Hundreds of worshippers attended Mass in the roofless ruins of St Raphael's church in Glengarry County, the easternmost county of Ontario, as part of a two-day fund-raising event to preserve the national heritage site. The Mass was in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the 1804 arrival of Bishop Alexander Macdonell of Alexandria, Ontario, who spearheaded construction of the church. Bishop Macdonell, Canada's first English-speaking Catholic bishop, was chaplain of the "Glengarry Fencibles" in Scotland, a disbanded militia regiment who settled the area with other immigrants from the Scottish highlands.
Source: Catholic News Service.
Posted: at 10:56 PM

Reverend Sheila Spence, minister at Kirk O'Shotts in Salsburgh, Lanarkshire, plans to plaster scaffolding on her church with business adverts to help raise £500,000 to save the building. The Kirk is a landmark visible to motorists travelling along the M8, but the hilltop church's exposed location also means it is battered by the weather.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
Posted: at 10:47 PM

Rev Dr Inderjit Bhogal, past president of the Methodist Conference, promises controversy and celebration at Roots and Routes, an international conference on black theology to be held this weekend in Sheffield. Dr Bhogal, director of the Urban Theology Unit, which trains Methodist ministers, said: "To say 'God is Black' reflects on the way God identifies with black people and our experience of God. Over the last twenty years Black Theology has emerged from black people reflecting on their experiences of God, especially in relation to our varied roots - our heritages, our histories, our hurts, our hopes - and routes, by which I mean the ways that we will flag up markers for our continuing journeys."
Source: Methodist Church news release.
Posted: at 9:27 PM

Mansfield Traquair Centre - formerly the Catholic Apostolic Church and nicknamed Edinburgh's Sistine Chapel - will be open to the public for guided tours from Monday, August 9 to Saturday, August 28 as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It features restored murals by Phoebe Anna Traquair, a leading artist in the Arts and Crafts movement who exhibited in Chicago, London, Turin and St Louis in the 1890s and 1900s.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
Posted: at 2:13 PM

Celtic-Rangers matches have been condemned as the most hate-filled 90 minutes in football by Time Magazine, read by 30 million people across the world. The influential publication said the religious bigotry dished out by both sets of supporters gave the matches an atmosphere of "sheer venom".
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
Posted: at 10:25 PM

Annabelle Ewing, the SNP MP for Perth, has accused Home Secretary David Blunkett of ignoring the concerns of church groups over electronic tagging of asylum seekers.
Source: The Scotsman.
Posted: at 10:07 PM

John Mone, bishop of Paisley and president of the church's social care commission, has accused an expert group charged by the Scottish Executive with creating a sexual health strategy for Scotland of offending the views of the Roman Catholic church. "Sex education by parents is not really as patronising as suggested in the draft. Not only should they be 'involved' but also their role as first educators should be acknowledged," he said, adding: "Can there never be a place for the view that abstinence and fidelity in marriage is encouraged?"
Source: The Herald.
Posted: at 8:53 PM

'Beyond Violence?' is a major conference called by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and taking place on 1 October 2004 to mark the World Council of Churches' Decade to Overcome Violence 2001-2010. Christians in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England who are active in reflecting on and confronting violence in church, society and internationally are being invited to this special gathering. "This conference is a rare ecumenical opportunity to look deeply at the causes of violence and its effects on people's lives," says Archbishop Mario Conti, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow and one of the five presidents of CTBI. "Participants will reflect theologically on why the Christian promise of 'peace' is so elusive and seek to identify both what the Churches are doing to 'overcome violence' and what they can do better."
Source: Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
Posted: at 8:37 PM

Glasgow is now officially the UK's single parent capital, with more lone mums and dads than anywhere else in the country. A report by children's charity NCH Scotland found 40% of families in Glasgow are headed by a lone parent. Only 10% are under 25, while 55% are in the age-group 25-34. Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Roman Catholic church, said: "I think the state could do a lot more to support marriages in trouble."
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
Posted: at 5:14 PM

