Guest speakers at the fifth Provincial Conference of the Scottish Episcopal Church, to be held later this week, include the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams; the Rt Rev. John Miller, former Moderator of the Church of Scotland; and Rev Kathy Galloway, Leader of the Iona Community. The conference, which takes place every four to five years, gives an opportunity for Episcopal Church members from across Scotland to meet, to reflect on the contributions of the speakers and to discuss issues with one another in groups with trained facilitators.
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.
posted at 5:01 PM

The new headmaster and chief executive of the independent Edgehill College in Bideford, Devon, is a Scot, Leslie Clark. The former RAF squadron commander, who started his teaching career in Dollar and Dunblane, said he would be looking to progress Edgehill as a centre of very good education, with the closeness associated with a "family school" and with its Methodist tradition of Christian values. Edgehill is run by the Board of Management for Methodist Colleges and Schools.
Source: North Devon Gazette & Advertiser.
posted at 4:56 PM

The Scottish Parent Teacher Council said church leaders should have "kept their mouths shut" on the issue of sexual health in schools. It also emerged yesterday that Father Joe Chambers, vice-convener of the Catholic Education Committee, had helped write the draft strategy on which the cardinal had based his attack.
Source: The Herald.
[A bit of background: in an open letter to the Scottish Executive's Sexual Health Strategy Reference Group in June 2003, Chambers set out his reasons for refusing to sign and endorse the final report which he claimed pursues the "same policies which are patently failing" in the field of sexual health. He said that the final report bore little resemblance to the substance of discussions the group had in a series of several day-long meetings.]
posted at 11:26 AM

Two Britons are among five people held by Kenyan authorities in connection with stealing children. They are all linked to the controversial Peckham-based evangelical pastor Archbishop Gilbert Deya. His church, the Gilbert Deya Ministries, which has 34,000 members in Britain, claims to be able to make women pregnant through the power of prayer.
Source: London Evening Standard.
posted at 11:14 AM

Two Britons are among five people held by Kenyan authorities in connection with stealing children. They are all linked to the controversial Peckham-based evangelical pastor Archbishop Gilbert Deya. His church, the Gilbert Deya Ministries, which has 34,000 members in Britain, claims to be able to make women pregnant through the power of prayer.
Source: London Evening Standard.
posted at 11:13 AM

Dr Alison Elliot, Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly, is the 36th most powerful woman in Scotland, says The Scotsman.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 11:07 AM

Controversial proposals to reform sex education in Scotland have divided the Catholic Church and the Kirk. The Morag Mylne, convener of the Church of Scotland's church and nation committee, said: "This isn't state-sponsored sexual abuse. The Executive, I think, is taking the issue of sex education and sexual health more generally very seriously."
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 11:00 AM

Jack McConnell was coming under pressure from inside his own party last night not to concede any more ground to the Catholic Church in the escalating row over sex education. Several Labour MSPs and trade unionists hit out at the tactics of the Catholic Church, claiming it was disingenuous for the church to attack the Scottish Executive's plans for sex education before they had even been published.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 10:58 AM

By using the draft sexual-health report as a straw man, Cardinal Keith O'Brien may have inadvertently muddied the real debate over promoting sexual health in Scotland, opines The Scotsman. Unfortunately, the danger now is that the debate becomes stranded at an abstract ideological level, and the Executive becomes paralysed, much as it did during the Section 28 debate. If so, it will be Scotland's young people who suffer as a result.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 10:57 AM

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, yesterday voiced his frustration at the divisions that have racked the Church of England, and the worldwide Anglican communion which he also leads, over the issue of homosexuality.
Source: The Guardian.
posted at 6:50 PM

A team of archaeologists started work at the ruined church of St Fittick at Nigg Bay on Saturday.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 6:36 PM

The Queen joined parishioners at Crathie Kirk yesterday in praying for young servicemen and women fighting in her name around the globe.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 6:35 PM

A chaplain is appealing to the thief who stole her £500 communion set to follow their hearts and give it back. A black communion bag containing a silver chalice, pyx, cross and handmade silver spoons, was taken from Episcopal priest Sylvia Spencer's office at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary last Tuesday.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 6:34 PM

