Two Scottish novels are in the running for this year's Man Booker Prize, it was announced yesterday - both about clergymen having breakdowns. In James Robertson's The Testament of Gideon Mack, a Perthshire minister - who, despite his job, is not a believer - meets the Devil when he falls into a chasm while trying to save a dog from drowning. Andrew O'Hagan's Be Near Me tells the story of an English Catholic priest adrift in a decayed industrial Ayrshire town.
Source: The Scotsman.

Feature on new uses for redundant church buildings, and the architectural heritage put at risk by the decline in congregations.
Source: The Herald.

Rangers FC's drive to tackle sectarianism is to be bolstered in the coming months by one of Scotland's top public relations firms, Media House. The strategic communications company, headed up by Jack Irvine and with offices in Leith, Glasgow, London and New York, will be responsible for ensuring that the club's efforts do not go unnoticed, particularly by the top brass at UEFA. The most high profile campaigns they've been involved in were the crusade backed by Brian Soutar - the Stagecoach boss - against the repeal of Section 28, the law banning the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools.
Source: The Scotsman.

The head of the Catholic Church in Scotland has joined a mass of protesters opposed to plans for 100 new houses to be built near his home in Morningside. Cardinal Keith O'Brien has lodged an official objection to the plans for the former Woodcroft telephone exchange on Pitsligo Road over road safety fears.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

The Benedictine monks of a Pluscarden Abbey in Moray have launched an appeal on behalf of the people of Lebanon following a request from the Greek Catholic Archbishop of Tyre.
Source: The Universe.

An investigation by Scotland Yard into whether a gay group’s advert is a faith crime has been backed by the Catholic Church. The advert, showing a Bible next to a pool of blood under the headline 'In the name of the father,' was produced by the Gay Police Association and published in a national newspaper. Alongside the picture is the claim that a rise in homophobic attacks was due to religious beliefs. The Catholic Church in Scotland said it supported the investigation, describing the advert as "outrageous and intolerant."
Source: The Universe.

Alison Watt, the leading Scottish artist, is to have one of her paintings blessed by the Very Rev Brian Smith, Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church. The painting, entitled Still, will be transformed into a sacred object by the Bishop of Edinburgh in a ceremony which is almost unprecedented in recent times. Watt was inspired to create the painting of a white draped cloth after visiting Old St Paul’s church in Edinburgh in 2003. She displayed the work in the 17th-century church as part of a temporary exhibition the following year and it has remained there since. Episcopal church leaders and the congregation were so moved by the painting that they decided to give it an official blessing, making it a sacred object that can be used in worship.
Source: Sunday Times.

A north-east minister will swap his clerical collar for a shirt and tie to cycle nearly 200 miles through the rolling hills of Transylvania next month. The Rev Kenneth MacKenzie, the Queen's minister at Crathie Kirk on Deeside, plans to travel to the Romanian region on the charity mission to help deprived communities as part of Suits on Bikes, a charity which he helped found three years ago.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Personal piece by Billy Kay. "In today's secular society, the word missionary conjures images of zealous Victorians imposing alien values on fragile native cultures. Yet in church services in the tropical splendour of Nigeria's Calabar and below the great massif of Mount Mulanje in Malawi, after being introduced as a visitor from Scotland, I stood up and spoke of Mary Slessor and David Livingstone, and from the congregation there was a visceral, emotional response, overwhelming in its love and admiration for the individuals concerned. I am not from a religious background, but I have never been as proud to be Scottish. I realised then that our image of the missionary needed reassessment..."
Source: The Scotsman.

Monsignor Leo Cushley is reflecting on 21 eventful years in the priesthood that have taken him from Uddingston via Rome and Africa to the New York and the Holy See's Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations.
Source: Bellshill Speaker.

After almost 30 years service in mostly urban parishes throughout central Lanarkshire, Father Joseph Brannigan has been appointed to St Mary's RC Church in Lanark. It coincides with St Mary's becoming the direct responsibility of the Diocese of Motherwell after almost 150 years under the Vincentian Order.
Source: Carluke Gazette.

