The Role of the Church in Rural Communities
The Rt Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness speaks about of the issues facing people living in rural areas across Scotland, and in particular for those living in the Highlands
The Church in Rural Communities
Writing in The Scotsman, the Rt. Revd. David Chillingworth, Primus and Bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane, gives an insight into what the church brings to rural life.
Highland Bishop calls on Council to put people before profit
The Rt Rev Mark Strange has hit out at Highland Council in its decision to close a number of local Access Points across the Highlands calling it a “remarkably short sighted decision”
Growth of Gaelic
The Rt Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness spoke in October on BBC Alba about funding a trial programme in the Highlands designed to enable clergy to celebrate the Eucharist in Gaelic. The growth of Gaelic Medium schools (Inverness has a new Gaelic Primary School and the new Secondary School will have a large Gaelic Medium Unit) has produced a growing number of Gaelic speaking young people.
Bishop Mark says “The children of many of our church members are becoming proficient in Gaelic and many prefer to speak it as their first language. On a recent visit to St Michael and All Angels church in Inverness the young servers were all speaking Gaelic and had to change to speaking English to me!
“The results of the 2011 census in Scotland shows us that the use of Gaelic amongst young people living in the Highlands is growing. If this growth continues we could have churches where an increasing number of people are speaking Gaelic; and so we plan to send two priests from the Scottish Episcopal Church on a residential course to work with Gaelic speakers and to look at how as a Church we can speak the liturgy in Gaelic and once again provide a regular Gaelic service in the Highlands.”
The video also includes an interview with John MacFarlane, a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church
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