The Catholic Church in Scotland was yesterday facing a deepening split after a bishop was accused of capitulating over plans for shared campuses in schools. Sources close to the hierarchy of the church are disaffected with the conciliatory stance of Bishop Joseph Devine, the bishop of Motherwell and president of the church's communications commission. Parishioners in the diocese of Motherwell, which are affected by the proposals, are also opposed to his approach, claiming it would pave the way for openly integrated schools.
Source: The Herald.
Posted: at 1:56 PM

He's written Spider-Man and Superman, but his own heroes are Tony Benn and Jesus Christ. Mark Millar talks about comic books, Catholicism and coming of age in Coatbridge. "Millar's Catholicism and his love of comics are bound together as surely as Satan and the serpent, Clark Kent and Superman."
Source: Sunday Herald.
Posted: at 1:06 PM

There has been a "sea-change" in public opinion on abortion, says pro-life campaigner Professor Jack Scarisbrick, national chairman of the charity Life. "The debate has never gone away, but we have taken the initiative and they [pro-choice groups] are on the defensive."
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
Posted: at 12:57 PM

Controversial rules on funding for faith schools are to be reviewed by the Labour Party in Scotland in a new survey of the grass roots. The debate follows problems with shared campuses in Scottish schools and new calls for the setting up of state-funded Muslim schools in Glasgow along the same lines as Catholic primaries and secondaries. Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, said: "Let's have a debate by all means. We agree that it is wrong that there should only be Catholic schools and that Muslims and other faiths are denied what we have. There should be no barriers."
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
Posted: at 12:46 PM

Sandra and Donald Mackenzie married an hour later than expected at Wick's Waterfront nightclub because Rev Stevie Thomson of Wick Old Parish Church thought the ceremony was the next day. Club owner John Sutherland searched the town and finally found the minister just yards away - working on the voluntary community project to repair the outdoor swimming pool at the North Bath, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.
Source: Caithness Courier.
Posted: at 9:11 PM

Only five retired ministers in Scotland reached the 70th anniversary of their ordination this year - and two of them are from Kirkcudbright. Elder by two years is 96-year-old Walter Calderwood, still going strong like fellow minister Tom Robertson, a mere stripling at 94.
Source: Galloway Gazette.
Posted: at 9:03 PM

A massive Orange Walk through the streets of Paisley passed off peacefully. Some 5,000 marchers gathered in the town on Saturday to follow a traditional route for the biggest march the town had seen in years.
Source: icRenfrewshire - Paisley Daily Express.
Posted: at 8:48 PM

Kilwinning's Abbey Star Flute Band missed out on one of the biggest Orange walks of the year after a bungle with a bus booking. And to make matters worse, the members of the band didn't have the chance to wear their brand new uniforms for the big day.
Source: icAyrshire - Irvine Herald.
Posted: at 8:48 PM

Faulty electrical wiring could have been the cause of the massive blaze which virtually destroyed St Columbkille's Church Hall on Monday. Canon Tom Gibbons, who celebrated 50 years as a priest last week, said: "We have to take the positives out of this. No one died, no one was injured. And most importantly it was not the church itself that went on fire."
Source: icLanarkshire - Rutherglen Reformer.
Posted: at 8:41 PM

Stonelaw Parish Church are helping fight world poverty by holding a Traidcraft stall every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
Source: icLanarkshire - Rutherglen Reformer.
Posted: at 8:39 PM

Members of the golf club at St Vincent de Paul Church in Greenhill have named a challenge shield tournament after their patron, parishioner William Guthrie, who died recently.
Source: icLanarkshire - East Kilbride News.
Posted: at 8:34 PM

Blantyre is preparing for an influx of 12,000 Orangemen on Saturday, marking the Battle of the Boyne. William Murray, secretary of the County Grand Lodge, said: "Our members have been told that people of Blantyre must be allowed to go about their normal business."
Source: icLanarkshire - Hamilton Advertiser.
Posted: at 8:33 PM