A shop owner in Lewis who opened on Sunday says he was told by God to cease trading on the Sabbath. Donald John Macrae (34), proprietor of the local store in Bragar, says since receiving the divine message, he has had a lasting sense of what he calls 'inner peace'. "I got a strong conviction straight from the Holy Spirit," said Mr Macrae, who is a professing Christian. "I was driving along and praying, and the Spirit came straight on me." Mr Macrae had earlier been visited by the Shawbost Free Church Minister, Rev Calum Macleod, who had urged him not to open on the Sabbath. Said Rev Macleod: "The community is thrilled that the Lord has answered its prayers, as there has been a lot of unrest."
Source: Stornoway Gazette.

The Right Rev Alan McDonald, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said that he found it ‘almost unbelievable’ that the Prime Minister had not responded to his letter of 18 July in which the Moderator urged Mr Blair to press for an immediate cease fire in the Middle East and also asked him what steps he and his ministers were taking to address the deteriorating situation.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

The Treasury has thrown the pensions market into confusion by appearing to threaten the future of Alternative Secured Pensions, a tax break for older people introduced in April. It is is concerned that ASPs may be misused as a vehicle to avoid inheritance tax by being used to pass on remaining pension funds to future generations. Under previous rules, money invested in a pension annuity was lost on death and it was virtually impossible to pass on money from a pension fund to dependants. Members of the Christian and Plymouth Brethren, devout evangelical Christian groups, lobbied successfully to have the obligation to buy an annuity removed. They see annuities as a form of gambling on mortality because they pool mortality risk, banking on some people dying prematurely to keep annuity rates higher than they should be. Ed Balls, the Treasury’s economic secretary, fired the first warning shots on ASPs last month. In comments to a House of Commons committee, he warned: “It was always our intention that the rules would apply in the specific and narrow case of individuals with principled religious objections, such as the Christian Brethren.”
Source: Financial Times.

The Free Church of Scotland is to consider changing its official transport policy after it was revealed that the two Peruvian teenagers who were killed in a crash on the A9 were not wearing seatbelts. The students were in Scotland as part of a trip organised by the Free Church and the Colegio San Andres in Lima, where the boys were pupils. "There are obviously lessons that we are prepared to learn from this," said Rev Alex MacDonald of the Free Church of Scotland, who stressed the pupils were involved in Free Church youth camps which finished the week before the accident and the boys were being taken to a meeting place for a private visit to Lewis. "We have an official policy for youth camps and transport and wearing seat belts is something we would expect people to conform to because it is the law," Rev MacDonald said. "If it is taken for granted in the policy then it should now be highlighted." An editorial in the Inverness Courier says: "Parents who entrust the lives of their children to the care of organisations such as the Free Church have a right to expect every effort will be made to protect them. At the very least, they should be able to take as read that the law of the land — in this case that vehicle passengers should wear seat belts — will be complied with ... Carlos Ruben Gonzales and Gianmarco Stefano Peschiera were the responsibility of the Free Church from when they arrived in Scotland to the moment they were delivered back to their families in Lima. Sadly, it failed them."
Source: Inverness Courier.

The number of parishes without a minister in central Galloway will soon rise to three after the Reverend Neil Campbell recently told his Penninghame Parish Church congregation he would moving to a Dumfries church at the end of this month. Presbytery Clerk for Wigtown and Stranraer, the Reverend David Dutton, said: "It is difficult to attract professional people into this area full-stop. Doctors, dentists and teachers are not so keen to come into these peripheral parts of Scotland. And Wigtownshire is regarded as being on the periphery of the periphery." He added: "Caithness (the most northern county of mainland Scotland) are looking for ministers for half their charges."
Source: Galloway Gazette.

Obituary of The Dowager Countess of Kintore, clanswoman and Christian; born 17 September, 1943, in Rumson, New Jersey, USA; died 1 August, 2006, in Aberdeen, aged 62. "Personally and through Lord Kintore's role as chief of clan Keith, she travelled widely, particularly to clan meetings in North America, Australia and New Zealand. Her strong Christian commitment saw her an active supporter and fundraiser for a Christian Palestinian school in Ramallah, on the West Bank, where on her three visits, she was "Auntie Mary" to the children. At home, she played a prominent part in the affairs of St Mary's Episcopal Church in Inverurie."
Source: The Scotsman.

