrialisation, global crisis, economic struggles and celebrity culture are very familiar to us. My only regret is that this edition, which includes questions for discussion groups, also incorporates both American spellings and some odd, probably spellcheck related, errors I’m sure Sayers herself would have winced at.