Some 280 children and their youth leaders from throughout Scotland descended on the Newhope church at Faith Acres recently for an exciting Christian experience.
Source: Buchan Observer.

Highland councillors have reluctantly agreed to accept the use of Welsh slate to reroof Acharacle Church in view of the shortage of second-hand Ballachulish slate and the lack of funding on offer from Historic Scotland to salvage it.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Christian campaigners are to picket the King's Theatre in Glasgow and urge theatregoers to boycott Jerry Springer: The Opera which begins a week-long run next week. It has attracted accusations of blasphemy for its depiction of God and Jesus Christ. Organisers, including Christian Voice, are calling for "thousands of right-minded Christians" to turn out to register their disapproval. Eleven venues have pulled out of the current UK tour after becoming aware of Christian Voice's stance and planned performances in Aberdeen's His Majesty's Theatre next month – immediately following the Glasgow dates – have faced criticism. A website devoted to shutting down the opera, www.stopspringer.com, now urges people to express their anger to Prince Edward, patron of the theatre, by writing to him. The Glasgow campaign is being spearheaded by Bob Handyside, a 72-year-old from the city. "Christianity is a whipping boy, and obscenities like this, which are absolutely shocking, just seem to be expected," he said. "You would never get away with this if you were ranting about Islam."
Source: The Herald.

Two out of three Christian leaders are failing to inspire their employees, according to a survey carried out by the Evangelical Alliance. Only 36 per cent of employees rated their leaders as excellent in their ‘ability to inspire’. Less than a third (30%) marked their leaders as excellent in competence and professionalism. And only a fifth (18%) rated their leaders as excellent at delegating. The results highlight a need for more leadership training. In the areas of trustworthiness, integrity, spiritual maturity and compassion, however, they faired much better.
Source: Evangelical Alliance news release.

Obituary of Tom McAlpine, one of the first three lay members of the Iona Community; born September 23, 1929, died February 21, 2006.
Source: The Herald.

Holm Evangelical Church in Inverness is urging Christians to donate at least £1 towards the £1.3 million cost of the Culduthel Christian Centre, whose construction will be completed next month.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Kenya-born John Ragwar has lost his appeal against a deportation order and may have to leave behind his wife Karen, who works as a clerk for the Church of Scotland's in Edinburgh, and their two children.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

One of Scotland's most senior Roman Catholics has sparked a row after attacking the "politically correct zealots" who are supporting legislation which will allow homosexual couples to adopt. In a letter to Firs Minister Jack McConnell, the Rt Rev Joseph Devine, Bishop of Motherwell, accepted that he would be seen as a bigot for his views, but said he was "not prepared to stand by and watch the destruction of Christian values and truth".
Source: The Herald.

The London-based Catholic Truth Society will be publish a new Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on March 31 by appointment of the bishops' conferences of England and Wales, and of Scotland, echoing the format of the 'Penny Catechism' published by Society since 1889.
Source: Zenit News Agency.

Rev Sue Kirkbride has been inducted as the new minister at Saughtonhall United Reformed Church in Edinburgh.
Source: United Reformed Church Synod of Scotland.

Pastor Thomas Baird, attached to the Assemblies of God Pentecostal Church at Johnstone, Renfrewshire, was found not guilty at the High Court in Glasgow of terrorising a neighbour during a property dispute by wearing a balaclava and threatening to kill her with a gun.
Source: The Scotsman.

A new stone entrance for wheelchair access is to be built at historic St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh as part of the final phase of the building's £7 million restoration, which also includes a new lighting scheme and conservation of the Thistle Chapel.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

A new stone entrance for wheelchair access is to be built at historic St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh as part of the final phase of the building's £7 million restoration, which also includes a new lighting scheme and conservation of the Thistle Chapel.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Award-winning Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, whose credits include Carla’s Song and My Name Is Joe, has called separate faith schools "insane". Laverty told his own story of separate education in Wigtown in the 1960s. "The population wasn’t big enough to support two schools,” he said. “This problem was solved by placing all the Catholic children inside one classroom with one Catholic teacher, inside the bigger ‘Protestant’ school. We even had separate playtimes." But Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: "The experience of Catholic schools may cause a problem for Paul Laverty, but they do not cause a problem for the thousands of parents who send their children there or the thousands of children in Scotland who attend them. Schools of many different faiths exist in England and Wales and around the world."
Source: Sunday Herald.

