Category: Blog Entry

Iain Banks was quoted in Scotland on Sunday as saying that government should scrap state funding for faith schools claiming that they foster sectarianism.

It’s sad to see the faith schools issue getting tangled up in the sectarianism question like this.  Faith schools have a long and  honourable tradition.  Experience south of the border suggests that, even in a relatively secular society, there is a strong parental preference for faith schools.  No doubt there are many reasons for that.  But the perception that they have a clear ethos and can help young people to acquire strong values is part of it – though those virtues are not confined to faith schools.  In the Scottish Episcopal Church, we have historic links with a number of schools – some Primary Schools and of course Glenalmond College.  I wish we had more.

The historic sectarianism which is still a factor in Scottish life does of course make it more difficult.  Research into sectarianism suggests that it is a systemic phenomenon.  It may be at its most visible and nasty on the terraces of an Old Firm match.  But it feeds on almost every strand of a society – even on things which we would not in themselves see as sectarian.  The research says that it is about identity .. that it always involves religion.  And of course it tends to see others in negative or hostile terms.

That kind of systemic sectarianism is present in home, school, church and playground.  And our society needs to think about how it can be eradicated.

At the moment, we’re discussing faith schools and denominational education.  Scotland is becoming more diverse – this question will soon arise on an inter-faith basis and we need an open debate about the patterns of education which will best serve a new kind of society.

Hot air balloon over Blogstead this morning. Flock of sheep on the road this morning. Baby rabbits leaping in front of me in the lane tonight.

So how is it going? Well thank you for asking. It’s a bit ‘wall to wall’ Like all ministry, it’s trenches and sunlit uplands – perhaps more of the former than the latter. I think I’ve been a bit surprised by the shift in my workload – the need to try and read everything on Thinking Anglicans as well as doing all the things I usually do. But I’m well supported these days so I’ll get there. The big issue for us – as for all churches – is dealing with shrinking budgets. Easy to add things. Easier to keep things the same. Harder to shrink.

So I’m looking forward to a break in Donegal at the end of next week. Strangely it will all scrape by without me ..

Well we finally tested the idea of doing some work with clergy and Vestry Secretaries/Lay Chairs in Stirling last night.  It seems to me that this is one of the key relationships in congregational life – it’s a relationship which needs to be in good creative order if leadership is to be offered and accepted.  The Canons, as so often, are eloquently unhelpful.  I mentioned the challenge of responding to multiple, undeclared and contradictory of expectations.

So we – meaning Peter Mackie – did some work with a group of about twelve.  The results of course were very interesting.  Lots of things deeper down, no doubt.  But the range of practice was remarkable – frequency and duration of meeting varying to a considerable degree.

And we had a look at the Vital Vestries material which comes from the Local Collaborative Ministry stable.

‘Could he be serious?  Does he want to confirm every person in the country under the age of 30 in their fear that the church is a hopeless case?’  – my initial reaction to Archbishop Vincent Nichols talking about the dangers of social networking sites in general and Facebook in particular.   I read what he said.  I agree with some of it.  I’m not going to suggest that the suicide issue is not a serious one – although it is a heavy charge to lay.

Whatever the concerns,  ever-increasing connectivity is a fact of life.  Herbert Casson’s History of the Telephone contains a lovely passage which rather breathlessly sets out the limitless potential of the telephone system: ‘to connect one or more points in each and every city, town or place in the city of New York with one or more points in each and every other city …’

I was driving somewhere or other last week and listening to the story of Facebook – Facemash: The Accidental Billionaires. The origins of it lie in the inventor’s desire to get as many pictures of what Father Ted would have called ‘lovely girls’ onto the internet.  I have a Facebook page and a quick check today tells me that I have 133 friends.  I’m happy about most of it.  Among the 133 are old friends whom I would have lost touch with without Facebook.  In there are also younger members of my family who seem to think it is safe to have me as a Friend.  They communicate incessantly – but I get the feeling that their Facebook communication is mostly ‘out of hours’ communication which tops up their ‘face to face’ communication.

On other levels, I am ambivalent about Facebook.  The greatest danger, it seems to me, is that it purports to be a private and ‘between friends’ channel of communication – but it is potentially as public as anything else on the internet.  Yes you can take care with your Privacy Settings.  But the reality is that it should be treated as being as public as this blog.  People don’t realise that.  And that’s  dangerous.

I called in last night for the opening of the new Spiritual Care Centre at Perth Royal Infirmary.  Hospital chaplaincy is one of the things that I do miss from the past – not that I’d want to do it every day.  Just now and again.  One of the chaplains reminded me that I once said to him that I thought it was the purest form of ministry – and I think it is.  You are often with complete strangers.  No history and no baggage.  You are dealing with deep and difficult stuff – so all the peripheral things vanish and you can’t take refuge in anything institutional or formulaic.  It’s sometimes the middle of the night – so you’re sort of disconnected in time and space.  In a curious way, people and their families are at their very best – often little short of heroic.   Faith?  Tested to its extreme and down to the bare necessities – God? God’s will?  Love?

So I’ve been thinking as I have been reading today about Debbie Purdy who won her case in the House of Lords.  She said that she was ‘esctatic’ at the ruling and that ‘she had been given her life back’.  Which is a sort of ironic thing to say in the circumstances – since she wanted to know if her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her to go to Switzerland to end her life when her MS progressed to a point at which her quality of life was gone.

