Church with 900-year history closed in Scotland

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – The Church of Scotland has closed the country’s oldest church. Birnie Kirk in Elgin, Moray, which has been the site of worship for 900 years.

The place is steeped in history, the site of an earlier church dedicated to the Irish Missionary Saint Brendan, and the location of a cathedral, predating both cathedrals in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Local villagers are outraged saying church authorities are breaking up a community and a family, where people look out for each other’s needs.

They say the church is their spiritual home, the place where people have been married and buried in living memory, and worshippers now face a 20 mile round trip to attend  a service.

The Church of Scotland said it had to take the decision based on falling numbers in the congregation, and financial pressures. Usually only 20 people turn up for Sunday worship, but more than 100 turned out for the last service on Sunday.