A historic Scottish kirkyard is to have information screens installed to let visitors know about the great and good who are laid to rest there. The plasma screens are part of a £300,000 facelift which would make Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh a valuable "educational resource" and a more illuminating experience for tourists.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 6:32 PM

The Catholic Church has won backing from the Muslim Association of Britain over Executive plans for sex education in schools. Osama Saeed, the association's Scottish spokesperson, said: "There is a feeling that morals have been eroded unchecked for too many years and it is welcome that a proper debate be had about what is healthy in regards to the education of our children and how our future generations will be shaped. "We look forward to supporting Cardinal O'Brien in his efforts to defeat these proposals in the coming period."
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 6:29 PM

Jack McConnell moved quickly yesterday to try to head off a damaging fight with the Catholic church after being accused of ushering in "state-sponsored sexual abuse" of children. The First Minister was responding to an unprecedented attack by Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, who warned him not to liberalise sex education guidelines.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 6:28 PM

More than 20 people were arrested for sectarian-related incidents at yesterday's Old Firm match, the first time the police have revealed the numbers held on this offence.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 6:25 PM

Rev Dr Sydney Martin, who died recently at the age of 93, was one of a generation of evangelical ministers who had a significant influence in the city of Glasgow in the 1950s and 1960s. Coming to the Sharpe Memorial Church in Parkhead in 1950, he was to serve there for 25 years. The first decade of his ministry was the era of population movement when thousands moved out of the east end of the city to the new housing schemes and under Sydney Martin's leadership, Sharpe Memorial opened a branch church in Barlanark.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 6:02 PM

Church of Scotland leaders have ruled that the hymn Jerusalem is not relevant in a devolved Scotland and have dropped it from the fourth edition of the Kirk's hymnary, to be published on St Andrew's Day. The new hymnary, which contains 700 entries, was last changed in 1973. The kirk's committee to revise the hymnary considered about 10,000 entries before approving 200 new hymns. They include contributions from Africa, South America, Russia and Australia to reflect the worldwide community of the church.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 10:02 AM

The leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics will this week launch the biggest campaign against a Scottish executive policy since the repeal of section 28, claiming that new sex education proposals amount to "child abuse". Over the next month Cardinal Keith O'Brien will deliver a series of attacks on the planned programme, which will offer sex education to nursery school pupils and contraceptives to teenagers without their parents' knowledge.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 9:59 AM

The Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, will be called before three judges to explain why his office failed to prosecute seven accused men in the country's largest abuse case. Lawyers for hundreds of former De La Salle schoolboys have been granted legal aid to hold the historic judicial review - the first time a Lord Advocate has been called to explain the Crown's stance. The Sunday Mail revealed sexual abuse, torture and beatings at five schools run by De La Salle monks. Detectives from Central Scotland Police identified dozens of charges against 10 men - but only three men were taken to court, despite the fact four monks still have contact with children.
Source: Sunday Mail.
posted at 9:56 AM

The Church of Scotland's place at the heart of anti-Irish sentiment in the early decades of the last century is one subject dealt with in George Rosie's new book, Curious Scotland: Tales from a Hidden History.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 9:41 AM

A new church is nearing completion in Gardenstown, with much of the work being done by volunteer labour including the church's own minister, Rev Noel Hughes. The church is being built for the congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. The denomination was founded 52 years ago in Northern Ireland by a breakaway group of elders from a local Presbyterian Church and the Rev Ian Paisley, then a young evangelist, who now leads the hard-line Ulster Democratic Unionist Party. It arrived in Gardenstown following a split in the Church of Scotland there some eight years ago, at the invitation of the breakaway element of the congregation.
Source: Banffshire Journal.
posted at 10:38 PM

Midlothian councillors last week put off a decision on whether to allow an Orange march to be held in Penicuik next year. They were told of police concerns that the route chosen was not the safest or the most efficient from a policing point of view and that there were concerns about public safety. Objectors to the march including the organisers of Loanhead Gala, whose event was due to take place on the same day. In addition the District Lodge, organisers of the march, had not provided adequate reassurances about emergency access.
Source: Peeblesshire News.
posted at 10:29 PM

