Film of the exhumation of the body of an Edinburgh nun who is expected to become the next Scottish saint is to be shown in public for the first time. It forms part of a tour aimed at raising the profile of Margaret Sinclair organised by St Patrick's church in Edinburgh as part of this year's Fringe festival.
Source: Sunday Times. posted at 4:38 PM

Churches with decaying property were today urged to sacrifice their buildings to help meet Scotland's shortage of affordable housing. And campaigners at Scottish Churches Housing Action praised the decision of Duke Street United Reformed Church's congregation in Leith to pull down their building to make way for 22 new flats with a church underneath.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News. posted at 6:30 PM

Football fans have been urged to stand united against sectarianism, as the new season gets under way. "Traditional football songs should not be twisted into sectarian anthems," said Deputy Justice Minister Hugh Henry. "If you know your history, then you also know sectarianism is wrong. If you don't mean it, don't say it."
Source: BBC Scotland News. posted at 11:08 AM

Witnesses in the trial of a monk accused of sexual assault are to be allowed to give evidence via CCTV. Mark Paterson is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the Aberdeen University Chaplaincy over a period of almost two years. Paterson was understood to be a member of the Roman Catholic order of Carmelite Friars, which ran the chaplaincy at the time of the alleged attacks.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal. posted at 6:23 PM

The Scottish Executive has been urged to reopen a "security fund" to help churches, mosques and synagogues tackle hate crimes. SNP Deputy Shadow Health Minister and West of Scotland MSP Stewart Maxwell today said places of worship needed extra funding to boost security.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News. posted at 6:13 PM

BBC Radio Scotland has been accused of marginalising religion after it emerged it is to bring forward Thought for the Day from 7:25am to 6:50am. The Rev Johnston McKay, a senior producer of the item for 15 years until 2002, said: "There is no doubt that moving it to 6:50am is acute marginalisation."
Source: The Scotsman. posted at 9:40 AM

Three parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunkeld are to close in September, two in Dundee and one in Perth. They are St Matthew's in Whitfield and St Teresa's in Graham Street. In Perth, a decision will be made after further consultation on which of two parishes, St Mary Magdalene's or Our Lady of Lourdes, is to close.
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph. posted at 8:32 PM

Scottish Churches Housing Action is recruiting a project manager for its Church Property & Housing Programme, which encourages the churches in Scotland to use redundant or under-used property for affordable housing.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news. posted at 8:25 PM

Obituary of the Very Rev Dr Fraser McLuskey MC, MA, BD, DD, former Moderator and minister at St Columba's Pont Street, London; born 15 September, 1914, in Aberdeen; died 24 July, 2005, in Edinburgh, aged 90. His autobiography, The Cloud and the Fire, tells how during the war he became a "parachute padre", dropping behind enemy lines with the SAS.
Source: The Scotsman. posted at 9:25 AM

A teacher who claims he suffered religious discrimination wants an employment tribunal to award him £5000 compensation for injury to his feelings and potential lost earnings. Atheist David McNab, 53, a maths teacher at St Paul's Roman Catholic High School in Glasgow, claimed he was not interviewed for a promoted post because he was not a Catholic. Glasgow City Council argue it was a genuine occupational requirement for the post and deny discrimination.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow. posted at 5:47 PM

Obituary of Lord Grieve, distinguished judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland; born 21 October, 1917, in Glasgow; died 10 July, 2005, in Edinburgh, aged 87. At his funeral, Lord McKay of Clashfern paid tribute to a real friend who he had known and admired for 50 years: "He was a great Christian gentleman who gave devoted service to his country in war and peace." Grieve remained a regular member of St Cuthbert's Church in Edinburgh virtually all his life. He was an elder for nearly half-a-century and was devoted to the ministers and congregation. He was appointed procurator to the General Assembly - a post dating back to the 15th century - and carried out his duties with typical care and enthusiasm for three years.
Source: The Scotsman. posted at 11:18 AM

