In the village of Taynuilt, there was a warm welcome for the recent news of the Church of England's appointment of a new Bishop of Gloucester.
The Venerable Rachel Treweek, the 52-year-old Archdeacon of Hackney in London, will become the first female diocesan bishop in Gloucester, and therefore the most senior in the history of the church.
Her parents moved to Argyll from Norfolk and are elders in the local Church of Scotland which, of course, has long had women ministers.
So it is perhaps difficult to remember that, only 22 years ago, the Scottish Episcopal Bishop of Moray, Ross, and Caithness, a diocese that covers half of the Highlands, had very publicly taken early retirement on a point of principle. It was his opposition to the ordination of women priests within his church, part of the Anglican Communion, which has obviously moved some way since on gender equality.
But it appears the Scottish Episcopal Church has also begun to throw off some other baggage, its popular image in Scotland for perhaps a century as one of being "the English church".
Although it was as often a reference to the building as the denomination, it was historically inaccurate. The Episcopal Church sprang from the very heart of the Scottish Reformation,
Its roots can be traced back through Highland Jacobite blood for at least 300 years. The MacDonalds massacred in Glencoe Massacre in 1692 were almost certainly Episcopalian, despite the Master of Stair, the man responsible, referring to them as a ''Popish'' clan.
The church's claim of descent from Columba's Iona is equal to any other. Even today, travelling north from Oban by way of Appin, Duror, Kentallen, Ballachulish, Glencoe and Onich in the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, you can see how integral it is to these communities.
However it was long popularly associated with the English establishment and affluent Scots.
But there is a growing feeling that this is changing, despite the church's numbers in the Highlands having been significantly sustained by Anglicans amongst the in-migration from England of around 71,000 people.
It is also perhaps ironic that, if anything, the years of heated debate on the independence referendum have served it well on this front.
The Rt Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness certainly has something of a correction on identity.
He said his diocese had "continued to develop its ministry and mission in a way that encompasses the Episcopalian heartlands of the Black Isle, Strathnairn and the communities in historic Banffshire and Moray, whilst also engaging with the western and northern Highlands. The use of Gaelic in worship and a re-awakening of the cultural place of our church in many of our communities has seen a diminishing of the non-Scottish references to this denomination, and we have welcomed many new members from Scotland, England and many other parts of the world."
Now it appearsmore likely that any reference will be to the "Piscie church"; progress indeed.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article