Rosyth could be the first West Fife community to ban the sale of the controversial drink Buckfast in a bid to curb the menace of underage drinking and anti-social behaviour. The potent fortified wine, manufactured by Benedictine monks, has become synonymous with under-age drinking and now police chiefs are backing calls to stop its sale. Inspector Christine Flynn said, "At the moment Buckfast is a big problem all across West Fife and the fact that it's so strong and gets you drunk quickly is what makes it so appealing for youngsters. I think a ban would definitely reduce the problems we have with under-age drinking." However, Buckfast spokesperson Jim Wilson described calls for a ban as "naive" and said under-age drinking will not be combated by banning Buckfast. He added, "Buckfast has become an easy target because of the bad publicity it has received in recent years but the problem won't go away if you ban Buckfast. You have to remember that we have less than 0.5 per cent of the total market. I think it's naive to think that one brand of alcohol is responsible for all this anti-social behaviour."
Source: Dunfermline Press.
posted at 10:22 PM

Caroline Boyd from Maidens has returned to crisis-torn Sudan with Christian medical charity Medair after a month's stay with her parents. And she went back with the prayers and good wishes of Maybole Prayer Group, who met the dedicated young woman during her holiday at home.
Source: icAyrshire - Ayrshire Post.
posted at 9:56 PM

Rev Michaela Youngson will start work on September 1 as Methodist Secretary for Pastoral Care and Spirituality. This new post will ensure that the Church responds to the growing interest in spirituality in all its forms in Britain. Michaela, who was born on Christmas Day in Cornwall, has worked as a minister in Lancashire since 1995. Prior to that she worked for Traidcraft, British Aerospace and the civil service before ministerial training in Birmingham.
Source: Methodist Church news release.
posted at 9:52 PM

Rev Yvonne Atkins will be inducted at St Andrew's Church, Musselburgh, next month.
Source: East Lothian Courier.
posted at 9:51 PM

Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall will see more than 2,000 members of the Church of Scotland Guild gathering this Saturday for their annual inspirational meeting and to launch the theme - Dare to Care with Compassion.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 9:36 PM

An ancient tradition will end this weekend when the Kirkin' of the Council leaves its historic Glasgow Cathedral home. The kirkin' is an old church service of dedication, but this Sunday it will move to St David's Church in Knightswood.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 9:35 PM

Clergy are warning this week that Crockford's Clerical Directory is being used as a source of names for bogus begging letters from Africa.
Source: Church Times.
posted at 9:31 PM

Two leading Edinburgh Festival names have become embroiled in a clash of views over the contentious issue of Catholic education. The conductor James MacMillan says he suspects Ken Loach's film Ae Fond Kiss is propaganda against Catholic schools. Mr Loach pressed home his attack on Catholic schooling this week in press appearances to promote his film. Mr MacMillan appeared separately this week at an event in Edinburgh to discuss Celtic Minded, a book of essays on religion, politics, identity, and the Celtic football team. His own contribution is an essay that recalls the anti-Catholic bullying he encountered as a boy.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 9:24 PM

The Archbishop of Canterbury will be in Edinburgh next week to meet Dr Alison Elliot, moderator of the Kirk's General Assembly, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, and the Most Rev Bruce Cameron, primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 9:15 PM

The Church of Scotland's Board of Social Responsibility will open two new services for adults with learning disabilities in Alexandria on Friday 3 September. Threshold Leven provides housing support while Choices Short Breaks is a dedicated respite service.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 1:41 PM

The Church of Scotland offices at 121 George Street in Edinburgh now have wheelchair access.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 1:38 PM

A former police officer has returned to his Fort William beat as a church minister. Swapping his little black book for a Bible, the Rev Christopher MacRae has taken up his first charge at Kilmallie Free Church of Scotland in Caol.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 1:37 PM

Former Elgin minister the Rev Peter Diack has died at the age of 80. He was minister of the town's South Church for 38 years until retiring in December 1994.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 1:34 PM

