Sheilagh Kesting (born 10 June 1953) is a
Scottish minister of the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...
. She served as
Moderator of the General Assembly
The moderator of the General Assembly is the chairperson of a General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbyteries may also style the chairperson as moderator. The Oxford Dictionary states t ...
from May 2007 to May 2008. She was the first female minister to be elected Moderator; she was the second woman as a female
elder,
Alison Elliot, had been elected for the 2004/2005 session. Since 1993, she has been based at the
Church of Scotland Offices in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
as the full-time Secretary of the Church of Scotland Committee on
Ecumenical Relations. She retired in September 2016 and was created a Dame of the
Order of St Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope.
The order is one of ...
by
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
in November 2016 in recognition of her exceptional service to the Holy See, and as a result of her commitment to ecumenism in Scotland.
Early life and education
Born in
Stornoway,
Isle of Lewis, Kesting was educated at the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway and at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, where she graduated with a BA and a BD.
Ordained ministry
She was probationer for the ministry at
St. John's Renfield Church, Glasgow
St. John's Renfield Church is a parish church of the Church of Scotland, serving Kelvindale in the west end of Glasgow, Scotland. It is within the Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Glasgow.
Location
The church building is situated in Beaconsfie ...
. She then worked for a few months at the Tom Allan Centre, Glasgow, working mainly with homeless women. Her first charge as a
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...
minister was Overtown Parish Church, near
Motherwell, North Lanarkshire
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanar ...
, from 1980 until 1986. She was then minister at St Andrew's High Church,
Musselburgh,
East Lothian until 1993.
[Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, Volume XI (pages 36, 184 and 447), T&T Clark Ltd, Edinburgh, 2000, ]
She has long held a keen interest and concern for ecumenical relations, leading to her appointment as Secretary to the Committee on Ecumenical Relations in 1993. She was also Secretary to the ecumenical conversations, the Scottish Churches Initiative for Union, the talks with the
United Free Church of Scotland
The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; gd, An Eaglais Shaor Aonaichte, sco, The Unitit Free Kirk o Scotland) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and ...
which led to the recent signing of a Covenant, the continuing talks with the
Free Church of Scotland She is the joint secretary of the Joint Commission on Doctrine (of the Church of Scotland and the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
).
Her formal style (following the end of her year as Moderator) is the Very Reverend Dr Sheilagh Kesting. She was succeeded as Moderator in May 2008 by the Rev
David Lunan
David Ward Lunan is a Church of Scotland minister. On 30 October 2007 he was nominated to be the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for 2008-9, formally being elected as Moderator on the first day of the Assembly (15 May ...
.
See also
*
References
External links
Church of Scotland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kesting, Sheilagh M.
Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
20th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland
21st-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland
People from Stornoway
Living people
1953 births
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh