The worship of God the Holy Trinity is central to our life as a Christian community. There are many opportunities for worship at St Ninian's Cathedral. As well as weekly services, there are special services during the seasons of the Christian year and services to mark the stages of life: birth, marriage and death. All our worship is centred on the Eucharist, the service Jesus commanded us to do, but the Eucharist is not our only act of worship. Find out about the richness of our liturgy below.
Our current services are:
Sunday - Sung Eucharist 11.00am
This is a Sung Mass using the 1982 Scottish Liturgy and with music led by our choir. It usually lasts just over an hour. Children are very welcome and in term time it is followed by their Sunday Club.
Third Sunday in the month - Choral Evensong 4.00pm
This is sung by our choir using the timeless words of the Scottish Book of Common Prayer. Everyone is welcome to attend this service of glorious music and prayerful reflection, please visit the music page to discover about music for evensong and other services.
Wednesday - Holy Eucharist 11.00am
This is a contemplative said Mass in the Lady Chapel using the 1982 Scottish Liturgy. It usually lasts half an hour.
Thursday - Toddler Church in the Lady Chapel 10.30am to 12.00 in term time
This is a cross between a parent and toddler group, and a church service for 0-5 year olds. The first hour is for play and chat. There will be toys and books available, and grown-ups will be offered a hot drink. Then at 11:30 we tidy up and do our ‘circle time liturgy’. Each term a simple Eucharist is celebrated for the children. It begins on 20 February 2025.
The Daily Office - Tuesday to Friday Morning Prayer is at 9.30am and Evening Prayer at 5.30pm
These offices use a shortened form of the Scottish Prayer Book offices of Mattins and Evensong and are partly sung in Gregorian Chant. All are welcome, but on some days it will not be possible so please contact the Provost or the office to confirm dates.
Worship helps us go deeper into the Mystery of Christ. We celebrate important days and seasons in the Christian calendar with special services and rituals. The Christian year transforms us by helping us enter into the life of Jesus Christ. There are three main parts:
The Easter Cycle: the seasons of Lent and Easter, centred on the Paschal Mystery: the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ
The Christmas Cycle: the seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, centred on the Incarnation: God becoming human in Christ
Ordinary Time: During the rest of the year, before Lent and after Pentecost, we meditate on this great Mystery of Christ.
There are also the feasts of the saints and other themes. May is Mary’s month, in September’s Season of Creation we reflect on our beautiful but endangered world, and in November, as the leaves fall, we pray for the dead.
A Kalendar for 2025 with all the feast days and psalms and readings used in our worship can be downloaded HERE
Baptism is the start of the Christian journey, as we turn to Christ and join his Church. It is joining the Christian family and becoming a Christian, a member of the Body of Christ. Baptism is a Sacrament – an outward sign that conveys an inward grace. It is a simple ritual using water, oil and a form of words and is usually done at the Eucharist on Sunday. All are invited to be baptised; it is preceded by finding out more about the Christian faith.
We baptise babies and children as well as adults because God’s love is for all and not dependent on our intellectual ability or knowledge. All the baptised, including children, are invited to receive the body and blood of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine of Holy Communion. Why we do this is explained in the article by the Provost Holy Communion for babies, or what it means to be human.
The Provost welcomes enquiries about baptisms (christenings). Contact Enable JavaScript to view protected content. for more information.
No fee is charged for baptisms but we do accept donations.
Confirmation is the acceptance of taking on the promises made at baptism. Candidates for confirmation will go through a course of learning about the Christian life led by the Provost or a member of the ministry team in order to get to know Jesus Christ and his Church and to receive help for living the Christian life in the modern world. Whilst confirmation preparation will take place with the priest, the Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane will confirm candidates though the anointment of holy oils.
God is love and we celebrate human love in all its forms. St Ninian's Cathedral is a beautiful place to get married. It is a spectacular building, easily accessible and seating about 400. It is in the centre of the fair city of Perth and within easy reach of a variety of venues for the reception. But a wedding is about much more than the special day.
Marriage is a decisive moment in your relationship. You make public promises to each other and you receive the blessing of God for the good times and the bad times ahead. Marriage is a great gift of God; the marriage vows help a couple live well together and it can help children to grow up in a secure environment (though the most important thing for living well and growing up well is love). Weddings are celebrated in the Cathedral according to the modern or traditional forms of the Scottish Episcopalian Wedding Service.
The Christian understanding of marriage has developed over time and today we welcome divorced people and same-sex couples to be married in Scottish Episcopal churches such as St Ninian's Cathedral. Marriage is a Sacrament and at least one of the couple planning to marry here should be a baptised Christian.
Before getting married at Perth Cathedral the couple meets with the Provost or another member of our clergy team a few times to discuss the meaning of marriage and plan the service. The marriage must be legally valid so you will need to complete marriage notices and give them to the district registrar between three months and 28 days before the service. In the seven days before your wedding, you will need to collect your marriage schedule from the registration office so that it can be signed during the service. The schedule must be returned to the registrar within three days of your wedding. More details of the legal requirements can be found here.
The Provost welcomes enquiries about weddings. Contact Enable JavaScript to view protected content. for more information.
There is no fixed fee for weddings at Perth Cathedral but we do encourage donations based on your ability to pay. We are often asked for guidance on what to give. Compared to other similar venues £500 is a fair donation for a wedding, but at the Cathedral what you give should depend on what you can afford and no one should hesitate for lack of resources. The fee for our organist is £90 and for our choir it is £15 per singer (minimum 8).
Death is the way to eternal life but it is also a time of sadness and separation for those left behind. We are here to help you when a loved one dies. Anyone can have a Christian funeral at St Ninian's Cathedral or led by one of our clergy team.
Services are conducted by the Provost or one of the clergy according to the Scottish Episcopalian funeral rite and may be part of a Requiem Eucharist. Christian funerals normally take place in church but may occur at a crematorium or cemetery. It is also possible to have a simple cremation followed by a service in church.
God’s love for someone, and also our love for them, does not end at their bodily death. The Church exists both in this world and the next. Christians have thus always expressed this love by praying for the departed and this is an important part of Scottish Episcopalian life. We pray for them particularly at every Eucharist, but also at every funeral.
The Provost is happy to speak about funeral arrangements. Contact Enable JavaScript to view protected content. for more information. There is no fixed fee for funerals, whether they are held at the Cathedral or taken by our clergy elsewhere, but we do accept donations. We are often asked for guidance on what to give. Some other churches ask for about £200 for a funeral which is a fair donation, but at St Ninian's Cathedral what you give should depend on what you can afford and no one should hesitate for lack of resources. For large or civic funerals contact the provost. The fee for our organist is £80 at the Cathedral and £60 at the crematorium.