THE Roman Catholic Church is trying to recruit priests from Poland to work in Scotland as it struggles to cope with expanding congregations of immigrants. About 20,000 Poles have arrived in Scotland in the past two years. The number of Polish priests recruited to Scotland has risen from two to 10 in the past two years but the church says this is not enough to deal with growing demand.
Source: Sunday Times.

The distributors of Buckfast have demanded the withdrawal of a Scottish executive-backed film that, they claim, demonises their product. J Chandler & Co, which distributes the tonic wine on behalf of Buckfast Abbey in Devon, has threatened to seek a court interdict banning the screening of Asbo — Let’s Beat It, which is being shown to pupils at secondary schools in Ayrshire.
Source: Sunday Times.

The leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics last night backed independence from the UK, declaring he would be "happy" if Scots wanted separation. Cardinal Keith O'Brien also voiced his frustration with the Scottish Parliament and predicted independence is coming "before too long". The Cardinal's comments follow a series of sharp attacks on Labour's policies on moral issues, despite historically strong links between Catholics in Scotland and the Labour Party. Last week, Philip Tartaglia, the Catholic Bishop of Paisley, criticised politicians for making laws such as those allowing gay civil marriages, and accused legislators of becoming intolerant and even hostile to Christian opinion. SoS also runs a background story, Mark your vote with a Cross.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

A 53-year-old imam, Mohammed Shamsuddin, was yesterday punched and kicked by a man who entered the Dawat ul Islam mosque in Oakfield Avenue, Glasgow. Witnesses said the suspect - described as white, possibly 35-45 years old - verbally abused Imam Shamsuddin before punching and kicking him and then hitting him with a chair and other office equipment.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

The Catholic Church last night expressed dismay over the appointment of LGBT Youth Scotland - a national organisation for young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - to help run Scotland's new anti-bullying service for schools. Michael McGrath, director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, said: "It seems strange when there is so much other bullying, such as that prompted by racism, that this group has been given another opportunity to promote its own particular interests."
Source: The Herald.

Church leaders say grieving families are being forced to wait over a week to bid farewell to their loved ones because of council cutbacks at Dunfermline Crematorium. Rev Elizabeth Kenny, Clerk to the Church of Scotland's Dunfermline Presbytery, says a council official told her Kirkcaldy Crematorium made a profit while the Dunfermline facility was running at a loss and could be shut in the long term. The Rev Kenny, minister for Carnock and Oakley parish churches, said: "We are obviously very concerned about the reduction in slots. Can you imagine a family that has lost someone on Sunday, you arrange the funeral on the Monday and you can’t get a slot until the next Monday?" She added: "There was no discussion with anyone before this decision was taken. All the ministers found out when they arrived at the crematorium for funerals."
Source: Dunfermline Press.

Stirling's historic Church of the Holy Rude is to celebrate two special anniversaries later this month marking the building and knocking down of the church’s famous “dividing wall”. The wall was constructed 350 years ago in 1656 after the congregation split to support two Holy Rude ministers, James Guthrie and his junior Matthias Symson. Guthrie was part of the “Protesters”, who backed the Solemn League and Covenant and supported the imposing of Scottish Presbyterianism upon England, while Symson was a member of the “Resolutioners” who supported a more moderate policy in their dealings with Charles II. The wall was to remain in place for 280 years until demolition work began in September 1936.
Source: Stirling Observer.

A fundraising appeal was launched on Saturday for the £150,000 needed for urgent repairs to Yester Church, Gifford, which is riddled with rising damp. Yester Church will be 300 years old in 2010. John Witherspoon, who was baptised in the church by his father in 1723, was the only clergyman who signed the American Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Source: East Lothian Courier.

The Church of Scotland's Dumbarton Presbytery last week rejected a move to give ministers the right to bless same sex partnerships. They voted against a General Assembly ruling to affirm a minister’s freedom of conscience in the matter.
Source: Lennox Herald.

