Leonard Albert "Len" Black (born 19 March 1949) is a Roman Catholic priest in Scotland and part of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. He was formerly an Anglican priest in the

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland. A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...

Early life and education

Black was born on 19 March 1949. He was educated at the Bernard Gilpin Society, in

Durham, England Durham ( , locally ), is a cathedral city and civil parish on the River Wear, County Durham, England. It is an administrative centre of the County Durham District, which is a successor to the historic County Palatine of Durham (which is dif ...

; this was an organisation that helped men achieve the academic qualifications required to study for ordination. He then trained for ordination at the

Edinburgh Theological College The Edinburgh Theological College was founded in 1810 to train Anglican clergy to serve in the Scottish Episcopal Church. In 1891 the college moved to Coates Hall in Rosebery Avenue where it gradually expanded to include residential accommodation ...

Ordained ministry

Anglicanism

Black was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

in the

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

in 1972 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

in 1973. He was

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

St Margaret of Scotland, Aberdeen St Margaret of Scotland — also known as St Margaret's, Gallowgate — is a Scottish Episcopal Church, in Aberdeen, Scotland. History The Gallowgate was one of the poorer areas of Aberdeen and in the mid-19th Century consisted of a large area o ...

and then

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

of St Paul's Cathedral, Dundee. From 1977 to 1980 he was priest in charge of St Ninian's,

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, 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 in Inverness. He also served as Area Chaplain for Scotland of the Actors Church Union 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 Forward in Faith (FiF) is an organisation operating in the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church. It represents a traditionalist strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is characterised by its opposition to the ordination of women to the pri ...

, a traditionalist Anglo-Catholic organisation, from 2001 to 2011. He was Dean of the Moray, Ross and Caithness from 2003 to 2009.

Roman Catholic Church

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. Black undertook the Ordinariate Formation for Catholic Priesthood at

Allen Hall Seminary Allen Hall Seminary, often abbreviated to Allen Hall, is the Roman Catholic seminary and theological college of the Province of Westminster at 28 Beaufort Street in Chelsea, London, in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is situated o ...

in London, and was then ordained priest by Bishop

Philip Tartaglia Filippo "Philip" Tartaglia (11 January 1951 – 13 January 2021) was a Scottish prelate who served as a bishop of the Catholic Church. He served as Metropolitan Archbishop of Glasgow from 2012 until 2021. He previously served as Bishop of Paisl ...

(Archbishop of Glasgow 2012 to 2021) in July 2011. He now serves as senior pastor to the Ordinariate Group in Scotland. During Covid-related lockdowns, Black transformed a shed in his garden in

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

into "The Oratory of St Joseph" and livestreamed Mass to his small congregation. The shed was shortlisted for "Cuprinol Shed Of The Year".

Author

Black is also an author, among other books he has written ''Sir Ninian Comper - Liturgical Architect'' (1999), ''The Church that Moved Across the Water'' (2003) and ''Churches of the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness'' (2004). In 2011 he became part of the editorial team of The Portal magazine, the official monthly magazine of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Personal life

In 1975, Black married Ruth. Together they have three children; two sons and one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Leonard Albert 1949 births Scottish Anglo-Catholics Deans of Moray, Ross and Caithness Living people Anglo-Catholic clergy Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism People of the personal ordinariates 21st-century Scottish Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Scottish Episcopalian priests