Scotland still a hostile home?

Transcription

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Scotland still a hostile home?
‘SEXMAS’ PLAN SLAMMED
Leading Scottish Catholics back Peter Kearney’s recent comments on sectarianism
By Ian Dunn
LEADING Scottish Catholics have
backed a Church spokesman’s
claim that there is a ‘vicious’ hostility to Catholics in Scotland.
Peter Kearney, media spokesman
for the Catholic Church in Scotland,
has been widely lauded for penning a
newspaper article in response to the
recent furore following allegations of
the sending of e-mails within the
Scottish Football Association that
mocked Pope Benedict XVI.
Mr Kearney said the reaction to his
request for an SFA investigation had
revealed the ‘deep and wide layer of antiCatholicism’ that exists in Scotland.
Composer James MacMillan and
Michael McGrath, the head of the
Scottish Catholic Education Service,
are among those who have followed
Mr Kearney’s lead in expressing their
disgust at the anti-Catholicism in
Scotland today, as has a senior member
of the Church of Scotland.
CHURCH SPOKESMAN
calls on Scottish
Government to
reconsider its 2010
Christmas sexual
health campaign
Page 3
PRO-LIFE WAR
CHURCH EXPERT
The flashpoint
Mr Kearney originally wrote to the
SFA calling for ‘urgency and transparency’ in investigating Hugh Dallas,
the head of referee development in
Scotland, who allegedly forwarded on
an offensive e-mail about Pope
Benedict on the day of the Papal visit
to Scotland.
Although Mr Dallas has since left his
post, Mr Kearney said the whole affair
proved that ‘Scotland has become completely inured to the corrosive effects of
religious bigotry and may even have
lost sight of what constitutes it.’
“Many people have claimed that emails similar to the one in question circulated widely in the weeks leading up
to the Pope’s visit,” Mr Kearney says
in his article. “These comments are,
incredibly, intended to somehow mitigate the culpability of those who were
recently being accused. Sadly, they do
nothing of the sort. Instead they illuminate the reality of a layer of deep,
wide and vicious anti-Catholic hostility in our country.”
Mr Kearney went on to say this hostility was merely the latest iteration of an
‘anti-Catholic bigotry’ that ‘has existed
in Scotland for a very long time.’
“As the racist bile of ‘comedians’
like Bernard Manning underpinned
and affirmed the actions of many who
committed racially motivated attacks
in the 1970s and 80s so too does the
Catholic baiting of the chattering
classes bolster the bigotry of a new
generation of vicious thugs,” he
writes. “They are the ones who threw
the concrete block at the Lanarkshire
priest, striking him in the head. They
are the ones who surrounded the car of
the West Lothian priest hurling vile
invective at him and trapping him in
fear. They are the ones who hurled a
Fresh comments by Peter Kearney (above),
director of the Scottish Catholic Media Office,
on the issue of sectarianism have received
support from fellow Scottish Catholics such
as composer James MacMillan (top right) and
Michael McGrath (bottom right), director of
the Scottish Catholic Education Service
PICS: PAUL McSHERRY
brick through the bedroom window of
the Renfrewshire priest as he slept.
“Such incidents are a mere snapshot
of the daily tide of intolerance
Catholics, especially clergy, have suffered and continue to suffer.”
He concluded by saying bigotry
against Catholics was a truth the
country did not want to face up to.
“Reminding Scotland that religious
intolerance exists here is a risky business, which is probably why so few
people do it. Crown Office statistics
show that Catholics are six times
more likely to suffer a sectarian attack
than any other group,” he continues.
“Let no one be in any doubt, with this
shameful episode, Catholics in Scotland have drawn a line in the sand.
The bigotry, the bile, the sectarian
undercurrents and innuendos must
end. Such hateful attitudes have had
their day, they poison the well of community life, and they must be excised
and cast out once and for all.”
Catholic support
Leading Scottish Catholics were quick
to praise Mr Kearney for speaking out.
Internationally renowned composer
James MacMillan, who coined the
term ‘Scotland’s shame’ over 10 years
SCO, 19 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6BT
tel 0141 221 4956
ago in reference to sectarianism, said
the ‘level headed, moderate’ article
deserved praise unlike the work of
many in the Scottish media.
“Certain people always seek proof
when you speak of anti-Catholicism,
but Peter spoke about three incidents
of priests being attacked and in the
Catholic community we know that
they are the tip of the iceberg and there
are far more incidents of this kind that
are not reported,” Mr MacMillan said.
“A line must be drawn and this violent
behaviour against Catholics stopped. I
believe the media does have questions
to answer about why this sort of thing
is not widely reported and some
Scottish newspapers need to take a
long look at themselves.”
Michael McGrath, the director of the
Scottish Catholic Education Service,
said the level of vitriol directed against
Scotland’s highly successful Catholic
schools made him believe there was
still a ‘significant undercurrent’ of antiCatholic feeling in Scotland.
“I think you do tend to get an uninformed response to Catholic education and when people continually
ignore what the facts are you do start
to wonder if they are motivated by
some kind of prejudice,” he said.
Patrick Reilly, professor emeritus of
English at Glasgow University who
worked with the Scottish Bishops’
Conference’s Communication Commission, said he hoped that Scotland
would now face up to the reality of sectarian bigotry in this country.
“When Rangers were fined by UEFA
four years ago for the singing of anti fax 0141 221 4546
Catholic songs they received derisory
fines because UEFA said Scotland is an
anti-Catholic nation and it would be
unfair to judge one team for a national
problem,” he said. “I think there is justification for saying that because Rangers
for many years had an explicitly bigoted
policy of not signing Catholics, and not
one voice in the Scottish establishment
was raised against it, and to me silence
implies consent.