The newly-created North Coast Parish, a recent merger of the Church of Scotland congregations at Strathy and Halladale with Reay, this week expressed concern about the UK Atomic Energy Authority's plan to establish a new storage facility for low-level radioactive waste at Dounreay. But the Rev Ronnie Johnstone of Thurso West Church commended the proposed plant to Caithness Presbytery.
Source: Northern Times.

Rev Jim MacEwan of Cromdale and Advie parish has welcomed plans for a green burial site at a Strathspey beauty spot. The plans by Native Woodland Ltd will see the burial ground created at Delliefure at a secluded tree-lined meadow overlooking the River Spey.
Source: Strathspey & Badenoch Herald.

Along with 13 other priests, Right Reverend Ian Murray, Bishop of the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, helped celebrate the official opening of Portree’s new Roman Catholic Church. Our Lady of the Assumption and St Maolrubha, which can seat a congregation of 140, took 10 months to build. Prior to its completion, which was made possible largely through local fundraising, mass was said at Skeabost Village Hall.
Source: West Highland Free Press.

Rev Bill Elliot is retiring after 12 years at St John's Episcopal Church in Selkirk.
Source: Selkirk Weekend Advertiser.

Rev David Norczyk, originally from Texas, has been inducted as minister of Whytescauseway Baptist Church in Kirkcaldy.
Source: Fife Free Press.

Proposals to put mobile phone aerials in the historic tower of Burntisland Parish Church have been rejected by the Kirk Session and community representatives.
Source: Fife Free Press.

Vandals smashed six windows at Our Lady and St Mark’s RC Church in Alexandria four times in one day. Church workers were in the middle of clearing away the broken glass from the first incident when the gang returned and again started throwing bricks at the windows. Father Gerard Bacon said: "It was just luck that no-one was injured." Church of Scotland minister Rev Ian Miller, of nearby Bonhill Church, said: "I find this deplorable. I hate to think that this incident was in some way sectarian."
Source: Lennox Herald.

The David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre has been targeted by vandals for the fifth time in a year. The Centre, which is managed by The National Trust and celebrates the life of the explorer and missionary, currently attracts 20,000 visitors annually.
Source: Hamilton Advertiser.

Members of Calvary Carluke Christian Fellowship have paid for billboard advertising on the A73 between Newmains and Carluke urging drivers to turn to Jesus. Pastor Jim Tatton said: "The billboard campaign is intended to encourage existing Christians in their faith and to invite people who are searching spiritually to find out more." The aim is to promote Christianity rather than any particular church or denomination.
Source: Wishaw Press.

Three local schoolgirls won book tokens donated by the Scottish Redundant Churches Trust in a drawing competition at the recent Bangour Village Church doors open day.
Source: West Lothian Courier.

Young people with no faith have such low self-esteem that one in four have contemplated suicide, new research by the University of Wales has revealed. In the most extensive survey of its kind, teenagers with no religious belief were found to be much more likely to feel bad about themselves and their relationships with other people. But holding a religious conviction makes youngsters much more likely to be bullied, respondents felt. Nearly one in three Christians, and 34 per cent of Muslims, feared being persecuted for their faith. Over 23,000 students from urban schools in years 9 and 10, between the ages of 13-15, were interviewed for the study, Urban Hope and Spiritual Health – the Adolescent Voice.
Source: Church of England Newspaper.

Britain's two biggest Christian bookstores have opened talks over a possible merger for later this year. Wesley Owen and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) would have a combined presence in over 60 cities if the collaboration goes ahead.
Source: Church of England Newspaper.