Police are hunting the killer of widow Mrs Annie Coogan (74), whose body was found in her Coatbridge home. Devout Catholic Annie went to mass at nearby St Monica's Church every day. Assistant priest Father Gerard Maguiness said: "This is a great tragedy for the community. Annie was well known and loved in the parish."
Source: icLanarkshire - Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser.
Posted: at 8:30 PM

Visitors from Italy arrived at Sacred Heart Parish Church in Kildrum with an extremely precious cargo - a centuries-old relic of St Anthony.
Source: Cumbernauld Today - Cumbernauld News & Kilsyth Chronicle.
Posted: at 8:23 PM

Dr Alison Elliott, Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly, is to visit the Borders Presbyteries in April.
Source: Border Telegraph.
Posted: at 8:21 PM

The first ferry crossing on the historic pilgrim route between North Berwick and Anstruther in 500 years, which was due to set sail on Saturday, had to be cancelled due to forecasts of strong winds.
Source: East Lothian Courier.
Posted: at 8:20 PM

A service of farewell has been held to mark the retirement of the Episcopalian Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, the Right Reverend Michael Henley.
Source: Fife Now - St Andrews Citizen.
Posted: at 8:15 PM

New lighting, decoration and an extension are just some of the features in the newly refurbished Prestonkirk Parish Church which officially re-opens this weekend.
Source: East Lothian Courier.
Posted: at 8:14 PM

A cathedral camp is running at Edinburgh's St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral this month. Cathedral camps were founded in 1981 to introduce young people to cathedrals at the same time as restoring and conserving the buildings and their surroundings.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
Posted: at 12:13 PM

Obituary of Father Michael Lynch, the parish priest who died last weekend at the age of 73, as the result of a fire at his home in Ardrossan. "He had steely determination, was not over-concerned to avoid an argument and did not underestimate the worth of his opinions. But, overwhelmingly, these characteristics made him a force for good and a man of the people who saw no artificial distinction between the spiritual and social well-being of the Scottish communities that this quintessentially Irish priest devoted his life to serving."
Source: The Herald.
Posted: at 12:09 PM

Jack McConnell has agreed to accept the principle of private sector funding from a small number of leading entrepreneurs for a new model of school in Scotland's most-deprived communities. But the Scottish Executive's first minister has ruled out city academies: all-ability schools, promoted and managed by independent sponsors, including philanthropic individuals, educational trusts, faith sponsors and companies.
Source: The Herald.
Posted: at 12:07 PM

Police in Somerset are warning churches to be on their guard against a man who asks for money to travel to other parts of the country, claiming on one occasion that he had to travel to Scotland to identify his dead father's body. The offender appears to have local knowledge and know the names of local people. It is believed he reads parish magazines before approaching church officials.
Source: Avon & Somerset Constabulary.
Posted: at 11:55 AM

Gordon Brown's plans to meet the Pope during a trip to the Vatican today have been dashed because the 84-year-old Pontiff has decided to go away on holiday. The decision by the Pope to stay away from a Vatican seminar on global debt, which the Treasury says was inspired by Mr Brown, will be a severe disappointment to the Chancellor. Instead Mr Brown, who is the son of a Church of Scotland minister, is expected to meet key Vatican officials and a range of leading Church figures. He will outline his plans to double global aid budgets between now and 2015 by selling Government-backed bonds and is expected to unveil new plans to combat Aids.
Source: Daily Telegraph.
Posted: at 11:45 AM

A man who was knighted by two Popes and co-founder of an internationally-famous worldwide mercy mission, has passed away. John Joseph McKee, who helped launch the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund and described by colleagues as 'a major part of Scottish Catholic history', was 98 when he died.
Source: icRenfrewshire - Paisley Daily Express.
Posted: at 3:45 PM

