Immaculate Conception Parish Church, Stratherrick

Immaculate Conception Church, Stratherrick is in the Dalcrag area of Whitebridge (Scottish Gaelic: An Drochaid Bhàn), Inverness-shire, in the Highlands of Scotland and is a served by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen.^[1] It is an active parish church served from St Mary's Church, Inverness. It forms part of the grouping "Loch Ness Catholic Parishes".^[2] It is also the location of the Christian pilgrimage shrine to 'Our Lady of the Highlands' within its grounds. A new outdoor Mass stone at this shrine, or Marian grotto, was consecrated by Bishop Hugh Gilbert in March 2017.^[3]

Immaculate Conception Church, Stratherrick
57°13′09″N 4°29′39″W
Location	Whitebridge, Inverness-shire
Country	Scotland
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	lochnessparishes.dioceseofaberdeen.org
History
Status	Parish church
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Ross & Joass of Dingwall
Architectural type	Church
Completed	1859
Administration
Diocese	Aberdeen
Deanery	Highlands
Parish	Loch Ness Catholic Parishes
Clergy
Priest(s)	Fr Andrzej Harden SJ

History

Grotto in the church grounds

The church was built following Catholic Emancipation in 1859 by Ross and Joass.^[4] The original wooden altar was later replaced by one in marble which was removed from St Mary's, Nairn. Prior to the church being built, the Tridentine Mass was offered in a house in Dalcrag by a priest based in Glenmoriston, who rowed across Loch Ness to say Mass.

St. Mary MacKillop visited this church on 12–13 December 1873, during a visit from Australia and remarked upon the clean and simple quarters of the Parish Priest, Fr. Bissett.^[5]