Survivors who claim they suffered abuse in Catholic-run homes today vowed to fight on for justice despite a court decision to throw out 150 cases against nuns. Frank Docherty of Lanark, who set up support group In Care Abuse Survivors, is "appalled" after a Court of Session judge ruled a test case by Elizabeth Abernethy against the Poor Sisters of Nazareth could not proceed because it was now time-barred.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 1:30 PM

A Christian festival could be the latest addition to Edinburgh's calendar of international events in response to rise in the number of religious shows at the Fringe. A programme of more than 100 events is planned for next summer following a surge in festival shows based around religious themes. John Lloyd, a spokesman for the Scottish Bible Society, said: "Christianity exhorts us to go to the marketplace and spread the word about Jesus. Edinburgh during the festival season is an enormous marketplace."
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 9:12 AM

Fears that young people are increasingly at risk from sexual diseases were raised yesterday as it emerged that rates of chlamydia infection rose 16% in three months. Other sexually transmitted diseases also appear to be spreading further, with diagnoses of syphilis rising significantly. Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, predicted the number of Scots catching chlamydia would continue to rise and said there was evidence that safe sex campaigns only exacerbated the problem. He said: "To start from the point of view that they are all at it anyway so let's hand out condoms, is making the problem much worse. That is why I suggest we will continue to see this problem grow until we change tack and moralise."
Source: The Herald.
posted at 9:04 AM

The 2004 Faith and Film conference, to be held in Durham from September 17-19, will look at how churches can use movies to create opportunities for outreach. The event is aimed at church leaders, preachers, youth workers and others interested in the interaction between films and Christian faith.
Source: Methodist Church news release.
posted at 6:47 PM

Langside Parish Church in Glasgow has arranged a football match against a team of MPs and MSPs this Sunday (29 August) at Neilston Juniors' football club ground to raise funds for Erskine Hospital. Guest appearances will include Rabbi Hackenbroch of Newton Mearns Shul, and a Church of Scotland minister and a Roman Catholic priest, both yet to be selected. Deacon Eoin Patten from Paisley Cathedral has also signed up.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 6:44 PM

Dr Alison Elliot's engagements list for August and September includes attending the Scottish Churches' Forum in Dundee, the Provincial Conference of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church of Scotland's Youth Assembly and the Church of Scotland Guild, as well as meeting with Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth Palace. The Moderator of the Kirk's General Assembly will also participate in the centenary celebrations for the redesigned sanctuary at Leven Parish Church, attend anniversary celebrations at the Douglas and Angus Parish Church in Dundee, speak at the 250th anniversary dinner of Paisley's Oakshaw Trinity Church, and make official visits to the Presbyteries of Lewis and Uist.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 6:38 PM

Seventh century monks recycled Roman jewellery to make sacred vessels, according to archaeologists investigating the site of an early Celtic monastery at Portmahomack in Easter Ross.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 12:22 PM

The four-year dispute between the Free Church of Scotland and the Free Church (Continuing) could be resolved as early as next month. A joint statement issued by Edinburgh-based Core Mediation was read from the pulpits of both Churches on Sunday. Certain proposals are to be put to their respective commissions of assembly with a view to finding ways to address remaining differences and which each recognise are based on genuinely-held beliefs," it said. "The representatives wish to record their gratitude for the courtesy and respect shown to each other as brothers in Christ throughout the meetings." This Herald report focuses on what the schism has meant on the ground in the Partick area of Glasgow.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 9:46 AM

Around 150 child abuse cases against a group of nuns will be thrown out of court after a test case today. Elizabeth Abernethy had sued the Poor Sisters of Nazareth for £50,000 compensation for alleged mistreatment at Nazareth House, in Cardonald, Glasgow. But a judge in the Court of Session today ruled her case was time barred and should be dismissed.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 9:42 PM

