Lady Elish Angiolini was appointed by King Charles as the Lord High Commissioner of the Church of Scotland's 2025 General Assembly
Lady Elish Angiolini was appointed by King Charles as the Lord High Commissioner of the Church of Scotland's 2025 General Assembly. Photo: Ian Wallman

Roman Catholic represents King Charles at the Scottish General Assembly

 — May 20, 202520 mai 2025
Nicholas Jesson

A news story last Saturday announced that a Roman Catholic had been appointed to represent King Charles at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. This would seem to be a very strange story from a Canadian perspective. Canadians hold a variety of opinions about the role of the monarchy, but we don’t expect the monarch to be part of the decision-making bodies of our churches. This is just one of the interesting aspects of having a “national” or established church that we have not experienced in Canada.

The Church of Scotland grew out of the 16th-century Reformation in Scotland. Reformed under the leadership of John Knox and others, it is a Reformed or Calvinistic church. Presbyterianism has spread from Scotland around the world. The Presbyterian Church in Canada, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, is the principal expression of Presbyterianism here, though there are several other Canadian forms of Presbyterianism. The highest decision-making body in a Presbyterian Church is the General Assembly. Commissioners to the General Assembly examine the work and laws of the church and make decisions that affect its future. Meeting for the first time in 1560, the year of the Scottish Reformation, in Scotland, the General Assembly meets annually. (The Presbyterian Church in Canada also meets annually; this year the PCC General Assembly will be in Hamilton.) The Lord High Commissioner addresses the Assembly at its opening and closing sessions, and attends much of the daily business, but does not directly engage with or influence the debates. In 1689, a law established in the UK Parliament barred Roman Catholics from holding this post. A recent change to this law made this year’s appointment possible. Reflecting on her appointment, Lady Elish Angiolini said: “While I have had the privilege and the terror of being the first woman in a number of historic roles, being the Lord High Commissioner with my very own Act of Parliament had never occurred to me.”

The revision of the law to allow this appointment is just one effect of a recent ecumenical agreement between the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church in Scotland. In 2022, the two churches approved the St. Margaret Declaration of Friendship. The declaration offers “a decisive and irrevocable statement of our friendship with one another, based on our shared faith in Christ.” It was approved by the General Assembly and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. The declaration speaks of the shared faith and common ground that unites the churches, saying: “We recognise each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, and we wish to express our friendship and respect for one another as fellow Christians, citizens and partners in announcing the kingdom of God in our land.”

The declaration describes the churches’ shared beliefs, “rooted in the Apostles, Christ’s first disciples,” and acknowledges a common heritage as Christians in Scotland. “We recall with gratitude to God the earliest missionaries, our forebears in the faith, who lived and preached the Christian faith to our land,” it says. “We recall those from that time who led and formed the Church, nurturing a society inspired by Christian values, including St. Ninian, St. Columba, and St. Margaret.”

The St. Margaret Declaration stands within a broader context of ecumenical agreements in Scotland. In 2016, the Columba Declaration between the Church of Scotland and the Church of England marked a commitment from these two churches. There is a difference between the Scottish experience of a “national church” and the English experience of an established church, but each has played a significant role in forming their respective national identities. In 2021, the St. Andrew Declaration was established between the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Anglican church in Scotland. And now to close the circle, in 2025 the St. Ninian’s Declaration is proposed between the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Catholic Church in Scotland.

A Declaration of Friendship is similar to the covenants that have been established in parts of Canada and other countries. For example, the St. Ninian Declaration encourages joint worship and prayer, shared preparation for baptism and confirmation, common study of faith, co-operation in lay and ordained ministry, and shared witness to the world. Similar elements are found in many of these ecumenical instruments. Several recent dialogue statements have encouraged these local agreements. Perhaps the most significant example is the “Growing Together in Unity and Mission” statement of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission in 2007. As a sign of increasing maturity in ecumenical relationships between the churches, these dialogues have moved beyond discussions of the historic divisions between our churches and have begun to propose steps towards removing barriers to cooperation and shared mission. Covenants, or declarations of friendship, are one step along this path.

Posted: May 20, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14593
Categories: News • In this article: Anglican, Catholic, covenant, Presbyterian Transmis : 20 mai 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14593
Catégorie : News • Dans cet article : Anglican, Catholic, covenant, Presbyterian


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