Len Black
Scottish Roman Catholic Priest of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Leonard Albert Black (born 19 March 1949) is a Roman Catholic priest in Scotland and a member of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. He was formerly an Anglican priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Early life and education
Black was born on 19 March 1949. He was educated at the Bernard Gilpin Society, in Durham, England; 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.
Ordained ministry
Anglicanism
Black was ordained in the Scottish Episcopal Church as a deacon in 1972 and as a priest in 1973. 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-time 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.
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