A Church of Scotland minister has stepped in to organise a church service for the opening of the new Holyrood building after parliament bosses ruled out a religious ceremony. The Rev Charles Robertson, minister of Canongate Kirk, whose parish includes the parliament, is holding the hour-long service the night before the official opening of the £431 million building by the Queen. The service at Canongate Kirk, which can accommodate up to 500 people, is scheduled for 5pm on Friday, October 8.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
Posted: at 3:43 PM

Obituary of Rev James Brown Allan, Congregational and then Church of Scotland minister, and secretary from 1970 to 1977 of the Kirk's bilateral ecumenical negotiations with other denominations and multilateral conversations with other churches; born April 24, 1936, died June 29, 2004.
Source: The Herald.
Posted: at 12:37 PM

Morag Mylne, the convener of the Church of Scotland's Church and Nation Committee, said it was up to Rev Dr John Mann to choose the words used during the funeral service of Fusilier Gordon Gentle, 19, at St James' Parish Church in Glasgow yesterday. The teenager was killed while on a routine patrol in Basra on 28 June, three months after joining the Royal Highland Fusiliers. Dr Mann said the case for war in Iraq was based on "misinformation and lies", adding: "Those who are ultimately responsible for Gordon's death will in all likelihood never face justice in this life." The Herald provides the full text of the sermon. Dr Mann was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. A minister for more than 20 years, the 50-year-old served in Minneapolis and Clarion, Iowa, before coming to Scotland.
Source: The Scotsman, The Herald.
Posted: at 12:15 PM

Home Secretary David Blunkett's plans to make it a criminal offence to incite religious hatred do not affect Scotland. The Scottish Parliament has already passed laws to crack down on crimes motivated by religious bigotry. The change in the law, first proposed by Liberal Democrat MSP Donald Gorrie, means tougher penalties are now handed out in cases involving sectarianism and race attacks. The Scottish Executive agreed to amend the Criminal Justice Scotland Bill to make religious bigotry an aggravated offence in 2003 following public pressure.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
Posted: at 6:14 PM

The funeral of Father Michael Lynch, who died last week in a fire at his church house at St Peter in Chains in Ardrossan, will take place at the church at noon on Friday.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
Posted: at 6:07 PM

Rev Dr John Mann has denounced Tony Blair and George Bush at the funeral of Fusilier Gordon Gentle, 19, who died in a roadside explosion in Iraq. In an impassioned eulogy at St James' Parish Church in Glasgow, the Church of Scotland minister spoke of his fury at the decision to go to war with Iraq. He said the case for war was based on "misinformation and lies".
Source: BBC Scotland News.
Posted: at 5:57 PM

Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, said that he admired the Silver Ring Thing's willingness to take a moral stand on sexuality. But he questioned whether the campaign's outspoken style and fondness for earnest proclamations of virginity would sit well with the British sense of reserve.
Source: New York Times.
Posted: at 10:10 AM

The Methodist Church supported the amendment to the Children Bill voted on in the House of Lords yesterday. Steve Pearce, Mission Education Secretary (Children), said: "Overturning the archaic defence of 'reasonable chastisement' will send out a clear message that violence has no place in caring and loving parenting. Christians have a particular concern to speak out for weaker groups, and for people who are subjected to violence."
Source: Methodist Church news release.
Posted: at 3:50 PM

The Evangelical Alliance has welcomed the House of Lords rejection of an absolute ban on smacking but remains disappointed at the decision to accept Lord Lester's compromise amendment to the Children Bill. The Alliance's Don Horrocks said: "We continue to believe that the option of employing moderate smacking within a loving family environment can benefit the development and growth of children."
Source: Evangelical Alliance news release.
Posted: at 3:46 PM

Canon Tom Gibbons of St Columbkille's Church in Rutherglen, Glasgow, said the bill for repairs to the church's community hall could be as high as £500,000 after a fire gutted the building last night.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
Posted: at 3:41 PM