THE world's largest table-dancing chain have revealed they want to open their first Scottish venue by Christmas. But the move by Spearmint Rhino has infuriated women's groups, religious leaders and politicians in and around Glasgow. A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "The church is strongly opposed to such clubs. "They are based on exploitation and it's a clear attack on human dignity."
Source: Daily Record.

Police are hunting a conman who has targeted elderly churchgoers in East Ross. After attempting to defraud members of the Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches in Tain, he has now been identified as having committed similar crimes in the Tayside and Grampian areas.
Source: Highland News.

At the invitation of the two organisations, Patricia Sawo, a Kenyan pastor who has HIV, is to carry out a two-week speaking tour in Scotland at the invitation of the Church of Scotland’s HIV/AIDS Project and HIV charity Waverley Care.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Tributes were paid yesterday to the Rev Gareth Jones, former minister of the Congregational Church, Perth, after he died suddenly at his Dundee home. He was 46. The Welsh-born minister was also Tayside organiser for the Scottish Churches' Industrial Mission and chaplain to the Angus and Dundee Battalion of the Army Cadet Force.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

The Right Reverend Alan McDonald, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, writes about Christmas. "Increasingly, there seems to be a recognition that our society is caught in a trap - we feel uneasy about the demands of a commercialised Christmas yet powerless to do it differently. It is easy to be critical of the excesses but much harder to find a balance. It can be easy to name the pressures but more difficult to challenge them ... Perhaps what we need to do is approach Christmas from a different angle. Maybe we need to see Christmas as being about people and not about lists. Maybe we need to see Christmas as being about the world we live in and not just about our wishes."
Source: The Herald.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has launched an attack on excessive festive consumerism and claimed the "culture of Christmas" is now out of control. One answer, said the Right Rev Alan McDonald, was to consider the ethos of Alternativity, an organisation that works with people who want to rediscover the "true values" of the Christmas story.
Source: The Herald.

Feature on Paisley Abbey choir. After 43 years as Paisley Abbey's music director, George McPhee, says the poor attendance at this year's audition proves the point he's been making for some time: that you can't get young people to join a church choir any more. "A lot of young people now don't think it's cool to sing in a church choir," he says. And shows such as X Factor and Pop Idol - where young people are offered the fast track to success, not the classical, disciplined singing taught in a choir - are partly to blame. "Another part of the problem is that it's a church choir and a lot of people don't go to church any more," McPhee says. "It's not an integral part of their lives. A lot of major churches and famous cathedrals in Britain are having the same problem recruiting members, even at King's College, Cambridge. And as far as Scotland is concerned, there's no tradition of treble-voice choirs [choirs for boys and girls] in church, apart from at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh."
Source: The Herald.

With the number of abortions up 50 per cent in India's technology hub, Bangalore, the local Church is mobilising against rising promiscuity among India's 1.3 million call centre workers. Meanwhile, in a sign that the trend may be slowing or reversing in the West, a recent BBC poll has found that traditional attitudes to sex and relationships are making a comeback. The findings, which were welcomed by the Scottish Church, have uncovered a resurgence in the popularity of traditional values in sex and relationships.
Source: Catholic News.

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of Polish student Angelika Kluk. Peter Tobin, 60, faces one charge of murder and two charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice. He made no plea and was taken into custody following his appearance at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

A Scot has produced the Stations of the Cross for a 500-year old Italian church. John McLaughlin MBE from Glasgow was commissioned by Archbishop Mario Conti and former Lord Provost Alex Mosson to create 15 wooden stations to celebrate the re-opening of the newly refurbished Our Lady Of the Snows church in Barga, northern Italy. The 70-year-old father of seven said: "The cross that Jesus carries in each station is made out of wooden seats from the old south stand of Hampden football stadium."
Source: The Universe.

Polish and Latvian people living in the Torry area of Aberdeen are being asked to rally round to save a church in their community from closing. It is hoped that the growing numbers of central Europeans will help persuade the Roman Catholic Church that the Sacred Heart building should remain open. Last month, parishioners at the church were told the landmark building is too expensive to refurbish. They would instead use a nearby Scottish Episcopal Church building for worship.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

A 60-year-old man has been charged in connection with the murder of the Polish student Angelika Kluk. Peter Tobin, of no fixed address, is expected to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Monday. Strathclyde Police said a report was being prepared for the procurator fiscal. Miss Kluk's body was discovered beneath the floorboards of St Patrick's Church in Anderston, Glasgow, on 29 September. The 23-year-old was reported missing on 25 September.
Source: The Scotsman.