Among the Believers is a new three-part series for BBC Scotland, beginning on Sunday 5 March, which takes presenter Andrew Slorance on a spiritual tour, meeting people from diverse faiths at crucial points in their lives. The first episode, entitled Starting Out, features Susan Casey from Inverkeithing, who, in the wake of being widowed twice, experienced a spiritual low point followed by a re-awakening of her faith at Lourdes in the company of Edinburgh priest Father Alex Davie. It also features May Nicholson, a former addict from Paisley, who is now giving hope and help to others in a similar situation through the Preschal Trust in Govan.
Source: BBC Scotland Television.

Obituary of Canon Daniel Boyle, Catholic priest; born 2 March, 1918, in Grangemouth; died 14 February, 2006, in Dunfermline, aged 87. After 53 years of service in the archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, most of them served in parishes in Fife, he retired in 1993 and settled in Kinross, spending the next 13 years as a chaplain to Queen Margaret's Hospital in Dunfermline.
Source: The Scotsman.

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland will be asked to back moves to boycott all goods produced by Israelis in the occupied territories in an effort to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Source: The Herald.

Scottish parliamentarians and officials ended a tour of Malawi last weekend, visiting the Old Bandawe CCAP Mission, which is one of the historical base of Malawi and Scotland's missionary links. One of the first pillars of Christianity, Robert Laws, set up a Mission Station at Bandawe, before moving the headquarters to Livingstonia. The tour also took in the Scottish Missionary graves, on the foot of the Old Bandawe Mission, in Nkhata Bay South. Malawi’s Nkhata Bay South and Scotland’s Clydesdale constituencies have twinned.
Source: Malawi Nation.

Councillors and church leaders in Glasgow are opposing a bid for lap dancing at Fuse bar on Nelson Mandela Place in the heart of the city centre. The Rev Dr William Philip, from the nearby St George's Tron church, said: "We will object to this - not because it's on our doorstep but because this is not the kind of thing we should have in this city."
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

Former Aberdeen and Dundee footballer Brian Irvine opens his heart on his battle against MS, the hurdles he's overcome and new challenges he faces as a manager. "My general health has improved ... While the healing has come through natural means, I see God at the centre of the process."
Source: Daily Record.

A summit of ex-clergy wives from across the UK whose marriages have collapsed is set to be held in Edinburgh in May. Support group Broken Rites, which is organising the summit, hopes to attract Scottish women needing help after their spouses cheated on them, came out as gay, became alcoholics or abused them. The non-denominational group said that in the past, church chiefs had failed to offer enough support after ignoring the situation. Many women, it claims, were left trapped in abusive marriages with nowhere to turn. Around ten per cent of Broken Rites' 250 members are in Scotland.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Profile of American Christian activist Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners and currently on a UK tour promoting his book God's Politics, endorsed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown: "Jim Wallis challenges us to create a society that both addresses injustice and stresses personal responsibility, and his call for a global covenant through which rich countries meet their obligations to the poor will have a resonance throughout the world."
Source: The Scotsman.

Email exchange with two scholars of the Crusades -one who writes about Christian perspectives and one who studies the Muslim experience of these medieval wars. Thomas Madden is the author of The New Concise History of the Crusades and is a professor and chair of the history department at St. Louis University. Carole Hillenbrand, author of The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, is professor of Islamic culture at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and winner of the King Faisal Foundation prize for Islamic studies.
Source: National Catholic Reporter.

The Pope’s Ambassador to Britain, Archbisop Faustino Sainz Munoz, will visit Dundee this week to take part in celebrations marking the silver jubilee of the Episcopal Ordination of the Rt Rev Vincent Logan, Bishop of Dunkeld.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.

The Church of Scotland's highest court is to be asked to allow ministers and deacons to conduct church services marking civil partnerships free from fear of punishment. However, the report into the implications of such partnerships being fully recognised in law also includes a request to the General Assembly to agree that no minister or deacon will be obliged to conduct such a service "against his or her conscience". The legal questions committee has shied away from including the word "blessing" in the document, which is described as "permissive in tone but will protect conscience on all sides". The Rev Ian McLean, the committee's acting convener, said members had "very carefully" not used that word.
Source: The Herald.