The Archdiocese of Glasgow aims to revitalise the A-listed St Peter's seminary building in Cardross, near Helensburgh, which has been called a "masterpiece of modernism". Some 28 new homes will be discreetly located within the old walled garden, with the existing lodges on the estate being renovated for habitation. Money raised from these sources will finance the works to the estate and buildings.
Source: The Herald.
Posted: at 11:16 AM

Scots are among those reporting 'favours' attributed to the Blessed Mary MacKillop, who could become Australia's first saint.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Posted: at 5:05 PM

When Cardinal Keith O'Brien receives an honorary divinity degree from Edinburgh University tomorrow (Tuesday), he will be wearing a gown originally used by Oliver Tomkins, former Anglican Bishop of Bristol and a notable ecumenical pioneer. Dr Tomkins encouraged relationships between the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church and ardently supported Methodist-Anglican reunion.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
Posted: at 4:25 PM

More than a thousand people prayed and sang together in Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall yesterday to remember the nine lives claimed in the Maryhill plastics factory explosion.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
Posted: at 4:11 PM

The world's largest charity hospital ship, the Anastasis, will be docked in Dundee for 12 days in September in search of donations and supplies to ease the suffering of victims of the civil war in Liberia, West Africa.
Source: The Scotsman.
Posted: at 12:03 PM

Feature on stringent safety rules in care homes for the elderly following the fire at Rosepark home in Uddingston which killed 14 people on January 31 this year. The nephew of an 86 year old woman who died last week said: "She was totally isolated by this. It was contact deprivation, and the few hours of interaction she got from staff, great though they were, was not good enough. It's like she was imprisoned in her own room." The Church of Scotland, which operates 27 residential care homes for more than 700 people in Scotland, said it intended to incorporate suitable door self-closing mechanisms to solve the problem. Others were less forthcoming in their responses to queries by The Herald.
Source: The Herald.
Posted: at 11:39 AM

More than 1000 people attended a memorial service at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow yesterday for those killed and injured in the Maryhill factory blast on May 11. The hour-long service, hosted by Glasgow City Council, included prayers and scripture readings from senior figures of many denominations, including Mario Conti, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow; the Rev Angela Long and the Rev Christine Jones, of the Methodist Church; Major David Hinton, West Scotland divisional commander of the Salvation Army; and the Very Rev John Miller, moderator of Glasgow Presbytery.
Source: The Herald.
Posted: at 11:31 AM

Allan Brown takes a scathing view of Looking in the Distance, the forthcoming volume from Richard Holloway, the former Episcopalian Bishop of Edinburgh, whose best-known book Godless Morality "cemented his standing as the trendy vicar's trendy vicar".
Source: Sunday Times.
Posted: at 4:59 PM

Lord David Steel, the man who pushed through Britain's legalisation of abortion in 1967 with a time limit of 28 weeks, has called for the legal limit for 'social' abortions to be cut to 12 weeks. A son of the manse, Steel is a former Liberal leader and Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, and represented the Queen at this year's General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland and Free Church of Scotland. His latest proposal comes in the midst of concern among the medical profession at the rising number of abortions taking place.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
Posted: at 4:39 PM

Police are investigating a militant anti-abortionist group over its "intimidating tactics" against four MSPs. The UK Life League, formerly known as Precious Life, Posted: personal contact details for senior Scottish politicians on a website accusing them of being "child abusers" because of their stance on abortion.
Source: Sunday Herald.
Posted: at 4:13 PM

Kinlochewe landlord Tom Forrest's refusal to allow a gay couple to stay in his B&B accommodation provokes the Sunday Herald into a rant while Scotland on Sunday talks to the man in a solid piece of feature-writing. Both take enthusiastic side-swipes at Christianity. It's left to John MacLeod to provide an informed and thoughtful view of the affair in the Sunday Times.
Sources: Sunday Herald, Scotland on Sunday, Sunday Times.
Posted: at 3:49 PM

