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Island Church Receives £10,000 Donation from RC Neighbours

Wednesday December 11 2019

The minister of a Western Isles parish church said her congregation was left ‘speechless and overwhelmed’ by a £10,000 donation from their Roman Catholic neighbours.

Howmore Church on South Uist received the donation from St Michael’s in Ardkenneth and St Mary’s in Bornais, towards Howmore’s successful renovation appeal. The formal presentation was made at an ecumenical carol service in St Mary’s this week.

Howmore, part of the Church of Scotland parish of South Uist, sits on a site that has a Christian presence going back to the 6th century and was a centre of learning during the Medieval period. The present building was built in 1858, and is significant as one of only a handful in Scotland to have retained a central communion table.

However, its exposed position and 160 years of Atlantic winter storms have taken their toll on the fabric of the building. The Rev Lindsay Schluter, minister of Barra linked with South Uist, said: “The congregation, led by treasurer Mrs Isabel Macdonald, managed to raise most of the funding required for renovation and refurbishment work through applications to various trust funds, but then was left speechless and overwhelmed by the overflowing generosity of their two Roman Catholic neighbours.”

She added: “The building sits right on the coast – next stop Canada. So the problem is basically dampness. It needs to be stripped out and dried out, and then some internal modifications are going to take place to make it more visitor-friendly, and the kitchen and toilet facilities updated.

“It needs about £230,000, which with the help of the Catholic churches we have now reached.”

Pictured: Seonaid Crabtree and Isabel Macdonald, respectively session clerk and treasurer of South Uist Parish Church, with Father Michael Macdonald and Angus MacIntyre, priest and treasurer for St Michael's and St Mary's, at the presentation.

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“That’s great news. Howmore is such a beautiful wee church on a spectacular site. ”

“What a blessed act of love, showing that, in spite of profound differences of understanding, the Christian message that Love has overcome the world is shown by this amazing generosity.



May the Lord bless them all.”

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