This past weekend around the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity (24 to 26 October) saw the Scottish Episcopal Institute’s first residential weekend of the academic year 2025–26.
The weekend took place at the Conforti Centre, Coatbridge, with a presentation on Friday evening by the Rev Dr Anna-Claar Thomasson-Rosingh, SEI’s Director of Contextual Formation, on the ‘Gifts of the Holy Spirit’.
Saturday morning featured a talk from Dr Mary Briggs, an interdisciplinary scholar of religion with a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Edinburgh. Mary’s work employs ethnographic and media methods, and she has taught workshops on conducting ethical research with vulnerable communities.
On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, in response to SEI ordinands’ interests at the Orientation Week, Mr Edward McGurn of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland led workshops on the five key stages of preparing the voice for a speaking engagement: posture & alignment; breathing; resonance; projecting the voice; and articulation.
Finally, Anna-Claar presided and preached at Sunday’s Eucharist according to the Scottish Liturgy (1970).
Kudos to Anna-Claar for being the sole SEI staff person at the weekend! Other staff members were engaged in church activities elsewhere, and one fell ill with tonsillitis on Friday, so Anna-Claar took everything on in tandem with the generous and able support of SEI’s IME1 cohort.
Please keep our students and staff in your prayers in Trinitytide as they form themselves, under the Holy Spirit, to be devout ministers in Christ’s Church.
(Pictured from left to right: Mr Peter Ranscombe, Mr Daniel Farrell, Rev Dr Anna-Claar Thomasson-Rosingh, Ms Dianne Pallett and Dr Karen Kiefer.)