A permanent loan agreement is being negotiated between the National Museums of Scotland and a parish church in England, the legal owner of the Dunkeld Lectern, which mysteriously turned up in an Edinburgh arts centre after being missing for 15 years. The lectern was made in Italy in 1498 and gifted to Scotland by Pope Alexander VI. It was accepted by the Bishop of Dunkeld and taken to Holyrood Abbey, where it remained until 1544, when an English army attacked Edinburgh. It was taken south to St Stephen's in St Albans, Hertfordshire. A band of "Scottish patriots" reclaimed it in a Stone of Destiny-style raid on the church in 1984. It was believed they then hid it in a Highland grave, indicating that it would not re-emerge until a Scottish parliament had been established.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 11:55 AM

A children's charity in Tanzania, backed by UK fundraisers, is being run by a Briton believed to be wanted in India on charges of sexual abuse against young boys. Duncan Grant is the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by the Indian authorities after a police investigation into the claims by children at shelters in Bombay that he and another Briton, Allan Waters, had beaten and sexually abused them. The project received money from British schools and churches, where Grant gave illustrated talks, and from the UK charity Rescue-a-Child. Jesuits in Britain have pulled students from a gap year project at Grant's shelters in Tanzania because of concerns about the treatment of children there.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 12:31 PM

The spectre of suicide stalks Dungavel refugee detention centre and vulnerable inmates face neglect, says the Sunday Herald. In one of the worst cases, a 27-year-old refugee priest from Nigeria, John Oguchuckwu, was sent to Greenock prison indefinitely because he became suicidal after spending eight months in Dungavel. He is now in a shared cell and mixes with criminals, despite having never committed a crime. And John Razik, a Christian Iraqi who was persecuted in Iraq because of his faith, tried to kill himself "many, many times" while in Dungavel.
Source: Sunday Herald.
posted at 12:25 PM

Media regulator Ofcom's public service broadcasting review expected to be concluded by the autumn, incorporating a rethink of how licence obligations are met. This review, says Donald Emslie, chief executive of SMG Television, Scotland's largest producer of network programmes, ultimately sets a challenge for broadcasters to look at how their public service commitment is delivered and how much prescription there should be in this area. "If we dropped church services there would be an almighty cry from the Church of Scotland about not meeting our obligations. But if we could deliver programmes about faith and religious beliefs, and they were seen by more people, wouldn't that be a better use of public service broadcasting time?"
Source: Sunday Herald.
posted at 12:20 PM

First Minister Jack McConnell is facing a war with Scotland's 32 councils this autumn over plans to scrap their criminal justice social work departments - which handle those offenders who are serving community sentences - and instead offer the powers to a new national body, which will also run Scotland's prisons. The move is opposed by all of Scotland's councils, the unions and almost all the groups which work with offenders, such as the Church of Scotland.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 12:13 PM

The Scottish Knights Templar have protested to the Archbishop of Canterbury about the 'ordination' by Anglican cleric and chronicler of the peculiar Rev Lionel Fanthorpe of Mr Gary M. Beaver, who operates the 'Interdenominational Templar Church of the Holy Lands'. Chevalier James R. Reese, Grand Prior of the United States for the Scottish Knights Templar, said: "We would hope that Mr Beaver would dissolve his 'church' and submit himself to the authority and discipline of a legitimate Christian church. No good can come out of something which has had such unholy beginnings." [Mr Beaver should take care ... last year the Chevalier challenged Osama bin Laden to "single combat in the sands of Pakistan. I challenge you to meet me with scimitar or sword, to be pitted against myself and a holy sword consecrated to our Order - a sword that was forged to destroy evil. Here's the deal: if I win, Al Qaeda is disbanded - forever. If you win, then you can set the head of a Knight Templar on a pike outside your tent, and you can claim that you slew the chief of all Crusaders in the United States."
Source: Pakistan Christian Post.
posted at 7:47 PM

Bob Holman introduces his new book, 'Ordinary Christians', which the stories of eight friends whom he has known for years. The eight share three features. One is that they were not born into church-going families. Instead they had experiences, sometimes spread over years, which led them to embrace Christianity. Another common feature has been a desire to serve others. The final feature is that accepting Christianity has not taken them into trouble-free lives in which they can always display evangelical smiles. All have faced severe distresses, yet none has rejected God.
Source: The Guardian.
posted at 7:27 PM

