“I think Monday’s vote is a real step forward for the Church, I think it’s been a long-time coming. “After some years of vigorous debate at times, there is a sense of ‘at peace with modernity’, which I think is grand. It feels certainly – as someone who has been in the Assembly Hall all week – like a Church that is much more at ease. “I think the Church is at ease now with the diversity of relationships and marriages that take place in modern Scotland. “The Church has quite a nuanced view in terms of Christian marriage – it understands that in modern Scotland there are a variety of different relationships,” he said. He and university lecturer David Smith had earlier entered into a civil partnership, but converted their union to a marriage at Aberdeen Registrars, just days after same-sex marriage was legalised in Scotland. “It’s really important for the Church’s place in modern Scotland too, actually for itself, that it’s been able to take this step.” Scott RennieĪmid years of tension and arguments over reform within the Church, Rev Rennie was not able to marry his husband in a religious ceremony, as he would have wanted, back in 2015. Originally from the Granite City, he returned to his hometown from Brechin Cathedral in Angus, where he had previously served as minister. Rev Rennie found his calling in 1999 and spent ten years at Queen’s Cross. “So I’ll think there will be a flurry and there might even be a race to see who can be the first one to do it, which is lovely.” Rev Rennie said: “I certainly know people who have wanted to get married but they have been absolutely determined that they are going to be married in church, with their own family, with their church family, and they’ve been determinedly waiting for that day to come. It is a decision that has immediate ramifications, with the first same-sex weddings set to take place in Church of Scotland buildings later this year. Monday’s landmark vote has paved the way for parish ministers and deacons to apply to become authorised celebrants to conduct same-sex ceremonies. But now when you look at the Church, the overwhelming majority is towards progress, a Church more at ease with itself and with issues around human sexuality.” There were more, I suppose, stringent voices against change. “Of course, the mainstay of the Church was really on board, even back then. “I’ll always look back at my time in Aberdeen, at Queen’s Cross, as a very, very special time in my life. And I suppose as an Aberdonian I was really proud and over the moon about that, and that’s why it was so difficult to leave. “But it was a great benefit to me and my ministry and I really became part of the community fabric in the city of Aberdeen. “In essence, the controversy around my appointment gave me a great base for my ministry in Aberdeen because I was instantly well-known and if I had hoped to leave a small town in Angus for some anonymity in Aberdeen, well that was blown out the water. “I mean, it isn’t, it was about 13 years ago, but when I reflect today on where we are and how much things have changed in that short time, it’s quite remarkable to me. “It honestly seems like a world ago (that I joined Queen’s Cross in Aberdeen),” he told STV News.
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Perhaps nobody is better placed to comment on the changing attitudes of the Church and its role in modern Scotland than Rev Rennie, who has faced intense media scrutiny as he navigates his professional and personal life.
“I’ll think there will be a flurry and there might even be a race to see who can be the first one to do it, which is lovely.” Scott Rennie Gay rights campaigners hailed the move, but more than 12,000 signed a petition in protest.įast forward 13 years and the 2022 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland voted this week to allow parish ministers and deacons to marry same-sex couples if they wish. The atmosphere around his departure for a new challenge at a church in the bright lights of London’s West End was all a far cry from his arrival at Queen’s Cross in 2009.īack then he was the first openly gay Protestant minister after being appointed to the role by the Church of Scotland – a move that fiercely divided the Kirk and drew angry protests. STV News Rev Rennie addressed the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland this week.