Ministers who give religious blessing to civil partnership ceremonies will not be at risk from disciplinary action under proposals to be put forward at the Church of Scotland's General Assembly. A report by the Kirk's legal questions committee will propose that individual ministers should decide whether they want to attend the events.
Source: The Scotsman.

Bishop Peter Moran is visiting Poland to invite bishops to establish links which could lead to Polish priests coming to work in Aberdeen diocese. He said: "The percentage of Catholics is 3% of the population but with the arrival of many people from Poland the Catholic population is increasing rapidly. In ... Inverness the Catholic community is three times what it was two years ago."
Source: Zenit News Agency.

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in May will be told by the Kirk’s Legal Questions Committee that the reality of same-sex civil partnerships being entered into and fully recognised in law is "an obvious new pressure on the Church".
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Sacred Heart Church in Edinburgh will introduce a permanent ban on smoking in its meeting rooms and halls at the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, March 1, instead of waiting for legislation to come into force on March 26.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien recalls his recent visit to Darfur: "The men had their ears cut off - cut right into the skull. One said he had been stripped and beaten. Another had also had his lips cut off, you could see the scars ... Man's inhumanity to man is quite startling." He admits that when faced with the reality of life in Sudan for those people, messages of hope given at last year's Make Poverty History protest in Edinburgh rang a little hollow. "To be utterly and completely ignored by the rest of the world - surely we can do more for these, our forgotten sisters and brothers?"
Source: The Scotsman.

Profile of Professor Nikolai Zhelev, the honorary Bulgarian consul to the 500 Bulgarians living in and around Dundee, whose community includes a church.
Source: Sofia Echo.

The Humanist Society of Scotland has noted a tenfold increase in the number of funerals it has presided over since 1988, with around 1800 conducted last year. A total of 85 weddings were held last year and 300-400 are expected to take place this year. There are 30,000-plus marriages held in Scotland each year, one-third of which are conducted by the Kirk or Catholic Church. But humanism has grown to the extent that it now rivals smaller established religions (sic), such as the Baptist Union of Scotland, United Free Church and United Reformed Church, in the number of services conducted. Ivan Middleton, secretary of the Humanist Society of Scotland, says those asking him to conduct weddings include "part-time Christians" who would previously have had a religious wedding for appearances' sake. "Quite a lot of ministers are pleased about that," says Middleton. "People come along to them and say 'can you marry us, but take it easy on the God bit?' The minister can say 'do you know about the humanists? They're maybe more for you'."
Source: The Herald.

Rev Lindsey Sanderson, ACTS' Assistant General Secretary, reports from the World Council of Churches Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.

Feature on Jerry Springer: The Opera, the controversial musical which tours Scotland in March and April.
Source: Sunday Herald.

The real Rev Jolly has died, aged 82. Minister John Jolly, of Partick, Glasgow, was a friend of Rev IM Jolly creator Rikki Fulton.
Source: Sunday Mail.

Scottish right-to-die campaign group Friends At The End (Fate) has published a guide on procedures involved in travelling to Dignitas in Zurich, where terminally ill patients can obtain medical help to end their lives. Churches in Scotland expressed concern at the publication. A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: "Voluntary euthanasia, as this would be styled, can very easily become involuntary when the climate in a society changes sufficiently that it becomes expected of people." A spokesman from the Church of Scotland said: "Doctor-assisted dying may currently be seen as one option for the terminally ill, but we are concerned that it may come to be regarded as duty in future."
Source: Sunday Herald.

Gordon Brown is planning to return the power to choose bishops to the Church of England for the first time since the reign of Henry VIII. The Chancellor has told colleagues that if he becomes Prime Minister he will reach agreement with the church to give up Downing Street’s role in the selection process, which he believes to be anachronistic. The move would also fend off criticism that Brown, a member of the Church of Scotland, should not be in control of English bishops’ appointments.
Source: Sunday Times.

