Diocese

A Letter of Appreciation

sheumais Diocese, News

Bishop Mark writes:

I was minded last week to make a personal call to the Lead Chaplain at the NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow, Canon Iain Macritchie, writes Bishop Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Canon Iain is one of the clergy in my diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness, and is also a good friend. I wanted to thank him and his colleagues for all the work they were doing in very difficult circumstances. I spoke to him about the churches’ response to the situation and received his letter of thanks to us, which appears below.

Please hear what is being asked of us. As Bishop Kevin said in his sermon on Sunday: “We have closed our churches out of love, not out of fear.” We need to do as we are asked, stay isolated and do our best to beat this virus.

Dear Bishop Mark

I write to express the gratitude of the Scottish Government for the exemplary lead taken by the Scottish Episcopal Church in these challenging times.

The SEC has consistently responded to the advice being given with appropriate and responsible actions and, in doing this, has set a good example for other faith and belief groups to follow.

Specifically, the SEC was one of the first faith communities to instruct the suspension of gathering together for acts of worship. We realise that this has come at no small cost to theological principles but we also see the rich discoveries of other ways of worshiping together and, in particular, we see the valuing of human life and the understanding that care previously expressed by gathering and contact must now be expressed by social distancing.

It is hard to over-estimate the ongoing risk of contagion that, for example, a simple visit to the supermarket represents. The Scottish Government advice is that we limit such contacts to the absolute minimum and the strictly necessary. In doing so, quite simply, we save lives.

With this in mind, can I encourage you, please, to use whatever influence you have as Primus, to thank in particular the clergy of the SEC at this time, for the hard sacrifices that are being made in continuing to have their church buildings closed and in desisting from gathering for worship.

Now is absolutely not the time to be easing these restrictions.

By keeping on doing what we are doing, we continue to value and preserve life and we continue to set the best of examples to our fellow faith communities in Scotland.

With warm good wishes
Beannachdan

Rev Canon Dr Iain Macritchie
Canon for Spiritual Care and Healthcare Chaplains
Scottish Government Advisor on Spiritual Care

Churches Now Closed

sheumais Diocese, Local, News, Notices, SEI

Following the directive from Boris Johnson this evening (23rd March) and updated guidance from the College of Bishops, our Churches will no longer be open to the public for either services or private prayer.  So from now on we must all pray at home.

Two prayers from the Scottish Prayer Book

In the time of any common Plague or Sickness.

O ALMIGHTY and merciful God, with whom are the issues of life and death: Grant us, we beseech thee, help and deliverance in this time of grievous sickness and mortality, and sanctify to us this affliction, that in our sore distress we may turn our hearts unto thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

For Hospitals and Infirmaries.

ALMIGHTY God, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ went about doing good, and healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people: Continue, we beseech thee, his gracious work among us in all hospitals and infirmaries; console and heal the sufferers; grant to the physicians, surgeons, and nurses, wisdom and skill, sympathy and patience; prosper their work, O Lord, with thy continual blessing; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Introducing a newly minted Priest

sheumais Diocese, News, Reflections

Today, St Peter and the Holy Rood in Thurso was packed with people from Caithness, from across our Diocese, from elsewhere in Scotland, from England and from even further afield.

So many people gave of themselves to make Ellie’s ordination as Priest a splendid occasion: stunning flowers, splendid music and singing, generous welcome, sumptuous food and drink, fine preaching, and efficient choreography of a large number of servers, visiting clergy, and so on. So much planning and preparation by members of the congregations, so much planning and preparation by the Bishop and his chaplain, so much planning and travelling by the people from many areas of the life of our church, our community and Ellie’s family, friends and colleagues past and present.

But what was it all about? Obviously it was a significant event in the life of these congregations, who haven’t seen an ordination in either of their buildings for quite a while. It was a significant event in the life of the diocese which has nurtured Ellie’s vocation over the past five or six years. It was a significant event for Ellie’s family who were all assembled in a way that perhaps they rarely manage. And it was a significant event for Ellie herself after a period of years of journeying. But more importantly than all of these, it was an act of praise, worship and thanksgiving to God for his goodness to us, his work amongst us and our witness of that to each other.

That was the real focus. What it was not about was any individual, no matter what their role in the proceedings or in the Church more generally being any more important than any other. Everyone who was involved in the planning, in the preparation, as a guest or with a particular role to perform in the service or the celebrations afterwards, came to that service (as to the one in Inverness Cathedral last week) as an individual – a son or daughter of God. Each with a story of their own, each with their own sorrows and pain, each with their own hopes and joys. In that we are all equal and equally valued by God as beloved children.

A momentous day in their lives and the life of the Cathedral

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Today saw the Ordination to the Diaconate of not one, not two, but three people.  Inverness Cathedral hasn’t seen that number of Ordinations in a single day for many many a long year.

Congratulations to Don Grant, Katrina O’Neill and Kathryn Sanderson.

May God richly bless them and those that they serve in Ministry.

Hello!

sheumais Diocese, News

The Hello! project developed from a conversation at the Highland TSI Conference in May 2018 which had a focus on Mental Health and Wellbeing. As a group we spoke about community connections and what we believe to be the simplest way to connect ourselves and others in our communities. The simple gesture of saying ‘HELLO’ to people that you meet in the street or elsewhere.