Representatives of the Yurok, Hoopa, Karuk and Klamath tribes plan to send representatives to Scotland later this year to protest at the damage that Scottish Power's subsidiary, PacifiCorp, is causing to the salmon and steelhead populations of the Klamath River in California by the operation of Iron Gate, Copco and other dams. "While they kill the fish with their hydropower dams, downstream Native Americans go without fish to eat or electricity in their homes," said Troy Fletcher, executive director of the Yurok tribe, who noted that 61% of the homes, a school, and two churches are without electricity on the Upper Yurok reservation. River advocates are also encouraging Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to get more involved in defending the Klamath watershed.
Source: Dissident Voice.
Posted: at 3:27 PM

Hundreds of people are gathering at a memorial service for the nine people who died in the Maryhill plastics factory explosion. The ecumenical service organised by Glasgow City Council at the city's Royal Concert Hall this afternoon is the third service to remember the victims of the blast, which destroyed the Stockline plastics factory in Maryhill.
Source: Scottish Television News.
Posted: at 3:14 PM

Veteran Scottish broadcaster Jimmy Mack has died at the age of 70. He was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, but continued broadcasting in his regular slot on Radio Clyde until two weeks ago. His career began with pirate radio in the 1960s and he went on to present shows on BBC Radio One, Two, Four and on Radio Scotland. A public figure with strong private beliefs, Mr Mack was actively involved with his local church near Glasgow and helped to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds. He was awarded an MBE in 1996.
Source: BBC Scotland News.
Posted: at 3:11 PM

Parishioners have been paying tribute to Father Michael Lynch, 73, who was found in the early hours yesterday following a fire in the house attached to his church, St Peter in Chains in Ardrossan.
Source: Daily Record.
Posted: at 8:28 PM

About 15,000 Orange supporters have marched through Glasgow to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne. Orange leaders used the event to warn First Minister Jack McConnell not to block their marches. At the end of the parade, George McNee, chair of the County Grand Lodge of Glasgow, told marchers: "If you remember at the last elections for the Scottish Parliament, Jack McConnell said 'one nation, many cultures'. I must have left my glasses at home. I didn't see any small print. One nation and many cultures, except orangeism. Orangeism is here to stay, orangeism will always be in Glasgow."
Source: BBC Scotland News.
Posted: at 7:58 PM

The erection of a large, modern "kit house" within 100 yards of a 12th-century church in the East Lothian village of Garvald have sparked a furious reaction from residents.
Source: The Scotsman.
Posted: at 7:55 PM

The bell tower of the church of San Giorgio Maggiore brought Sir Timothy Clifford his strangest encounter as he took a camera crew at a hectic pace through the courtyards, canals and palaces of Venice to film a BBC documentary. The celebrated basilica lies on its own island, just across the Canale di San Marco from St Mark's square. There has been a monastery there since 982. But the Dominican monk who let the National Galleries chief into the campanile was a Scotsman from Corstophine.
Source: The Scotsman.
Posted: at 7:47 PM

The 330-year-old painting of Thomas Sydserff controversially put up for sale by the Church of Scotland has realised £24,600 at auction at Sothebys in London. Sydserff was the son of an Orkney bishop and founded the first Scottish newspaper, Mercurious Caledonius. The painting by the distinguished 17th-century Scots artist John Michael Wright belonged to the Earl of Rothes, who eventually sold it to Sir Robert Spencer-Nairn. He gifted it to the Kirk in 1953.
Source: The Scotsman.
Posted: at 7:43 PM

Thousands of people from all over Dumfries and Galloway attended ChristFest 2004 at the weekend. Organisers said the multi-denominational event, held at Park Farm in Dumfries, was unprecedented in Scotland. The Rev Douglas Irving of Kirkcudbright, convener of the organising committee, said: "It is over 300 years since so many Christians gathered together in one place in Dumfries and Galloway to worship as they did on Sunday for the morning communion service."
Source: Galloway Gazette.
Posted: at 11:14 PM

