Len Black

Black was ordained in the Scottish Episcopal Church as a deacon in 1972 and as a priest in 1973.[4] He was curate at St Margaret of Scotland, Aberdeen and then chaplain of St Paul's Cathedral, Dundee. From 1977 to 1980 he was priest in charge of St Ninian's, Aberdeen, and then became rector of St Michael & All Angels, Inverness, and St John the Evangelist, Inverness in 1980.

In 1987 Black resigned as rector of St John the Evangelist, Inverness, to take up a part-the appointment as Religious and Community Programmes Producer at Moray Firth Radio [5] in Inverness. He also served as Area Chaplain for Scotland of the Actors Church Union[6] from 1987 to 2003 and Synod Clerk of the Moray, Ross and Caithness from 1992 to 2003. He was Regional Dean for Scotland of Forward in Faith, a traditionalist Anglo-Catholic organisation, from 2001 to 2011. He was Dean of the Moray, Ross and Caithness from 2003 to 2009.[7]

He resigned as rector of St Michael and All Angels, Inverness, in March 2011 and, accompanied by a group of lay people, became part of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. They were received into the Catholic Church on Easter Eve 2011, and so Black became an Catholic layman.[8]

Black undertook the Ordinariate Formation for Catholic Priesthood at Allen Hall Seminary in London,[2] and was then ordained priest by Bishop Philip Tartaglia (Archbishop of Glasgow 2012 to 2021) in July 2011. He now serves as senior pastor to the Ordinariate Group in Scotland.[8][9]

During Covid-related lockdowns, Black transformed a shed in his garden in Inverness into "The Oratory of St Joseph" and livestreamed Mass to his small congregation.[10] The shed was shortlisted for "Cuprinol Shed Of The Year".[11]