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Church of Scotland rejects union, will remain free of bishops
2003-116-1
Friday, May 23, 2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
The Church of Scotland has overwhelmingly rejected a plan to form a 'super-church' with three other Protestant denominations. The church's general assembly rejected the church union proposals by 384 votes to 99.
The decision at the church's general assembly on May 19 echoed opposition among congregations to the Scottish Church Initiative for Union (SCIFU), which would have broken with 400 years of Presbyterian tradition by creating the office of bishop in the united church.
Some church members had also voiced concerns that the distinctive Presbyterian office of elder would be put at risk, while others feared that a united church based on 'maxi-parishes' formed from the denominations taking part would introduce too much bureaucracy.
The other partners in the union initiative were the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Methodist Church, and the United Reformed Church, but the Church of Scotland is numerically dominant with 40 per cent of all Scottish churchgoers, according to Christian Research, a UK compiler of church statistics.
Erik Cramb, convener of the denomination's ecumenical relations committee, told ENI: 'SCIFU is dead as far as the Church of Scotland is concerned. There will be no continuing burden of arguments.' He admitted he had not foreseen the scale of the defeat and had thought the outcome would be 'too close to call.'
During the debate, the Rev. Paraic Reamonn said church members were being asked to 'vote ourselves out of existence.' Gordon Savage, another delegate, said: 'We are surely all one in Christ Jesus and we don't need to negotiate complicated joinery of denominations to make that apparent.'
The church union initiative began in 1994, and opposition to the office of bishop became clear as soon as it was proposed. Cramb explained that the idea was for a new sort of bishop, chosen for six years and then reverting to another job. 'It was not the old, monarchical bishop--more an extended moderator [elected for one year to head the Church of Scotland]. I'm disappointed that I failed to persuade the Assembly,' he said.
Michael Henley, Anglican bishop of St. Andrews and chair of the unity initiative, regretted that the general assembly 'did not have the courage to support the SCIFU proposals. I am still very interested in pursuing the SCIFU initiatives with the Methodists and the URC. This idea is not going to go away.'
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