EDITOR — I was amongst those from Cowal Kirk attending a meeting last Thursday about the future of Church of Scotland buildings in Dunoon.
That meeting, held in the unheated St John’s sanctuary, while the heated/prepared hall was left unused, perhaps reflected the coolness of the proceedings. I had always expected empathy and a caring attitude to be at the very heart of what Christianity is about.
Sadly, judging by the manner and tone of Thursday’s meeting, today’s CoS sets little store by such values. I had expected comments from concerned church members to be properly recognised and taken forward; after all, we were discussing the need for Dunoon to retain its ONE remaining Church of Scotland, since the once-thriving High Kirk was closed and sold only two years ago, despite much local opposition.
There was no answer to one question posed — why the rush to take such a decisive step? Nor any apparent recognition of the value and importance of this very well maintained church (and hall) to our community.
Instead we got the impression that we should listen to lectures, ignoring these very powerful arguments in favour of repeated claims that the space (i.e. the sanctuary) was too large, and that churches are closing down all across Scotland. But, so far, each town in Argyll has retained one CoS building, and many of us believe Dunoon should do likewise, despite the choice now being limited.
At Thursday’s meeting, the cold-heartedness which pervaded the discussions led me (and perhaps others) to lose confidence in the present Church of Scotland administration — distant as it is, and apparently working only on selected financial figures and, in the case of St John’s Church, some very misleading, if not inaccurate assessments.
You can’t blame people for leaving the church in such circumstances; in many cases there is the feeling that the rug has been pulled from beneath them by the CoS, often despite a lifetime’s work and effort. And worse, that the CoS does NOT care about them or the local community… and is too distant and impersonal, with financial considerations dominating its decisions.
Yet last Monday a post appeared on Facebook from the General Assembly asserting that “The Church of Scotland is better prepared than ever to care for its many buildings.”
Perhaps Dunoon’s community needs to mount an effective campaign to keep St John’s — one of our town’s few A-listed special buildings — and show that we actually do care about it!
