Fond farewell to Fife ministers Marc and Catriona after 20 years service

Rev Marc Prowe and Rev Catriona Morrison, who have been joint ministers of Linktown Church and Auchtertool Kirk for the past 20 years, will be starting their new ministry in Invergowrie at the end of the month.

They will give their farewell service at Auchtertool Kirk at 9.30am and Linktown Church at 11am this Sunday.

They will be much-missed in the local community where they have worked and brought up their family.

Catriona, who was born in Aberdour, and Marc, who is originally from Germany, told The Press they are sad to be leaving the town which has been their home for the past two decades, but they feel now is the time for a change and to do something new after receiving the call to move on.

The couple first met at university while Catriona was on an exchange programme in Germany. They both lived and worked there for five years but Catriona said they had always planned to come back to Scotland.

She revealed how they ended up coming to the Lang Toun: “We decided we wanted to move to Scotland so we looked around to see which churches were vacant across the country.

"But when we met the people here in Auchtertool and Linktown it just became very clear we could work with them - we liked their good humour and openness - and we really liked it here so that was the decision made.

"I was happy to come back to Fife, having lived here before, and I knew it was a good place to live,” she said.

“It was March 2000 when we came here with a toddler and a baby. I was the full time minister here, it was easier for me as Marc was a minister at a church in Germany so he was a stay at home time dad for the first eight years.”

The couple then had their third son so Marc became a locum minister while Catriona was on maternity leave. Once their youngest was at school, Marc looked at moving into the Church of Scotland, taking the necessary courses and completing paperwork.

Catriona and Marc then applied to become joint ministers and were voted in by the congregations of Linktown and Auchtertool in 2008.

The couple said there have been a number of highlights and memories to cherish from their time in Kirkcaldy.

Marc said one which stands out for him is the Auchtertool Pathways Project which saw a path opened up for a country walk between the village and the Kirk and this was created by working with pupils from Auchtertool Primary School.

While Catriona said she has enjoyed working closely with Auchtertool Primary, Kirkcaldy West Primary and Balwearie High School over the years.

Marc said he has also enjoyed working with members of the Young Church who enjoyed various activities at Linktown Church for many years: “This was really strong for many years and a lot of fun. We did fundraisers at the farmer’s market and did all kinds of projects with them,” he said.

“We also had a youth club which started in 2005 and ran until 2018. We started off with about 30 and at its peak we had 60 young people, in primary seven and upwards, at the club every Friday night during term time. It was somewhere where they could hang out safely.

"They had activities like football, trampolining, table tennis and it was very much about teamwork.

“One of the youth clubbers we had found it so inspiring that he actually went on to do youth work as a career.”

Catriona continued: “Part of it is all the unseen stuff - the work you do in the community, working on local projects as well as the individual relationships you build up with people.

"As a minister you walk with them in different parts of their lives so you might take granny’s funeral but then you might baptise the wee one and then there is a wedding and you get to know people really really well, which is all part of being a minister.”

Catriona explained why they have now decided to leave Kirkcaldy: “The basic answer is we feel the call to move on,” she said

“It was strange how it happened. Back in March before lockdown, there were changes happening in Kirkcaldy, the churches were working closer together and we were keen to be part of that and have been, but then one afternoon we came home separately and we both said we felt it was time to move on.

“Our children have all grown up and gone on to become students so we felt it was time for us to do something different.”

Marc said: “We are going into Invergowrie which is a small village that has a big new build area, developing a relationship with people from that new area as community chaplains, seeing where that leads and what is needed.

“We will be inducted there on October 28.”

Catriona added: “It is hard to leave Kirkcaldy and hard to leave all the people we have walked with over the years and know so well, but we feel it is the right thing for us to do.

"It will be good for someone else to come into the town centre mix here as well.”

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