From this conversation a project idea developed and this has been supported by a small amount of funding gratefully received from HTSI. The idea is to spread the word and encourage people across the Highlands to say ‘HELLO’ to one another. It’s that simple!!

The project was launched at Ar n-àite café and the Eastgate Shopping Centre in Inverness on Friday 10th May. A wide variety of people dropped by and shared in chat, craft activities, tea/coffee, sandwiches and cake and of course said Hello!!

 

Say Hello! and help someone feel less lonely today.

More details from James, who was part of the project team.

Diocesan News – December 2018

sheumais Diocese, Events, News

Bishop Mark writes…

DECEMBER 2018

My Dear Friends,

I am delighted that for the first time in a while we have a Diocesan What’s on Leaflet. lt is always so easy for the Charges and Congregations of the Diocese to lose track of what is going on and to miss opportunities to support each other by sharing and visiting each other’s events.

I am always surprised by just how busy you all are and it is good to be able to hold each event in my prayers, no matter how far from home I might be.

May I thank you all for the hard work and dedication you reveal in your service of God, it makes me proud to be Bishop of this Diocese. May I wish you all a joyous Christmas when it arrives. I hope to catch up with many of you in the year ahead.

Blessings

+Mark

Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers.

sheumais Diocese, News, Reflections

A stimulating and uplifting St Gilbert and St Boniface Regional Synod yesterday.  For those of you who cannot imagine that those two adjectives can be used in the same sentence as Regional Synod, just look at the expressions on the faces of those who were there.

We started with a celebration of St Michael and All Angels, led for us by Revd Julia, followed by refreshments and a chance to make new friendships and renew old ones.  At the business meeting that followed, once the usual administrative matters were out of the way, Synod discussed two more substantive matters and very much were DOERS as they set up groups to work on motions for Diocesan Synod.  … and that was all before lunch!!

After lunch Ley-Anne Forsyth (in the foreground above) spoke movingly and passionately about Child Poverty in the Highlands and in smaller groups we again looked at what we could DO to help in our communities.  Ley-Anne said that she had hoped that she could set us alight in her session, but found that we were at the very least starting to glow before she started and well ablaze by the time we finished.

St James says in his Epistle:  “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. … Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

On the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, this Regional Synod might reasonable be described in these words by Bernard of Clairvaux:

“but even if the splendour and glory of the holy angels before God is beyond our comprehension, we can at least reflect upon the loving-kindness they show us. For there is in these heavenly spirits a generosity that merits our love, as well as an honour that evokes our wonder. It is only right that we who cannot comprehend their glory should all the more embrace their loving-kindness in which, as we know, the members of the household of God, the citizens of heaven, the heirs of paradise, are so exceedingly rich.”

A New Deacon in the North

sheumais Diocese, News

On Saturday, Revd Ellie Charman was ordained Deacon by Bishop Mark in Inverness Cathedral (Ellie is in the middle next to +Mark). It was good to have Revd Tembu Rongong from the Edinburgh Diocese (also the Convenor of the Provincial Youth Committee) as preacher.

Ellie will serve her curacy with the congregations in Thurso and Wick guided by Fr Chris and so many of you will get the opportunity to meet Ellie in the next wee while – perhaps at the Regional Synod in Dingwall on 29th September.  In the meantime I am sure that you all join with me in welcoming Ellie to the North and wishing her well as she starts her ordained ministry.

New Priest in the Diocese

sheumais Diocese, News

This afternoon in St Anne’s Church in Strathpeffer, Revd Julia Boothby was presented to Bishop Mark to be licensed as Priest-in-Charge of Invergordon, Dingwall and Strathpeffer.

A large number of members of the congregations, Julia’s family, some people from her previous parish (North Mymms near Hatfield in Hertfordshire) and clergy and laity from around our Diocese packed into St Anne’s.

It was a lovely service and splendid fellowship (and food) was shared in the Strathpeffer Community Centre afterwards.

Welcome Julia (and David) it’s lovely to have you amongst us and to have another priest in the northern part of the Diocese.

Ordinand Visit

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This week, Anna and I have had the privilege of having three Scottish Episcopal Institute ordinands staying with us.  They were visiting as part of their Summer School, when those in training for ministry from all over Scotland (24 in total) descended on the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness, to find out what shape ministry has hereabouts, reflect on what they saw and what they experienced and think about what it might mean for their understanding of ministry.

Harriet, Jenny and Andy stayed with us and we visited Tain, Invergordon (in time to see HMS Elizabeth), Dornoch, Ardgay, The Crask Inn, Lairg and Croick Church.  Along the way we prayed together, celebrated the Eucharist, enjoyed splendid hospitality, dined in the company of people with much experience of ministry in rural areas, met many different people and as our picture shows, sampled cake in Dornoch Market (and to be honest in a variety of other places).  We explored ministry as presence, as hospitality, as listening, as caring and as prayer.

Harriet, Jenny, Andy and James and very grateful for the love, the care, the generosity and the good humour of everyone who help us to learn a lot from them and from each other.