RC Diocese of Argyll & the Isles

           
        Fr. Colin's home parish at Bornish,
                          South Uist


The Hebrides are sometimes known as the enchanted islands of Scotland. They truly merit that distinction. South Uist occupies a central role in the string of islands that comprise the Hebrides and I am pleased to have been born there, in the township of Bornish. The year – 1945.

My name is Colin MacInnes and was ordained to the priesthood in 1970 after preliminary studies on the island, later in the junior seminary in Aberdeen and finally in the senior seminary in Spain.

I was ordained for the diocese of Argyll and the Isles and worked there for fifteen years, first as curate in Castlebay, Barra; then in Oban for two years before becoming parish priest of St. Michael's, Iochdar, South Uist where I spent six years before moving to my last appointment in the diocese, St. Barr's, Northbay, Isle of Barra.

In January of 1985, without ceasing to be a priest of the diocese which I will always love and yearn for, I was accepted as a member of St. James's Missionary Society and was assigned to the diocese of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, to forge out a parish in what was regarded as the most populous and the most violent 'invasion town' which had been formed in the country. A more experienced priest was to accompany me but he took ill and so I started my missionary journey on my own.

The twenty two years that I spent in my new parish of St Joseph the Worker were most eventful, exhilarating, for many years conflictive, at times highly dangerous, but at all times most rewarding. They were years of adventure in the priesthood, in pastoral, social and even political engagement.

Justice groups were formed, Christian community cells established; parish organizations to cater for the young, the old and for family units sprang up. From the pedestal of ignorance (through not knowing the possible consequence) I had to form a parish in direct opposition to the Leninist/Marxist, so called communist overlords, who had established the town and excluded any participation by police, the national, regional or local city authorities, so as to be better able to exploit the poor.

I led many protest marches through the city, twice spoke in Parliament appealing for greater justice for the poor and down trodden, started and edited a newspaper which circulated in the city, had a weekly television programme and did many radio talks. Eventually the so called communists were removed from power and I became 'president' of the town. During these years the town was transformed: a potable water and sewage system was constructed, electricity was extended to the whole town, the streets were paved, five medical centres and a hospital (above left) were put into operation, a strong Credit Union (pictured right), similar to a small bank, was consolidated, two more churches with catechetical and community centres were built and the town moved from being a despairing, conflictive shanty barrio to being a dynamic and progressive town, ever  expandingng and with a population of 100,000.                       
      
My commitment and that of the Society is to work with the poorest of the poor and so in September of 2005 I moved to the coastal region of Ecuador to start, as they say 'all over again'. I am engaged in forming a parish in an invaded area near the seaport of Guayaquil. There will be about 55,000 in this invaded territory. We have no roads, no streets, no potable water, no electricity, no telephones and no public facilities. What we have is the hope that things will get better.

Fr. Colin's new parish in Guayaquil