Derek the Ænglican just put up a link to a new church in Second Life. What makes St Hilda’s Christian Goth Church different is that it is specifically designed for the “goth/emo” community. Ulfilas Graves, Apostle to the Goths, is Craig Gilman from Birmingham, England. He has set it up as outreach to young people. Apparently Birmingham has a rather large Goth community. Its an interesting concept and I wish him well. I am curious what the emo community is though. I guess I’m a tad, just a little, to old to know what is what in the gothic community. (I do mean just a tad too!)
I am curious as to why he chose St. Hilda as the patron saint of his church. There is a Celtic symbol in the church’s symbol and the siting of the church in the landscape has a passing resemblance to Whitby, at least its on a headland overlooking the sea. Otherwise there is no evidence of St Hilda at the church, that I see anyway. Perhaps someone will comment here and fill us in… Here is a link to a photo gallery of the church from Second Life. Anyway, I’m always glad to see another church dedicated to an early medieval saint; they tend to get completely overlooked here in the states.
Heavenfield 
There used to be a big hippie community in Whitby (I had a lovely lunch once at a pub called Middle Earth). I imagine that’s now been replaced by a vibrant ‘alternative’ community. Given that Whitby is also traditionally Dracula’s hangout, Hild/a is perfect for the goth Christian set–the silhouette of the 14th C abbey ruins is probably iconic.
p.s. here’s the Urban Dictionary’s definition of ’emo goth’:
http://tinyurl.com/6qb68v
Ok, don’t get it. I looked it up and other emo stuff. All the emo stuff sounds like normal teen hormone driven, roller coaster emotions. Sounds like just another excuse for kids to label each other.
I don’t really get anything to do with teenagers and their angst. Their brains are constant electrical and hormonal storms, executive decision-making is offline, and they don and doff identities like cloaks, trying to see what fits, i.e, Who They Are. Shudder. But this church sounds like just the thing for those who are feeling a little lost and need a place to go.
Whitby is possibly now most famous outside our circles as the centre of the biannual Whitby Gothic Weekend, so I’d guess that many British goths at least will know of St Hild because of stomping up there on the Sunday morning to nurse their hangovers in elegant surroundings. The only time I’ve been there was for a friend’s wedding during the weekend, and the townspeople love the goths because they drink like fish, spend loads of money on tourist tat, and unlike the locals (who won’t come near the town over the weekend) never start fights or break things…
Emo is in musical terms basically like the Manic Street Preachers only angrier; it seems very soft to someone like me who had to live through nu-metal like Korn which is very much nastier. However, `emo’ seems to have taken on a much bigger currency as just meaning, `ostentatiously sad’, in as much as I hear people saying “he’s being very emo” or “I had an emo moment” who would never get the same currency out of `goth’. All the same, the kids in question are the same ones who in the eighties would have been listening to Sisters of Mercy and dressing in black, the nineties listening to Nirvana and dressing in floppy ruinous sweaters, and the zeros of this century listening to System of a Down and dressing in I-really-don’t-know-what. This decade they’re emo kids. Next decade, who knows?
Hi… Thanks for mentioning my church on SL in your blog 🙂
In answer to a couple of your questions… St Hildas was chosen as the name because as you rightly say – She was the founder of Whitby Abbey. I could have chosen any number of saints, but St Hilda seemed to fit!
As for the celtic symbol, the triquetra I chose it because its heritage is one of the earliest Christian symbols, and also to claim it back from the fans of “Charmed” as a witches symbol.
I also have quite an interest in celtic spirituality too.
Welcome to Heavenfield!
I hope you find some Celtic spirituality material of interest here. St Hild gets a mention from time to time.