You won’t be surprised that I think this is not a great thing to do.  I’ve seen enough to have got beyond any sort of ‘peace and starched white pillows’ attitude to illness.  More often, however great my desire to offer support and comfort, I’ve felt real anger at what terminal illness does to people .. seen illness as an enemy .. listened to people describing what it is like when you own body turns against you.

So my first feelings about assisted suicide aren’t actually moral objections – I can easily envisage situations in which it would be at least an understandable course of action, even if not one that I agree with.  It’s more that this is one of those things which is relatively clear at the extremes – loss of dignity, pain, loss of control, minimal quality of life.  But it’s not at all clear in the middle – and that’s where the pressure, not being a burden factors begin to play.

Interesting to see the various gatherings here in Scotland over the past few days.  Diageo’s workforce and surrounding community created an extraordinary demonstration to try and save jobs in Kilmarnock.  I feel for them – what else can they do?

Meanwhile the great Gathering took place at Holyrood Park.  And there is a gathering discussion about the Scottish diaspora and how it might become a continuing part of Scottish life.  I’m all for that.  After all, the Irish diaspora has been a ‘big thing’ in Ireland – who could forget former President Mary Robinson who put a lighted candle in the window for the diaspora – many of whom left Ireland only because Ireland had nothing to offer them.   Connecting with the diaspora is clearly a ‘good thing’.  Except of course that the Irish diaspora in America became politicised – many became what the late and great Conor Cruise O’Brien called the ‘sneaking regarders’ of violence.  One of the building blocks of the settlement was the work done by people like John Hume and Senator Edward Kennedy to wean Irish-America away from its willingness to support politically-motivated violence in Ireland.

For the rest, I’m aware of two speed issues today.  The first, after a weekend of tragedy, is the beguiling beauty and innocence of Scottish roads.  The faithful Passat and I – and everybody else – should take extra care.  The second of course is the vexed question of broadband speeds.  Blogstead’s asthmatic but reliable connection comes from the exchange in Kinrossie – which is 7 km away.  The very people who might most quickly adopt tele-conferencing instead of travelling long distances to meetings are inhibited by slow broadband speeds.  We need a campaign.  But yesterday I did manage a Skype session from our office in Perth with my American ‘coaching bishop’  in California – both sound and pictures.

My Thought for the Day tomorrow says that part of my job is about making connections.  So I am pondering the connection between the Clan Gathering in St Andrews – part of New Wine Scotland – at the start of the day and the Black Watch Cocktail Party at the end.  There must be a connection.

But the day started with what Radio 4 charmingly described as ‘Hatch ‘n’ Match’  That’s the CofE’s [neighbours over the hedge again] somewhat unradical proposal to slip the odd baptism into the odd wedding.  So I cruised off through the dawn of the Blogstead safari park – deer leaping over the hedge at Saucher; had to stop for rabbits all over the road at Abernyte; some clergy vacancies in Scotland if you are interested – to discuss it all with BBC Scotland down the line in Dundee at 6.55 am.  At least it gave me the chance of talking about our presence at Wedding Fairs and the like.

And on to the Clan Gathering – which of course was full of Piskie people and full of interest.

Here I am with Elaine and Angela from our congregation at St John’s, Alloa – and with Rev Malcolm Round from our congregation in Balerno.  I really enjoyed the opportunity of meeting keynote speaker, Mark Stibbe

So the big question remains.  What is the link with the Black Watch Cocktail Party.  There must be one

Well all I can offer is ‘full of Piskie people and full of interest.

We have a sort of programme of visiting [the rather large amount of] Scotland which lies north of Ballintuim.  So Anna’s visit this weekend was a pretext for a quick visit to Skye – which I haven’t seen since a far off visit as a student.

Started in the palindromic village of Glenelg, which isn’t on Skye at all.  But the chance of taking the equally palindromic Anna there was too good to miss.  We stayed with Catriona, the local Registrar of Marriages.  The Glenelg Inn was fascinating – we found ourselves in the middle of a session of traditional music of the very highest standard.  And some of the local children seemd quite confident about joining it.  I sat there thinking that I must learn to do the traditional fiddle – after I have satisfied my yearning to play the saw.  And I thought about how a living tradition is sustained in an all-age community.  I could see the commitment of the small number of parents which made that possible.

In the morning, we used the ferry across from Glenelg – which starts from the reconstructed Sandaig lighthouse which used to stand near Gavin Maxwell’s house [of Ring of Bright Water and the otters].  Time to chat with two of the happiest people you could meet who run it on behalf of the community.  As you can see in the photo, the ferry was also palindromic – having the useful attribute of being able to turn all the passengers round to face in entirely the opposite direction.  So I thought about that too.

Yes we did go to Skye.  The scenery is magnificent but it rained.

Strange sort of day really.  Cast an eye upwards above the Blogstead kitchen window and you find the next generation of House Martins ready to fly – indeed they are already flying.

Elsewhere, Tiger tees off at Turnberry.  We managed a delightful cycle around Glen Isla – having carefully scrutinised the map for contour lines before setting out.

And I’m cruising the websites – trying to learn about what’s happening at TEC’s Convention at Anaheim.  It’s a bit like TUC Conferences of old – what is the relationship between Resolution D025 and Resolution B033 of 2006?  Behind that arcane question lies the need to understand whether they are simply ‘saying where we are as a church’ or saying something more serious about the Anglican Communion moratoria.  After two weeks of it, I should think they are all exhausted.