A Moray minister yesterday conducted the funeral service for his cousin who was among the victims of the London terrorist bombings on July 7. The Rev Ranald Gauld, minister of St Rufus Church at Keith, led the service at an Essex crematorium for BT engineer Giles Hart, 55, who was killed on the No. 30 bus in Tavistock Square.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal. posted at 11:07 AM

Obituary of the Very Rev Dr J Fraser McLuskey; born September 19, 1914, died July 24, 2005. The 'Parachute Padre' was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1983-84, and minister from 1960 to 1986 of the leading Scots church in London, St Columba's Pont Street.
Source: The Herald. posted at 10:59 AM

Scots-born Rev Matthew McNaught, a former Episcopalian priest, is the new interim minister of the Unitarian Universalists of Sterling, Virginia.
Source: Loudoun Times-Mirror. posted at 10:56 AM

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has blamed the "disappointing" G8 Gleneagles summit for the mounting crisis in West Africa, where 3.6 million people have been hit by plagues of locusts devouring crops, and a severe drought.
Source: The Scotsman. posted at 10:51 AM

Former lawyer John Andrew Ellis is sueing the Archdiocese of Sydney, alleging that he was sexually abused by a now deceased Catholic priest, Aidan Duggan, who had been "lent" to the Archdiocese from Fort Augustus Abbey in Scotland. A spokeswoman for the church's lawyers said the alleged abuse happened too long ago for them to find the necessary evidence.
Source: The Advertiser, Adelaide. posted at 10:47 AM

Father Timothy Castor has been assigned to the Christ the King Catholic churches in Presho, Draper, and Murdo, South Dakota, as administrator of the parish. Fr Castor spent six months at Pluscarden Abbey before applying to join the priesthood, and was previously assigned to the Catholic Pastoral Team of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.
Source: Lyman County Herald. posted at 10:41 AM

The bitter row between ministers and bishops over gay clergy in the Scottish Episcopal Church is set to spill over into the wider Anglican communion. Repeated demands to retract a controversial declaration that being a practising homosexual is not a bar to ministry have been rejected by bishops. A concerned group of ministers, which claims to represent mainstream orthodox followers of the religion, is now threatening to take the theological disagreement to an international tribunal set up by and reporting to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Another option is seeking "alternative oversight" - where congregations who are in theological disagreement with the church leadership and are unable to accept their authority, ask for a bishop, possibly retired and outwith the current crop, to look after their interests.
Source: The Herald. posted at 9:13 PM

Gay couples who "marry" under new civil partnership legislation will not receive a Christian blessing from the Church of England, because it may "erode the unique position" of marriage. Guidelines issued by the House of Bishops yesterday, ahead of the new legislation, also cast doubt on the position of clergy who decided to enter a same-sex marriage. The Rev David McCarthy, the director (sic) of St Silas' Church in Glasgow, which represents (sic) the Scottish Anglican Network, said the decision will put pressure on the Scottish Episcopal Church "to decide whether they want to stay in the Anglican Communion, which will mean following this line, or deciding that they need to do something completely different".
Source: The Scotsman. posted at 9:03 PM

Filming of a Hollywood movie based on the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code is to take place at the Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh in September.
Source: BBC Scotland News. posted at 8:59 PM

Hamish Wishart, who is just half way through his studies at the Scottish Baptist College, has been ordained into the ministry and inducted into the pastorate at Cornton Baptist Church.
Source: Baptist Union of Scotland news. posted at 8:57 PM

Rev Kenneth MacKenzie, currently the minister at St Columba's Scottish Mission in Budapest, has been appointed to serve the charge of Braemar and Crathie. (Crathie is the parish church for Balmoral, the Queen's summer residence.)
Source: Church of Scotland news release. posted at 8:54 PM