A landmark north-east church was in bloom yesterday as it celebrated its 200th anniversary. Peterhead's Muckle Kirk, or Old Parish, has been decorated with colourful displays as part of a commemorative flower festival.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Members of St Mary’s RC Church in Haddington joined in celebrations on Saturday to mark the 50th anniversary in the priesthood of their resident parish priest, the Very Reverend James, Canon Friel.
Source: East Lothian Courier.

A former treasurer embezzled more than £40,000 from a Caithness church where the late Queen Mother had worshipped, a court has heard. Mother-of-three Lynn Shields admitted taking the money from Canisbay Church, near John o' Groats, over a six-and-a-half year period. She was jailed for 12 months at Wick Sheriff Court on Thursday.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

A severe shortage of skilled stonemasons is threatening many of Scotland's historic buildings, according to a report published yesterday. Experts warned that the country's landmark stone tenements, churches and historic buildings are falling into ruin because of a lack of investment and qualified tradesmen.
Source: The Herald.

Appreciation of Rev Fiona Hutchison, Church of Scotland minister; born 3 December, 1954, in Dalmellington; died 25 June, 2006, in Edinburgh, aged 51. Following a business career she was ordained by the Presbytery of Edinburgh in February 2004. Thereafter she served as associate minister at the Parish Church of St Cuthbert in Edinburgh.
Source: The Scotsman.

Nigel Pounde, co-ordinator of the Church of Scotland’s HIV/AIDS Project, will attend the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto next week. "The Kirk is committed to turning its faith into effective HIV action, both here in Scotland and in supporting our partners round the world," he said.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

A new Catholic high school is set to be built in the Lothians at a cost of £26 million. Education chiefs from Edinburgh and West Lothian have met to discuss funding for the secondary in Winchburgh.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Feature on this week's International Congress of Parasitology focuses on Roy Mwenechanya, a biochemist at Zambia University, who as a boy sat at his rickety wooden desk transfixed by the teacher's stories of Scottish missionaries and pioneers who had travelled to Africa decades earlier. Chief among them was Blantyre-born David Livingstone, whose story most captured Mwenechanya's imagination. Now just weeks away from completing his second masters degree, this time in biomedical and molecular chemistry sciences at Glasgow University, he says: "I wanted to come to Glasgow to find out why they [Livingstone et al] wanted to come all the way, so far, far away to Africa to battle it out with diseases that were not even present in Scotland."
Source: The Herald.

Leith Film Festival's 2.4.6.8 film-making competition, supported by the Scottish Bible Society and hosted by Destiny Church, Edinburgh, challenges competitors to come up with any sort of film they choose, so long as it features a universally prescribed character, line of dialogue and prop … and so long as it doesn’t take them longer than 24 hours to script, shoot, edit and deliver.
Source: Inspire Magazine.

A drive to eradicate sectarian songs at matches has been launched by Rangers Football Club. Fans will be encouraged to revive traditional songs instead of "discriminatory chanting" which caused trouble with governing body Uefa.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Scotland's drinking culture is holding back ethnic minorities from getting on in politics, the nation's racial equality watchdog has claimed. Ali Jarvis, director of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) in Scotland, believes politicians make too many important discussions in pubs and bars and that can alienate ethnic minorities, especially Muslims. Bashir Mann, who in 1970 became the first Pakistan-born person to be elected to a public office in the United Kingdom, when he became a Glasgow councillor, said: "I think the drink culture puts a lot of people from my background off, and not just Muslims, many Christian churchgoers don't drink either.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has claimed the British state promotes "state-sponsored sectarian discrimination" in his most outspoken attack yet against bigotry. The leader of Scotland's Roman Catholic community said Scotland remains afflicted by a "shadowy sectarian culture" which continues to blight many parts of the country. He launched a fresh attack against the Act of Settlement, the 300-year old law which prevents Roman Catholics or those who marry Catholics from ascending to the throne.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

A stained glass window commemorating the life of Pope John Paul II has been installed in St David's Roman Catholic Church in Dalkeith in one of the first tributes of its kind in Scotland.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Scientists of the future will have to be controlled by an ethics watchdog to prevent a nightmare vision of nanotechnology becoming reality, according to a Church of Scotland expert. Dr Donald Bruce, the director of the Kirk's society, religion and technology project, said "it was only a matter of time" before action had to be taken.
Source: The Scotsman.