Bereaved north-east families are having to wait up to 10 days to have their loved ones cremated due to technical difficulties at Aberdeen Crematorium.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Scotland's communities minister has criticised Jack Straw's comments on the wearing of veils by Muslim women. The leader of the House of Commons described the veil as a visible statement of separation and difference. Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm said he strongly disagreed with his Labour colleague's comments and said: "I regret that he raised this issue." Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond described Mr Straw as "narrow-minded and bigoted".
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Parliament minister Margaret Curran will visit New Zealand next week to strengthen Scottish links Down Under. The country's capital, Dunedin - the Celtic name for Edinburgh, was settled in 1848 by members of the Presbyterian Free Church of Scotland, including Rev Thomas Burns, a nephew of Scotland's national poet.
Source: The Scotsman.

Profile of Stuart McAllister, 49, director of leadership and training for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. "McAllister ... said he was involved in street gangs in Glasgow, Scotland, before Christ changed his life at age 20 ... McAllister sees some trendy churches ignoring Christian history, devaluing Scripture, reframing worship and lessening the role of discipleship, holiness, theology and more."
Source: Flint Journal, Michigan.

Obituary of Dr John Durkan, historian. He was a founder member, in 1949, of the Scottish Catholic Historical Association and became the most published author in the association's journal, The Innes Review. It was partly in recognition of his contribution to Scottish Catholic history that Pope John Paul II raised John to Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory in 1993. But the honour also marked the contribution he had made in serving on various Church commissions.
Source: The Herald.

The angry mother of a teenage schoolboy last night hit out at a local authority's decision to remove his free bus pass because he is not a Roman Catholic. Reece Swain, 13, was told he would no longer be able to travel to St Modan's High in Stirling free, despite enjoying the privilege during his first year at the school. Mrs Julie Swain said: "There's all this stuff about 'One Scotland' and anti-sectarianism, yet the council are able to kick Reece off the school bus because he's not a Catholic." In a statement, Stirling Council said free school transport was available only to pupils within the catchment area. "For St Modan's High School, catchment is based on residence within the area as well as the child being a practising Roman Catholic. In this case, since the child is not recorded as being a practising Roman Catholic and is not a catchment pupil, he is therefore not entitled to free home-to-school transport."
Source: The Scotsman.

Obituary of Rev Duncan MacLean, Free Presbyterian minister; born March 5, 1935; died September 23, 2006. "The Reverend Duncan MacLean, a fondly remembered Free Presbyterian minister on Lewis and Harris, has died suddenly at his home on Skye. He overcame affliction, alcoholism and a fall from the ministry to spend his last years in full communion with his church ... He is recalled as a lovely preacher – a master of the seis, the distinctive oratorical chant of the old Highland pulpit – and many also remember his irrepressible sense of humour."
Source: The Herald.

Stephen McGinty writes: "For the Catholic community in Glasgow, the murder of Angelika Kluk has been a brutal reminder that a church is but a building, that sanctity is what men and women of faith carry in, and that there can never be a holy force field around bricks and mortar ... So why would He act in Glasgow? Do we genuinely wish for a God that intervenes, that will halt the blows and, in a stroke, reduce us all to mannequins, twitching at the end of His string? ... It seems the conclusion is simple and blunt: bad things will always happen to good people; there will always be murder, and God must, by necessity, remain an anguished spectator."
Source: The Scotsman.

A delegation of unionist and nationalist politicians from Northern Ireland are to meet Glasgow's Old Firm soccer clubs this week during a fact finding mission to Scotland on tackling sectarianism. The joint delegation has also pencilled meetings with the Scottish Executive, MSPs, the police and the Protestant Orange Order and church leaders. Senior SDLP negotiator Sean Farren explained: "In the coming weeks there is a golden opportunity to restore devolved government in the North. It is clear that at the top of any restored executive's list of priorities should be a concerted strategy for tackling sectarianism and promoting a real vision of a shared future for all in the North (of Ireland). Hearing first hand and learning from the experiences of others, such as in Scotland, can only help us to make that vision a reality."
Source: Citybeat, Belfast.

