School Hill, off Gower Street, Brora, Sutherland KW9 6PU. Church in the centre, with Church Hall on the left and Father Benedict's quarters on the right.
Parish priest: Father Benedict Seed (1956), The Bungalow, School Hill, off Gower Street, Brora KW9 6PU. Phone: 01408 621388. His mobile number is 07926 169910. His email address is pending. In 2006, he celebrated his 50th anniversary as a priest. Deacon: Kenneth Bromage, 21 Gate Street, Embo, Dornoch IV25 3PS, phone 01862 810900, or email kenbrom@tiscali.co.uk.
Dedication of our church in 1979
Our church here in Brora is on the east coast of central Sutherland, overlooking the Moray Firth of the North Sea. It was built in 1973, architect Douglas Reid and dedicated in 1979 (See photo above). It is a simple modern building with steeply pitched tiled roof and long windows flooding the interior with light and contemporary church hall in rear. There is ample space for car parking. It is a small church, holding about 60 parishioners, or 90 using the hall. It produces an illustrated weekly Bulletin with parish church news, a note of who is sick, special days such as annual Easter duties, coming events and other relevant matters.
The Church is in the Diocese of Aberdeen which, in addition to city of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, covers Moray, the Shetland and Orkney islands, all the Highland area including Inverness, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland, Caithness and Western Isles This vast area is organized into four deaneries, each with a priest appointed as a dean.
The Diocesan Pilgrimage to Plusgarden was on Sunday, 26th August 2007.
A Deanery Pastoral Council comprises the clergy and two or more lay representatives from each Parish. Events have included a Deanery Pilgrimage to Fortrose on 8th September 2007, with Bishop Peter as the Principal Celebrant. Mass was at 12 noon.
Father Benedict with First Communicants 2006 at the Church.
The Church magazine "Light of the North" recorded, in its Issue 4, Winter, 2006/2007 edition with this photograph that Father Benedict Seed spent many years as a monk at Fort Augustus Abbey on Loch Ness. He was born in Duns, Berwickshire, went to school at Fort Augustus Abbey, joined the monastery in 1950, was ordained in 1956 on the Feast of Christ The King and remained a member of that community until it closed in 1999. He completed philosophical and theological studies at the Benedictine college of Saint Anselm on the Aventine Hill in Rome. He is also a graduate of St. Andrew's University. At Fort Augustus Abbey School, Father Seed taught chemistry for several years. He also served as House Master and later Head Master there. His association with Brora started in 1997. Initially he returned to the monastery from Monday to Friday. When the monastery closed, he took up the position at Brora full time in early 1999. In the above picture, taken outside Christ The King Church here in Brora in August 2006, for his 50th anniversary of Priesthood, Father Benedict (third from left) is joined by Father James Bell, Father Gerry Livingstone, Bishop Peter Moran, Deacon Paul Lippok, Deacon Kenneth Bromage and Father Walter Beale. Parishioners from all over Sutherland congregated at the church to celebrate with a special Mass, with more than 80 going on to a celebration lunch at Brora's Marine Hotel. They were joined by all of Father Benedict's six brothers and sister who journeyed to Brora for the occasion.
This Parish comes under the Deanery of St. Joseph's which covers Highland, Orkney and Shetland. The Dean is the Very Reverend James Bell, based in Tain. In addition to this Parish (of Sutherland), other parishes of Highland, Orkney and Shetland are Aviemore; Beauly; Culloden; Dingwall; Dornie; Fort Augustus; St. Mary's, Inverness at email stmarysinverness@btinternet.com; St. Ninian's, Inverness; Kirkwall; Lerwick; Marydale; Nairn; Stratherrick; Tain; Thurso and Wick.
Brora RC Parish began in 1957. (It celebrated its jubilee in November 2007 with a lunch for and provided by all parishioners in the Church Hall after the 11 o'clock Mass, with all parishioners invited and asked, if they could, to bring a food dish). It had its origins in the hydro-electric scheme which brought mains electricity to the north of mainland Scotland. Many Irish workers were involved in the work based in the Lairg area 30 miles away from Brora. The workers had an Irish chaplain - Father Caslin - who said Mass for them on the sites where they worked. At that time, discreet negotiations began for the Diocese of Aberdeen to acquire a site in the village of Brora. The Capaldi family was instrumental in helping to secure the site of the Diocese. When the hydro-electric site at Lairg was being closed, Father Caslin arranged for the site's canteen hut to be transported to the newly-acquired diocesan site at Brora, as the church. It served the parishioners of Sutherland for 14 years, with baptisms and weddings involving well-remembered local families such as Bokas, Bonner, Brodie, Brown, Capaldi, Coghill, Lannon, Mackay, McRae, Sutherland. The parish was then called Pius X. Later, it changed its name to Christ the King. The canteen hut is now a tea room/small restaurant in Golspie until recently known as 20-20, now Coffee Bothy.