Rangers FC chairman David Murray today unveiled a new drive to halt sectarian chants by the club's supporters. He told a press conference this morning that bigots faced a lifetime ban, and confiscation of season tickets. The crackdown will begin tomorrow when fans arrive at Ibrox for the first home game of the season against Dundee United. Every fan will be given a Wee Blue Book listing songs given the seal of approval by club bosses and supporters' organisations.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

The family of the 82-year-old driver killed with his two teenage passengers in a crash on the A9 this week have confirmed he suffered a heart attack. Donald MacLeod, of Inverness, died with two Peruvian teenagers on a church exchange visit. Mr MacLeod's funeral will be at noon today at the Black Isle's Knockbain Free Church, Bogallen, Munlochy, and his family are planning to donate all contributions from the service to the school of the teenagers, Carlos Ruben Gonzales (15) and Gianmarco Stefano Peschiera (14). The youngsters, from the Colegio San Andres, translated as St Andrew's School, in the Peruvian capital Lima were visiting Inverness in a trip organised by the Free Church of Scotland.
Source: Inverness Courier.

Hundreds of people from all over Britain will help the Keswick convention in Buckie celebrate its 21st anniversary. It gets under way tomorrow and will continue until Friday with a programme which includes prayer and Bible meetings, talks and discussions. Buckie North Church is the main venue. This year's main speakers are Colin Peckham, former principal of the Faith Mission Bible College in Edinburgh, and Wayne Sutton, senior pastor at the Carrubbers Christian Centre, also in Edinburgh. They will be joined by Ian Coffey, who is senior minister at the interdenominational Crossroads Church in Geneva.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Links between Hibernian Football Club and the Edinburgh church where it was founded are to be formally celebrated. St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church is to host a programme of events in the autumn to commemorate its 150th anniversary - including a tribute to its Hibee past. The Cowgate church was the first home of Hibernian FC, founded by parish priest Canon Edward Hannan in 1875, and still holds two Edinburgh Football Association trophies won by early Hibs sides.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

A 1920s miniature children's liturgical set found in a cupboard during recent renovations at St Mary's Cathedral in Aberdeen will be on show at Blairs Catholic Museum until the end of September.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Celtic FC chairman Brian Quinn has warned bigoted fans not to sing sectarian or racist songs at games. The move follows a similar plea from Rangers chairman David Murray to Ibrox fans last week. Uefa has warned clubs they faced a minimum fine of £13,000 if their fans are responsible for racist or discriminatory conduct.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

Conservationists celebrating the 40th anniversary of the opening of RSPB Scotland's Balranald nature reserve in the Western Isles - part-owned by the Church of Scotland - have heard that the numbers of its rarest resident, the corncrake, has coincidentally risen to 40.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

The College of Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church has expressed its deep concern at the continuing conflict in Israel, Lebanon and Gaza.
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.

Police in Glasgow are hunting vandals who daubed the name of 'Hizbollah' outside Scotland's oldest synagogue. Officers are investigating the attack on Garnethill Synagogue in Hill Street, which dates back to 1879.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

Bishop Philip Tartaglia is to host a special Mass for peace at St Mirin's Cathedral in Paisley as a reminder of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

A famous cave painting of the Crucifixion, on Davaar Island at the mouth of Campbeltown Loch, has been defaced with an image of Che Guevara.
Source: The Herald.

Two teenage exchange students from Peru and an 82-year-old man died yesterday in a crash on the A9 at Inverness. An unconfirmed report last night named the driver as Donald Macleod, a former rector of Fortrose Academy in Cromarty and a member of the Free Church of Scotland. The boys, aged 15 and 16, were part of a Free Church exchange trip and had been staying with him. The teenagers were due to meet 18 other members of their group from the Colegio San Andres (St Andrew's School) in Lima to take a day trip to Stornoway. The Rev Alex MacDonald, of the Free Church, said: "We pray for the Lord's compassion on those so suddenly bereaved." Mr MacDonald said the Free Church had founded the Colegio San Andres and had been involved in Christian work in Peru for nearly a century.
Source: The Herald.