The Scottish Episcopal Church has set September 4 as the deadline for nominations to find a successor to the Rt Rev Michael Henley as Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane. A short-list of candidates will be announced at the beginning of November.
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.
posted at 3:29 PM

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has welcomed a visit to Glasgow by cyclists from Europe4Family, a campaign by the World Youth Alliance.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 3:25 PM

Margaret Reilly and Amanda Kirkwood from Scotland were among 15,000 delegates at a Women in Faith conference in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. Their interest was prompted by reading a book by a co-founder of the organisation and Dallas-based fellow Scot, Sheila Walsh.
Source: Dallas News.
posted at 3:19 PM

The 161-year-old Elgin High Church has undergone a £40,000 facelift. Donald Urquhart, the church's property convener, said: "The one disappointment in the whole thing in that the former minister Charles McMillan, the driving force behind the work, retired at the end of May and did not see the project completed." However, he may be enticed back from Dundee to take part in a dedication service.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 2:45 PM

The Sisters of Notre Dame have been granted permission to demolish their former convent off Cardross Road in Dumbarton. It will be replaced by houses.
Source: icDunbartonshire - Lennox Herald.
posted at 9:07 PM

Rev Douglas Clyne, minister of Fraserburgh's Old Parish Church, is shortly to take early retirement after serving both Peterhead and Fraserburgh and surrounding areas for 31 years. A Memories Book is available at Fraserburgh Church Centre for anyone to help fill up its pages with stories and words of gratitude for both Rev Clyne and his wife, Annette, as they prepare to leave the town.
Source: Buchan Observer.
posted at 8:55 PM

Following on from the recent award of Eco-Congregation status, Inverurie West Church has become the first Fair Trade Church in the Presbytery of Gordon.
Source: Inverurie Herald.
posted at 8:51 PM

Mrs Mary Farmer, whose family were among the first to move into Johnstone 45 years ago under the historic Glasgow 'overspill' agreement, and who fulfilled an important role in the establishment of St Aidan's Catholic Church, has died at the age of 78.
Source: icRenfrewshire - Paisley Daily Express.
posted at 8:43 PM

The new assistant minister at St Kentigern's Church in New Farm Loch, Kilmarnock, is former policeman Jamie Milliken.
Source: icAyrshire - Kilmarnock Standard.
posted at 8:33 PM

Centenary celebrations for the Episcopal Church of St Margaret in New Galloway began today.
Source: icDumfries - Galloway News.
posted at 8:30 PM

The Roman Catholic Church has criticised plans by Jeremy Purvis - the Lib Dem MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale - to legalise 'mercy killings'. Church spokesman John Deighan said: "We firmly oppose intentional killing of any form. This is an unacceptable proposal which will turn doctors into killers. The Oregon law which Mr Purvis wishes to replicate in Scotland has lead to the situation where people are, in the majority of cases, choosing to end their life because they do not wish to be a burden on others."
Source: Southern Reporter.
posted at 8:24 PM

A Perth based charity is ploughing through one of Scotland's biggest ever shopping lists. The Mercy Ships organisation, which is supported by local businesswoman Ann Gloag, send ships and land-based teams to aid poverty stricken Third World countries. The Anastasis vessel docks in Dundee next month, and so far the Rev Michael Shewan at Auchterarder and his congregation have come up with four tons of potatoes, while Church of Scotland supporters in Blairgowrie have taken up the challenge of laying their hands on 45,000 tea bags. On Friday, August 27, a fundraising concert is being held at St John's Kirk in Perth. Admission is £10 and entertainment is being provided by Ukranian band Oreja.
Source: icPerthshire - Perthshire Advertiser.
posted at 11:35 AM

The tills are ringing at Rosslyn Chapel, probably the most extravagantly carved church in Scotland - and certainly the most fantastically endowed with myths, pseudo-history and controversy. A place of pilgrimage for freemasons, latter-day Templars, UFO spotters, ley-liners and crypto-historians seeking everything from scrolls containing the lost teachings of Christ to the Holy Grail, the chapel, nestling in the Midlothian village of Roslin, has become a destination for aficionados of The Da Vinci Code, the mystical thriller by Dan Brown which has sold more than eight million copies worldwide and which climaxes at Rosslyn.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 11:26 AM