In 1973 the present church was opened. Its area covers all Sutherland, some 2,500 square miles. There are nine small towns (8 of them technically, villages, see list below), but only 180 Catholics. However, priests per geographical area is a valid measure too. The church is in the Diocese of Aberdeen. This Parish, the only one in the county of Sutherland, Scotland's biggest county, is the largest in geographical area of all the Diocese's Parishes. Sutherland - see its town, villages and settlements below - stretches from Cape Wrath to Drum Hollistan along the north coast; south to Lochinver and Ledmore on the west; and as far as Ardgay in the southeast. The west coast looks seaward to the Hebrides. The east coast looks across the Moray Firth to Moray and further east and over the North Sea towards Europe. As one example of the distances involved in travelling, from Brora to Lochinver alone takes nearly three hours. Lochinver on the west coast is 70 miles away by winding road. Durness, on the north coast, is 80 miles and over three hours by winding road. Some parishioners travel for many miles in each direction to attend Mass.
When he has some leisure time - which is not often - Father Benedict gardens, keeps bees, is a member of the Sutherland Beekeepers Association and produces an excellent Highland honey. It is available to parishioners and the general public at less cost than other other local honey.
There is a Parish Council, chaired by Maggie McBride, phone 01862 881314. The next meeting was on Friday, 28th September at 7 pm in the church hall. All parishioners are always invited to attend.
A summary of this will be posted soon. In the meantime, thanks hugely to the Capaldi family of Brora who secured the land (and who sent warm personal and newspaper-published wishes from Angela, Evelyn and the rest of the Capaldi family, the present church was built).
(Sutherland area in map shown excludes Thurso and Wick).
Achany Glen
Altnaharra
Ardgay
Armadale
Assynt
Daily (except Tuesday) Mass: 10 am. (Except when Father Benedict is on holiday, usually from late August to mid September)
Saturday Vigil Mass: 6pm (When Father Benedict is on holiday, Monsignor Loftus or a visiting priest may celebrate the Saturday and Sunday Masses)
Sunday Masses: 11 am here in Brora and 4 pm at St. Finbarr's Scottish Episcopal Church, Dornoch, for Catholics of Dornoch or Embo.
Sunday Mass in Tain (24 miles south of Brora) not in this Parish, 9:45 am
Monthly: 11 am, courtesy of and in Lochinver Fisherman's Mission, celebrated by Father Walter Beale.
Holy Days of Obligation: 10 am and 6 pm in Brora, 12 noon in Dornoch.
Holy Week (week after Palm Sunday): Monday 10 am; Wednesday 10 am and Stations at start; Holy Thursday the Lord's Last Supper 6 pm; Good Friday The Death of Our Lord 3 pm, Day of Fasting (half usual food) and Abstinence (no meat) to share Our Lord's Cross and sorrow; Holy Saturday Easter Vigil 9 pm (instead of regular Saturday Mass at 6 pm; Easter Sunday 11 am and in Dornoch at 4 pm.
Parishioners who qualify are encouraged to use Gift Aid for collections, as it helps boost Parish income.
Saturday 5:30 pm before the 6 pm Mass.
Such as baptisms, confirmations, marriages, renewal of marriage vows and funerals are by arrangement.
Deacon Kenneth; Don Sutherland; Anne Sutherland; Christine Port.
Christine Port; Don Sutherland; Anne Sutherland; Marie Hagan; Josie Mackay. More readers are welcomed.
Here, in the church hall, after 11 am Mass every Sunday, there's a friendly social over tea, coffee and cakes. It is also the place where the annual Passover Meal is held and other events. The 50th Anniversary of the Parish lunch will be held here on 25th November. Not seen but to the right is a walled bookcase with a small Parish Library.
Rev. Father Benedict Seed, since 1997
Rev. Father James O'Neill, 1974 to 1997
Rev. Father Alistair Doyle, 1969 to 1974
Rev. Father Michael FitzPatrick, 1965 to 1968
Rev. Father John Cunningham, 1958 to 1964
Rev. Father John Caslin, 1957 to 1958
This very useful pamphlet - with too much information to list here except in a short summary - is published by the Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland. The information is taken from the 2007 "Catholic Directory for Scotland." It is obtainable from most of the churches listed inside, including this one. It lists every town and village where Masses are said and at what time, in the Highlands, Islands, Grampian Area, Perthshire, Argyll & Bute and Loch Lomond. It also shows the same in the major golf centres of Auchterarder (Gleneagles); Carnoustie; Girvan (Turnberry); North Berwick (East Lothian courses); Prestwick; St. Andrews and Troon. Additionally, Mass times and places are listed for Aberdeen; Dundee; Edinburgh; Glasgow, Inverness and Stirling.
Spiritual Music site (note, to play this choice selection of full-length spiritual or gospel music, requires pre-installation of Real Player, free version or better, from www.real.com)
The Universe. Britain and Ireland's best-selling Catholic newspaper.
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This Parish website is produced for the church and at no cost to it, by parishioners Keith Forbes and his wife Lois Forbes at email keithaforbes@btinternet.com. |
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© 2007. Revised: March 21, 2008