Around 50 riders followed Braw Lad and Braw Lass to the Auld Kirk of Lindean on Monday. A service was conducted by Rev Leslie Steele of the Old Parish and St Paul's Church, who spoke of the history of the site and invited the Braw Lad to place a wreath on the Preacher's Cross.
Source: Border Telegraph.
Posted: at 10:49 PM

Bishop John Cunningham, Catholic Bishop of Galloway, will celebrate all Sunday Masses this weekend with parishioners of St Peter's, Ardrossan. The body of their parish priest, Fr Michael Lynch, was formally identified today following a fire in the church house in the early hours of this morning.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
Posted: at 9:44 PM

The congregation of Broughton Church was joined by Dr Alison Elliott, Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly, for a special service to mark the church's 200th anniversary.
Source: Peeblesshire News.
Posted: at 4:39 PM

Rod Morrison will take up post as Chief Administrative Officer of the Free Church of Scotland in October. This is a new position replacing the post of General Treasurer to be vacated with the retirement of Iain Gill. Rod (31) hails from the West of Scotland from a well known Free Church family - his father Angus is an elder in Dowanvale Free Church, Glasgow, and his grandfather, Rev Calum Morrison, was a minister of that congregation under its previous incarnation as Partick Highland. A graduate in Political Economy from Glasgow University, Rod is currently a member of Scottish Power's Senior Management Group.
Source: Monthly Record of The Free Church of Scotland, June-July 2004.
Posted: at 3:25 PM

The June-July edition of the Free Church of Scotland's Monthly Record magazine is now available online. Its 48 pages include comprehensive reports on the 2004 General Assembly.
Posted: at 3:17 PM

Drivers are facing massive disruption tomorrow as more than 5000 Loyalist marchers descend on Paisley for a major Orange walk.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
Posted: at 3:13 PM

A fire that killed a parish priest was being investigated today. Father Michael Lynch, 72, was killed in the early-morning blaze today in Ardrossan, Ayrshire. Firefighters were called to St Peter In Chains Church shortly after 4am and found the body of the priest in his house, next to the church in South Crescent Road. Today, police confirmed they were treating the priest's death as suspicious, but said investigators were having difficulties carrying out a search in the building because the structure was too dangerous. Father Lynch, who had been parish priest for more than 20 years, was a high-profile and sometimes controversial figure. He represented the Roman Catholic Church on Strathclyde Region's education committee in the early 1990s. In 1995, he successfully fought a bishop's decision to move him to another parish. The Vatican ruled Bishop Maurice Taylor, of Galloway Diocese, broke church law by ordering his transfer.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
Posted: at 3:09 PM

Howe Trinity Church in Alford, Aberdeenshire, is celebrating its fifth birthday with a series of special events. The church was formed by uniting the congregations of Alford, Keig, Tullynessle and Forbes under one roof.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
Posted: at 3:05 PM

The body of a man has been recovered from a church house after a fire, police said today. The blaze broke out around 4am in the house attached to St Peter's Roman Catholic Church at Arran Place, Ardrossan, Ayrshire.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
Posted: at 2:58 PM

Profile of Crown Court Church of Scotland in London's Covent Garden, which dates from 1711 and, as such, is the longest-standing Presbyterian church in England. Tucked down a lane opposite the Theatre Royal and round the corner from the Royal Opera House, it keeps extravagant company. Its congregation, too, is somewhat starry: the BBC's James Naughtie, presenter of Radio 4's Today programme, is an elder, while the former culture minister, Chris Smith MP, has been a member for many years. For the Rev Sigrid Marten, it presents quite a change from her last church. "There are moments it feels a bit bizarre," she says, sitting in the pews by the Iona marble baptismal font. "You turn up for an evening service and the Bafta awards are in the Theatre Royal and there are crowds standing there who are obviously not there to come and worship but are hoping for a glimpse of somebody. It's certainly not what I experienced as a minister in Glasgow. We didn't get many Bafta awards in Govanhill."
Source: The Herald.
Posted: at 2:52 PM