A new organisation called the Banff and Buchan Friends of Sudan has been formed to organise a concert at the Riverside Church Harvest Centre in Banff to raise money for the World Vision charity.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 11:23 AM

The Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends, have failed to block proposals to convert part of Kelso's historic Corn Exchange into a bar and restaurant. They claimed the development would compromise the tranquillity of the area and have an adverse impact on the use of their premises for silent worship.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 11:17 AM

The Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association has chosen the Stewartry village of Dalry as the site for a memorial by Bill Dunigan in the form of a five-metre high sculpture of a burning bush - the symbol of the Church of Scotland since 1691. Two Covenanters, John Grierson and Robert Stewart, are buried in Dalry kirkyard. William Gordon and his son, Alexander of Earlstoun, Dalry, were prominent in the fight against persecution and the village was the focus of events that led to the battle of Rullion Green in 1666.
Source: icDumfries - Galloway News.
posted at 9:56 PM

Contents in the September issue of the Church of Scotland's Life & Work magazine include a feature on Baroness Williams, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, who claims that political society is still very much male dominated. The Moderator, Dr Alison Elliot, outlines the shocking extent of world poverty and appeals to churches to help. And there's a report on Scottish churches which are continuing the work of the Aberdeen-born Scots missionary Mary Slessor with mission links to the Calabar region of Nigeria.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 2:28 PM

Fraserburgh Community Church are to lodge an appeal after Aberdeenshire Council refused permission to build a gym in the church's premises.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 10:22 AM

James McIntyre, a leading member of the farming community in south-west Scotland and beyond, and former chairman of Dumfries and Galloway Health Board, has died aged 77. Mr McIntyre was an elder of Kirkcolm Parish Church for 45 years, and had served as session clerk.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 10:17 AM

Four senior MPs have vowed to fight on after Tony Blair rejected calls to clear the names of the pilots blamed for the 1994 Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre. A long-running campaign to on their behalf has been backed by their families, the Church of Scotland and politicians such as former Prime Minister John Major.
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 2:24 PM

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has asked for ongoing prayers for Pope John Paul II. He told the Catholic community of Scotland: "All who saw the Pope in Lourdes, whether in person or on television, could not fail to be moved at the sight of the ailing Pontiff struggling to kneel in prayer before the Shrine to Our Blessed Lady. His determination to express his own words of encouragement to the sick around him and to the sick of the world was remarkable."
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 11:35 AM

Profile of the Eric Liddell Centre in Edinburgh, based in the former North Morningside Parish Church and named after the local athlete who inspired the movie Chariots of Fire. The building now accommodates offices, a day-care unit, a games hall, a cafe and other multi-purpose rooms on four floors. It is the base for six social action projects, nine independent charities and it regularly hosts more than 100 groups on an hourly let basis. The centre has a staff of 23 who are ably assisted by hundreds of volunteers. Chief executive Bob Rendall writes: "Come and see how at least one famous local Olympian has inspired present generations to find new life. Come and see how the Eric Liddell Centre's presence and work has enlarged, enriched and empowered the footprint of the Church and the people for whom it cares in our city."
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 11:35 AM

Among those nominated by the public to be honoured with a commemorative plaque in Aberdeen are Catherine Morice Charteris, the first national president of the Church of Scotland's Women's Guild, and Katherine Davidson, a deaconess of the Kirk who worked with the children of convicted men.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 11:35 AM

Church leaders, children's charities and human rights groups yesterday united behind a proposal from the governor of Scotland's only women's jail to allow the children of inmates to live in the prison until they reach school age. Sue Brookes, governor of Cornton Vale prison, near Stirling, wants to extend the maximum age to which children are allowed to stay in prison with their mothers from 18 months to five years. A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: "Any initiative which allows mothers and young children to stay together must be regarded as humane and enlightened. The incarceration of children is hardly desirable and ultimately the child's welfare must come first."
Source: The Herald.
posted at 3:10 AM