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Kirk general assembly set to open Female minister becomes Moderator
(about 10 hours later)
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland opens later in Edinburgh, with a female minister as its moderator for the first time. The first female minister to be appointed Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has been sworn into office.
The Reverend Sheilagh Kesting is the second female moderator but the first who is a minister, 38 years after a woman was first ordained. The Reverend Sheilagh Kesting, 53, took the position at the opening of the Kirk's annual gathering in Edinburgh.
The Duke of York will attend the assembly as Lord High Commissioner - the Queen's representative. She becomes the second woman to hold the honorary role after Dr Alison Elliot, an elder who was appointed three years ago.
First Minister Alex Salmond will also be attending. The minister, from Stornoway, succeeds the Rev Alan McDonald.
Ecumenical Relations They formally exchanged greetings and positions during the historic ceremony on Saturday, watched by a gathering of VIPs.
The assembly is the Church of Scotland's governing body. I think it will be tremendously inspirational for women in many churches around the world who are longing to be able to be ministers Sheilagh Kesting
It meets for a week of intensive deliberation each May. Speaking before the ceremony, Miss Kesting said she hoped her appointment would inspire women across the world to follow in her footsteps.
The moderator is elected to preside over proceedings at the assembly. She said: "I think it will be tremendously inspirational for women in many churches around the world who are longing to be able to be ministers in the church but it is not yet possible."
She will lead daily worship, keep order, rule on points of order and sign documents on behalf of the assembly. She added that she was "acutely conscious" that she was the first woman minister to hold the 12-month post, but insisted she was happy that those who nominated her placed her gender "low on the list of attributes".
This year's moderator, Miss Kesting, 53, from Stornoway in the Isle of Lewis, is secretary of the Church of Scotland Committee on Ecumenical Relations. Among the audience were Scotland's new First Minister Alex Salmond, The Duke of York, and Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini QC.
Dr Alison Elliot, who was the general assembly's moderator in 2004, was an elder in the Kirk. The Duke, in his role as Lord High Commissioner, is set to host a garden party at Holyroodhouse, which Miss Kesting and other members of the General Assembly are expected to attend.
Battle sectariansim
Miss Kesting, the current secretary of the Kirk's committee on ecumenical relations, said she hoped to work to battle sectarianism and to help give a voice to the country's smaller churches.
A keen gardener and singer, she was educated at the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway and Edinburgh University.
She was inducted to Overtown Parish Church, Lanarkshire, in 1980 and in 1986 she was inducted to the newly united congregation of St Andrew's High, Musselburgh, East Lothian.
The Duke of York will represent the Queen all week in his role as Lord High Commissioner of the General Assembly when he is due to visit Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and Fife as the week progresses.
This year's annual gathering, at the Assembly building on The Mound, runs until Friday 25 May.