The Evangelical Alliance has issued a statement on a symposium about the doctrine of atonement held in London earlier this month. It followed controversy surrounding the writings of evangelist Steve Chalke. The Alliance's general director, Joel Edwards, said: "We welcome the fact that both Steve Chalke and Alan Mann affirmed their willingness to continue creative engagement with penal substitutionary atonement, and to work alongside its proponents in the cause of the gospel."
Source: Evangelical Alliance news release. posted at 8:47 PM

The family and friends of the only Scots victim of the London bombs today said their last tearful farewells. Around 200 mourners filled the Laigh Kirk in Paisley to hear close friend Reverend David Thom describe devoted Christian Helen Jones, 28, originally of Lockerbie, as "truly unique."
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow. posted at 7:17 PM

Obituary of Reverend Donald Angus MacRae, for many years Church of Scotland minister at Tarbert, Harris; born April 2, 1918, died July 12, 2005, in his 88th year and in the 63rd of his ministry.
Source: The Herald. posted at 3:31 PM

Inverness-born Church of England priest the Rev Nicky Tottle has become team vicar at All Saints Church, High Wycombe.
Source: Bucks Free Press. posted at 3:29 PM

A former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has called for a venue change. The Very Reverend Dr Andrew McLellan said annual meetings had been held in Edinburgh for too long and should move to Aberdeen instead. Dr McLellan said the move would help stop the church being perceived as "too central belt". He made the call during a service to mark the 400th anniversary of the last time the assembly was in Aberdeen.
Source: BBC Scotland News. posted at 1:15 PM

The family of Helen Jones is preparing for the funeral of the 28-year-old accountant from Dumfriesshire who was killed in the London bombings. It will be held tomorrow in Paisley at Laigh Kirk, the church where her best friend from Aberdeen University, the Rev David Thom, is minister. The town and its surrounding area is where Jones carried out voluntary work with the underprivileged before leaving Scotland for a new life in London. Her gap year after university was spent working for the Glasgow Mission (sic). David Gould, Helen's stepfather and a former Church of England minister, said: "We believe a donation to the Glasgow Mission in her name would be a fitting tribute to this true daughter of Scotland, true daughter of God and true daughter of ours. May God now receive her back."
Source: Scotland on Sunday. posted at 1:05 PM

Scottish Muslim leaders have added their concerns over an alleged "shoot-to-kill" policy said to have been adopted by the Metropolitan Police following the London bombings. Jalal Chaudry, the chairman of the Islamic Society of Scotland, said: "I feel we are going in the wrong direction no matter how much we are trying to calm things down." Qasim Khwaja, a member of the National Executive of the hard-line Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation, said: "Firstly it is not proved that anything was carried out by Muslims. Even if they were, why should the whole community be expected to answer for it? We did not see every Christian have to answer for killings in Northern Ireland, and neither would we expect them to."
Source: Scotland on Sunday. posted at 1:00 PM

A Highland priest came back to his homeland this week to celebrate 25 years since his ordination. Father Joe Toal, 49, was back in his home parish of St Margaret's Church in Roy Bridge. He has been in Spain for seven years working at the Scottish seminary in Salamanca.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal. posted at 3:37 PM

Church of Scotland minister Andrew Blackwood appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court yesterday and admitted assaulting his wife, the Rev Sandi Blackwood, also a Kirk minister, by head-butting her at their home in Uddingston on Easter Monday 2004. Sentence was deferred until next month. The couple have since divorced.
Source: The Scotsman. posted at 3:33 PM

Christian Solidarity Worldwide has announced it will run a series of roadshows across the UK to raise the awareness of Christian persecution. Ian White will lead the worship at the Scottish events, provisionally arranged for 28th October in Glasgow, 29th October in Edinburgh and 30th October in Aberdeen.
Source: Christian Today. posted at 3:22 PM

A Dingwall chaplain visiting the south of England for his sister's wedding ended up on front line duty in the aftermath of last week's London suicide bomb attacks. Rev Dave Lynch of the Railway Mission helped provide counselling for railway staff, police and other emergency workers at Kings Cross Station.
Source: Ross-shire Journal. posted at 8:06 PM