A knifeman who raided a coffee morning at Hilton High Church in Aberdeen walked free from court yesterday. George Durkin, who threatened to "stick" some of the churchgoers who held him at the kirk, is to be assessed to see whether he is suitable for a drug treatment and testing order.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Ten Shetland youngsters have received volunteering awards based on their work for local projects and community groups across the islands. Jennifer Adamson, working for the Shetland Christian Youth Club, received an excellence award.
Source: Shetland Times.

The Kirk's Edinburgh presbytery has voted by 126 to 76 to have back plans to allow church blessings to mark civil partnerships. Former Edinburgh University chaplain the Rev Dr Iain Whyte, who conducted a blessing for two gay men in Edinburgh's Phoenix bar two years ago, said it was essential ministers retained the freedom to act in a pastoral way as they judged best. He added: "If the church banned people from blessing a partnership, some of us would have to think seriously about our membership of the Church of Scotland." But the Rev Bob Fyall, warden of evangelical research centre Rutherford House, said approving gay blessings would be flying in the face not only of the Bible, but also 2000 years of Christian tradition. And he said it would also be letting down Christians who were homosexual by orientation but who believed it was right for them to remain celibate.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Contemporary textiles will go on show in a special exhibition which opens in Aberdeen on Saturday and will run until November 25. It marks the centenary of the foundation of the Embroiderers’ Guild and features the work Kathleen Whyte, of one of the 20th century’s greatest exponents of the craft. Kathleen Whyte was very active in the development of art education and was appointed MBE in 1969. In the same year she published the first edition of Design in Embroidery. She produced a large body of exquisite, intriguing and inventive work, and pioneered the introduction of contemporary, symbolic embroideries into the Church of Scotland. Examples of her work can be found in the Royal Scottish Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, many churches and in other public and private collections.
Source: Aberdeen City Council.

Rangers FC have called on football's ruling bodies and the Scottish Executive to encourage other clubs to contribute more to the campaign to tackle sectarianism.
Source: The Herald.

The Church of Scotland's Lochaber Presbytery has granted approval for a £75,000 refurbishment of Acharacle Parish Church on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. Presbytery members have also been advised that Janet Anderson has started work as parish assistant and deacon to the linked charge of Arisaig and Mallaig. A native of Skye, she has worked for almost quarter of a century in a similar capacity in Ruchazie, Glasgow.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Traditional values are making a comeback in sex and relationships, according to a report. The majority of those questioned in a poll for BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour said the ideal age to settle down was 21 to 27 and it was best to have children before the age of 30. Many respondents also said having one sexual partner was best. A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "Traditional values are really only commonsense values. This is great news. For too long we have trivialised the process of bringing children into the world."
Source: The Scotsman.

Stories relating to the death of Angelika Kluk can be found in a dedicated newslog.

A murder inquiry has been launched into the "violent and horrific" death of Polish student Angelika Kluk, whose body was found inside a Glasgow church. Police said that forensic tests would continue at St Patrick's Roman Catholic church for a number of days. Detective Superintendent David Swindle confirmed that Peter Tobin, who knew Ms Kluk, had been arrested in connection with an unrelated matter.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Guitar-strumming folk groups are ruining church services by playing "embarrassing, maudlin and sentimental dirges", Scotland's leading classical composer has declared. James MacMillan, who wrote the fanfare for the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, has described modern hymns as "excrescences" and called for a return to traditional chants and organ music. He reserves particular venom for two well-known modern hymns, 'Bind Us Together, Lord' and 'Make Me a Channel Of Your Peace'. MacMillan says the hymns amount to "cultural vandalism" and that a backlash against such groups is growing, with more church-goers demanding a return to the traditional music which filled churches before reforms of the 1960s.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.