The Right Reverend Michael Henley, Episcopalian Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane since 1995, will retire on Monday July 5. During 45 years as a priest he has served as Chaplain of the Fleet and Archdeacon to the Royal Navy as well as carrying out parish work in Marylebone and Perthshire.
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.
Posted: at 11:00 PM

Services from Destiny Church in Glasgow will be broadcast to countries throughout Europe every Thursday from today on Sky thanks to a deal with United Christian Broadcasters.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
Posted: at 10:51 PM

Ron Ferguson, who was the Church of Scotland's community minister in Easterhouse estate in Glasgow for eight years, witnessed at first hand the daily struggle which characterises life in the poorest city in Britain. "In our land of plenty, poverty still kills..."
Source: The Herald.

Posted: at 10:33 PM

Rev Isabel King, who came to America as a missionary from her native Glasgow, Scotland, at age 17, was honoured on Sunday at age 97 at the Stamford Community Church, Vermont, by members of the five area churches she served as pastor during her 80 years of ministry, and hailed as a pioneer for women ministers. Her original plan to be a missionary in Africa was vetoed by her father, who had fought in the Boer war.
Source: iBerkshires.com.
Posted: at 10:21 PM

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has approved the appointment of Rev Prof Iain Torrance, former Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly, as president of Princeton Theological Seminary.
Source: Presbyterian Church (USA) Assembly News.
Posted: at 3:46 PM

Rev James Gordon, principal of the Scottish Baptist College in Paisley, is among a group of 28 theologians and educators from ten countries asking the Baptist World Alliance to recite the Apostle's Creed at its 100th anniversary meeting next year. The scholars say the move would repeat the first act of the BWA World Congress in July 1905. The intention is to draw on the Southern Baptist Convention's recent withdrawal from Baptist World Alliance over charges of liberalism as a "teachable moment," according to one backer. The educators hope to move the Baptist theological discourse "away from the worn-out labels of 'conservative' vs. 'liberal' that belong to a dying modernity".
Source: Biblical Recorder, North Carolina.
Posted: at 1:34 PM

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh hosted their traditional garden party for 8,000 guests from across Scotland at the Palace of Holyroodhouse yesterday. Among the guests to whom the Queen spoke, before taking tea, was the Rev Mary Buchanan about her liaison work as an ecumenical officer for the United Reformed Church based in Glasgow.
Source: The Scotsman.
Posted: at 1:23 PM

A new book, 'A Skin Graft Given with Love', tells the story of Dr David Landsborough - born in Scotland in 1870 and assigned to the Presbyterian Church's mission in Taiwan at the age of 25 - and how he, his wife Marjorie and their son David Jr "opened a new page in Taiwan's medical history and set up a paradigm for the medical profession". "Indeed, the Landsboroughs contributed their youth, knowledge, blood and even skin to the people in Taiwan."
Source: Taipei Times.
Posted: at 1:18 PM

About 350 members of a grieving Glasgow community joined in prayer and lit candles to remember the five men and four women who lost their lives and the dozens seriously injured in the Grovepark ICL Plastics factory in the Maryhill area of Glasgow last month, Scotland's worst industrial disaster since the Piper Alpha oil rig blaze. Community Central Halls on Maryhill Road was packed with bereaved families, those injured in the catastrophe, their co-workers and community representatives, as well as police, firefighters and rescue experts who battled to find survivors among the rubble. Led by the Rev Paul McKeown, community minister for Queen's Cross, and Father David Trainer, of nearby St Columba's Church, the service took the theme of hope and "light in the darkness".
Source: The Scotsman/PA News.
posted at 1:08 PM