Susan Boyle may be the talent-show phenomenon that has sent Britain, America and much of the rest of the world into a YouTube twitter following her appearance on Britain's Got Talent, but the congregation at her West Lothian church are trying not to make a fuss.

The choir at the Sunday morning service at Our Lady of Lourdes in Blackburn was minus its most famous member yesterday.

Alhough the area has been besieged by the world's media, no-one would imagine so from Father Ryszard Holuka's service. It did not, even casually, mention Boyle, nor the 30 million hits the YouTube clip of her performance on the ITV show has notched up, nor the attention she had garnered from Oprah Winfrey, Jay Leno, Demi Moore and Larry King.

The only gesture of recognition appears in the weekly newsletter: "Congratulations to Susan Boyle on her performance and success on Britain's Got Talent last Saturday night."

But this is Blackburn's way. Following the service, Father Holuka explained: "This area was a mining area and then a car-building area. It's a small village, 11,000 people. They tend to be laid back. They don't make a big song and dance about it."

Understatement, he says, rather than overstatement is typical of the area. "If I'd, for example, preached about it this morning, the congregation would probably have asked, Why is he getting on the bandwagon?'"

Even so, beneath the show of cool disinterest is a gentle buzz. One congregation member confesses that she has seen the YouTube clip nine times and cried on every occasion.

It is also not the case that Father Holuka is unwilling to talk about Boyle - he has been doing it to media all week - just that he isn't going to add to the fanfare. He hasn't watched her performance yet, either as its original television broadcast or in its YouTube clip form. When earlier this week he did try to visit her home he was put off by the five satellite vans outside.

But he does confess an admiration for her voice. "I don't hear it standing out in the congregation though. People don't do that here. The only people you can hear above the crowd are the ones that are deaf."

And yet church and faith are at the heart of the Boyle story. This place, Our Lady of Lourdes, is somehow its centre. In an interview with the Sunday Herald, Boyle said that her voice was "a gift, a Godsend. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner."

Much of the media comment on Boyle's television appearance has dwelt on her lack of good looks. Colette Douglas Home's in The Herald described how "only the pretty are expected to succeed".

Alison Kerr, one of Boyle's neighbours, said: "She has not had an easy life. She has been a target for a lot in her life, particularly for the younger generation."

At Our Lady of Lourdes the congregation has, as is typical of many churches, a mix of worldly and unworldly types. Even the church itself has a bit of the Boyle factor in it.

Plain red brick on the outside, easily missed on the way through town, it does not try to lure with big banners. In fact, this lack of flashy self-advertising pervades Blackburn. The Happy Valley pub, for instance, where Boyle stops for her regular morning lemonade, is not easy to find given it does not point up its presence with anything so brash as a name sign.

All that is there to give its identity away is the occasional punter lurking out front with a cigarette and a few posters in the window that announce: "We're backing Susan."

Inside, a cluster of men play cards, while others drink pints at a table nearby and a Washington Post journalist sits at the bar. Boyle, they say, is here every Saturday. Many in the room watched her performance on television.

One local, David Bonnes, said: "There were tears in my eyes when I watched it. I just didn't like the way all the judges and audience were sniggering. When she walked on and they were all laughing because she said she wanted to be the next Elaine Paige, I didn't like it. But we knew she could sing. And she blew Elaine Paige right out the book."

What does this sudden moment in the spotlight mean for Boyle and for Blackburn and other places and peoples like them?

Elaine Paige has now suggested Boyle record a duet with her. Oprah Winfrey has invited her to appear on her show. Bookmakers William Hill have taken 3000 bets for her to win the ITV show. As Boyle says herself: "There is a lot more respect now. See, with the kids, they can be cruel sometimes, but now it's different. It has really brought the community together."