Christian charity Blythswood Care is to open a second shop in Inverness, specialising in second hand books.
Source: Inverness Courier. posted at 7:45 PM

Christian Aid has launched a major new appeal for the victims of President Mugabe's operation to destroy thousands of houses, which has caused a humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.
Source: Church of England Newspaper. posted at 7:42 PM

Plans for excluding the Church of England bishops from the House of Lords were leaked this week. The proposals would reduce the membership of the Upper House from 731 to 300-400. The 25 Lords Spiritual, 92 hereditary peers, and Law Lords would all be excluded. Religious representatives and representatives of other groups would form about one fifth of the membership of a reformed second chamber. The remainder would be elected.
Source: Church Times. posted at 7:41 PM

Lifegate community church in Whitfield, Dundee, has contributed £400 to the city's tsunami appeal fund.
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph. posted at 7:31 PM

Plans by the Edinburgh Dungeon tourist attraction to offer free admission to ugly people have been criticised by the Church of Scotland.
Source: Daily Record. posted at 3:57 PM

The Catholic Enquiry Office has published a page of resources about St Mary Magdalene aimed at enthusiasts of The Da Vinci Code.
Source: The Guardian. posted at 3:53 PM

Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh has opened to doors of its Kirkhouse drop-in centre for homeless people in Edinburgh to participants in the Homeless World Cup.
Source: Church of Scotland news release. posted at 9:21 PM

Obituary of Sir Douglas Fleming Hardie; born May 26, 1923, died July 7, 2005; former chairman of CBI Scotland. "Sir Douglas Hardie embodied the successful Scot who moves easily through society and leaves a substantial footprint in the process" ... and for most of his life was a devoted elder of the Parish Church of St Mary's in his native Dundee.
Source: The Herald. posted at 12:57 PM

Members of Glasgow's Catholic churches have embarked on their annual pilgrimage to Lourdes in France. Archbishop Mario Conti is leading up to 500 pilgrims from across the city and Scotland.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow. posted at 5:33 PM

Extensive extract from Until I Find You, the latest novel by John Irving, author of The Hotel New Hampshire and The World According to Garp. Some of the book is set in Edinburgh, with mentions for South Leith Parish Church and Old Saint Paul's.
Source: Canadian Television. posted at 4:54 PM

The Church of Scotland has expressed its concern about an incident in Queenstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa on Thursday 14 July 2005, when police used rubber bullets, batons and tear gas against unarmed, peaceful protestors asking for HIV treatment. The Kirk's HIV/AIDS Project co-ordinator, Nigel Pounde, commented: "We deplore this use of violence."
Source: Church of Scotland news release. posted at 11:29 AM

A former leader of the SNP, cast into the political wilderness for opposing the Pope's visit to Scotland, is to run for the party's presidency. William Wolfe is credited with building the Nationalists into a credible left-of-centre force in the 1970s. However, his political career imploded when he opposed the visit of Pope John Paul II to Scotland in 1982. Although not against the Pope as a person, or a pastor, he said he objected to his coming as "the envoy of a triumphalist, patriarchal and intolerant institution which had persecuted Scots Presbyterian martyrs" during the seventeenth century. He has since apologised, and is married to a Catholic.
Source: The Herald. posted at 11:23 AM

A Rangers fan was fined £650 at Perth Sheriff Court for hurling religious abuse at an 11-year-old girl because she was wearing a Celtic shirt. Ryan Buchanan, 25, picked on the girl while she waited in a pizza parlour just hours after Rangers had been beaten in an Old Firm match.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow. posted at 6:59 PM

On the first anniversary of a police crackdown on Christians in Bulgaria, the Evangelical Alliance UK has called on the government to end its repression of the Church.
Source: Evangelical Alliance news release. posted at 11:19 AM