The World Council of Churches assembly in Brazil has become a forum for a question that one delegate calls a religious minefield: Should churches use their investment portfolios to protest Israeli policies toward Palestinians? In May, the Church of Scotland is expected to study possible divestment at its General Assembly. The Moderator, the Rev David Lacy, called the Israeli security barrier an "oppressive sign of distrust and hatred in the birthplace of the son of God" following a trip in November.
Source: Associated Press / San Jose Mercury News.

Tourism bosses are sending an envoy to the National Wedding Show in London to entice English brides to get married in Scotland. Judith Mair, of VisitScotland, explained: "With our landscape, beautiful churches and castles, a host of other romantic attractions, Scotland is becoming known as the place to walk down the aisle."
Source: Daily Record.

Vandals have been blamed for up to £2000 worth of damage to St Bernadette’s RC Church in Tullibody after a wheelie bin fire spread to the church hall.
Source: Alloa Advertiser.

An ambitious development project undertaken by Cupar Old Parish Church has raised 85 per cent of the funds required in just 12 months.
Source: Fife Herald.

Fourteen pupils from St Mungo's High School in Falkirk will travel to France this summer to take part in Youth for Lourdes 2006 and help sick and elderly people on pilgrimage.
Source: Falkirk Herald.

Newburgh Parish Church is celebrating its centenary this year.
Source: Fife Herald.

A church-led care centre for adults with learning difficulties in Selkirk is to close its doors. The Brothers of Charity say the Connections complex closure stemmed from a Scottish Executive's "Same as You" review which urged more care in the community.
Source: Southern Reporter.

A Lanarkshire missionary who was missing for over a week in Vietnam has been found dead. Father Brian Fulton (57), of the Holy Ghost Order in Carfin, Motherwell, is believed to have collapsed with a heart-attack after going jogging in Ho Chi Minh City. Provincial Superior Father John McFadden said: "Brian was a fitness fan and a fanatical Celtic supporter. He was a dedicated missionary with wide experience in Africa." He regularly travelled home to Gourock to visit family and friends, who raised thousands of pounds for his charity work.
Source: Hamilton Advertiser.

The Presbytery of Irvine and Kilmarnock agreed to the linking of Henderson and the Old High Churches in Kilmarnock and of St Columba’s and John Knox in Stewarton, but only after two and a half hours of debate during which each congregation put its case for “no change”.
Source: Kilmarnock Standard.

Campaigners in Burntisland have launched a petition against plans to install a mobile phone mast in the tower of the town's 400-year-old parish church.
Source: Dundee Courier.

Angus Council has agreed to support a campaign to make Arbroath Abbey a UNESCO world heritage site. The Abbey was the venue for the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath - a letter sent to Pope John XXII in 1320 in support of King Robert the Bruce and an independent Scotland.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Scottish TV presenter and journalist Dominik Diamond is said to be considering undergoing physical crucifixion in the Philippines as part of a television documentary about Christianity being made for the Five channel by Ginger TV, part of the Glasgow-based Scottish Media Group. Diamond said: "I'm in my mid-30s, I've got three kids and it's about time I did something that didn't involve cheap gags." The Channel Five series will also feature a documentary about the school shootings at Dunblane, presented by Will Hanrahan, who covered the story at the time.
Source: The Scotsman.

The Morton Monument in St Nicholas Buccleuch Church in the centre of Dalkeith, which dates back to the 15th century, has undergone conservation work costing £20,000. The monument had been exposed because the apse was sealed after the Reformation in 1560 and subsequently fell into such a state of disrepair that the roof gave way.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

An independent school in Aberdeen for Brethren church community youngsters has received a good report from education inspectors. Springvale School at the Bridge of Don is now hoping that the Registrar of Independent Schools will give it full registration. It is linked to the UK-wide Focus Learning Trust which provides education for the Brethren church community.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.