Rev Scott Burton of Kelty Parish Church in Fife is pastoring in Marion, South Carolina, in a pulpit exchange with Holton Siegling, pastor of Marion Presbyterian Church.
Source: Florence Morning News. posted at 11:16 AM

The Episcopalian Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane, the Most Rev David Chillingworth, will officially re-open St Serf's Residential Home in Newport on Tay in Fife tomorrow. The home for the elderly has undergone extensive refurbishment and upgrading.
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release. posted at 7:49 PM

The London bombers will burn in Hell, Muslim leaders declared last night in a fatwa against suicide killers. Clerics from the Sunni Council of Britain condemned the mass murderers in an edict in which Glasgow MP Mohammad Sarwar was a key negotiating figure. Grand Mufti Muhammad Gul Rehman Qadri said: 'Anyone who commits suicide will be sent to Hell. 'It is the explicit saying of the Holy Prophet who ordered his followers to seek peace and harmony wherever they should live, not to cause death and destruction or to live counter to the laws of that host country.' Last night, Sarwar revealed the Fatwa had been passed unanimously by the 3000 imams at the meeting in Birmingham.
Source: Daily Record. posted at 7:45 PM

Leaders of the Muslim community in Dundee met on Saturday to condemn the London bombings and pay tribute to victims. Representatives of the city's three mosques and Pakistani and Bangladeshi organisations were joined in City Square by MPs and councillors. Senior Muslims vowed to do all they can to ensure children are not "brainwashed," as it was suggested the bombers were. After the 9/11 attacks, the Victoria Street mosque discovered extremists targeting Muslim students at Dundee and Abertay Universities. These people were driven out, they said. There has been no backlash against Muslims in Dundee, but the representatives said there was a fear in their community.
Source: Dundee Courier. posted at 7:26 PM

Muslims held vigils in Glasgow and Edinburgh yesterday for those killed in the London bomb blasts. The events were organised by the Muslim Association of Britain in Scotland, Scottish CND and the Stop the War coalition. Osama Saeed, spokesman for the MAB in Scotland, said: "We need to come together at this time, Muslims, non-Muslims, Christians and people of no faith to try to make sense of the atrocity. There have been attacks on Muslim women in the streets, we have to come together to show that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated." AL Kennedy, the Scottish author, told the crowd in Glasgow: "We hear about Muslim violence, but you never hear the war in Iraq being referred to as Christian violence."
Source: The Herald. posted at 7:13 PM

African football teams have been refused entry to Britain to play in this week's Homeless World Cup in Edinburgh. Players from five African nations set to compete in the tournament for the first time have been issued with a blanket ban after British embassies withheld their visas - a decision branded "disgraceful" by organisers. Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society, said an "embarrassing" trend has emerged recently of UK visa refusals for Africans. Last week, the Sunday Herald reported that award-winning Zimbabwean poet and writer Chenjerai Hove was refused entry to give a lecture at Edinburgh University. Similarly, the British Consulate in Harare last week refused visas for a 30-strong Zimbabwean Christian choir and dance troupe to participate in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. However, it was announced last night that there will be a review meeting about their case tomorrow.
Source: Sunday Herald. posted at 8:21 PM

Thorough profile of Father Steve Gilhooley, soon to be a former Roman Catholic priest, currently relieved of pastoral duties at his own request, living in Dublin and author of The Pyjama Parade, describing how he was sexually abused at seminary. The story includes insights into Gilhooley's relationship with Cardinal Keith O'Brien. 'There will be no reconciliation for the prodigal son in Scotland. "I would still be a priest if I felt part of it," says Gilhooley. "But there's no place for me in the Church. I wish there was, but there isn't."'
Source: Scotland on Sunday. posted at 7:58 PM

Salvation Army officers Major Fiona and Captain Martin Sayer are to say goodbye to their community in Leytonstone, near London, and travel 650 miles to the northern tip of Scotland to take up a new ministry in Thurso.
Source: Waltham Forest Guardian. posted at 8:43 PM