“I’m glad this has come out and I think
we need a full and open enquiry into it, to
settle this issue for once and for all.
Let’s find out hundreds if thousands of
Catholics over many years are just paranoid as many have claimed or if they
do in fact have a legitimate grievance.”
warns against
complacency even as
assisted suicide bill
looks set to fail
Page 6
ST ANDREW’S DAY
Christian backing
A senior member of the Church of
Scotland also said there was a sectarian prejudice against Catholics that
had to be addressed.
“The Church of Scotland wants to
see Scotland rid of every last vestige
of sectarianism,” Rev Ian Galloway,
the Kirk’s convener of the Church and
Society Council, said. “There is no
place for it in our society. I am especially appalled by acts of violence carried out on my Catholic colleagues.
There is no excuse for this, or for the
attitudes that lead to it.”
To read Peter Kearney’s comments
in full visit www.sconews.co.uk/
news/scotland-is-anti-catholicchurch-spokesman-claims
[email protected]
e-mail [email protected]
MESSAGES
from Scotland and
Rome on feast day of
nation’s patron saint
Pages 12-13
2
SCIAF
SCOTTISH CATHOLIC OBSERVER
SUPPORT YOUR NATIONAL CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER
Friday December 3 2010
The mother of all Christmases
Preparing for the family celebration of
the birth of Christ often falls to women.
SCIAF’S REAL GIFTS offer the chance
this year to send a gift on behalf of the
women in your family that will really
help women in the developing world
F
OR many people
Christmas involves a
large amount of
work, from making
sure everyone gets a
present they like to ensuring
there’s enough turkey to go
around. Often these duties fall
on the shoulders of the women
of the family.
In the countries where
SCIAF works women also play
a major role in looking after
their families and making the
home a warm place of refuge.
Unfortunately,
for
many
women in Africa, Asia and
Latin America this can be a
huge struggle due to extreme
poverty. However, this year
there are a range of Christmas
Real Gifts from SCIAF which
can help you say ‘thank you’ to
the people that care for you and,
at the same time, provide lifechanging support to families
overseas.
T
here’s the Real Gift of
jam making (£18) which
contributes towards a
SCIAF-supported training programme at Agakura in Burundi
(above), helping vulnerable
young people receive a practical education in farming. This
includes training people in how
to make jam so they can make
more money than just selling
their basic crops...
Many people in Burundi have
had their education disrupted by
war and employment opportunities for them are few and far
between. Abel is 25 years-old
and he and his wife have
received training from Agakura.
He told SCIAF: “We cultivate
land and grow food to eat and
sell. With the money we make
we are able to do things, for
example, when the baby is sick
we can afford to get treatment for
her. The money also allows us to
buy other things like salt and
sugar.
“We are then able to sell juice
at 500-700 Burundi Francs (40
pence) depending on the type of
fruit. We get between 800-1500
for jam (£1). We do lots of different types including pineap-
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PIC: SEAN SPRAGUE
To:
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as
ple, papaya, passion fruit, and
prune.
“When we’re doing, we well
save the money to help get the
business going.”
S
CIAF also provides skills
training in Cambodia.
The vast majority of people there are extremely poor,
many living on less than $1 a
day. Women and children often
have to scavenge on rubbish
dumps so they can find waste
materials to sell. The Mean
Cheay rubbish tip in central
Phnom Penh is a festering sore
of toxic garbage with thousands
of poor scavengers climbing
through stinking mountains of
trash to pull out items of value.
The SCIAF Christmas Real
Gift of junkyard jewellery (£15)
covers the cost of training a person in Cambodia to make handicrafts out of reclaimed waste.
Soun Srey Thouch is a mother
with four children living in a
tiny shack close to Mean Cheay.
She had worked on the dumps
for many years but today thanks
to the SCIAF-funded training
she is now able to make handicraft gifts and go to businesses
in the city to collect waste
materials.
The handicraft gifts are popular with tourists and the lives of
Soun and other women have
been enormously improved by
the additional income. Soun told
SCIAF: “We were looked down
upon by everybody and often
bothered by the police. They
(SCIAF’s partner) had a centre
in the city so I went there and
was trained in making handicrafts from recycled paper and
plastic,” she said.
“I have been one year with
this project and it has helped me
greatly. This work has helped
the whole community and given
SCIAF’s launches HIV/AIDS Christmas campaign
AS PART of SCIAF’s
Christmas appeal this year,
the Church’s official aid
agency is asking supporters to send Christmas
cards to people in Uganda
who are living with the
effects of HIV and AIDS.
HIV and AIDS not only
affect people that have the illness but their families too.
At the age of 12, Sharon
(right) lost her parents to
AIDS and she was left to look
after her six younger brothers
and sisters.
Every day she wakes them
up, gets them washed and fed,
and takes the older ones to
school. Amazingly, she manages to do all this while carrying on with her own education so that the family can
have a chance of escaping
poverty.
Thanks to a SCIAF-funded
project, people like Sharon do
not have to face the difficulties
us a purpose. The extra money
we earn helps feed the children.
I had no skills or knowledge so
the only work I could find was
picking waste. I spent most of
the time searching in the
garbage dump. I would collect
aluminium cans, plastic, bottles
and cardboard and sell these on
to firms which bought recycled
materials.
“If I was lucky I would make
$1 per day. Now, with the
bracelet making, I can make $3
a day, which is much better, and
can spend most of my time safe
at home while earning it making beads!
“All the children go to
of daily life alone. Our project
trains carers who make visits
to families orphaned by AIDS
and to people living with the
virus.
These wonderful carers
provide counseling and basic
nursing, and help with anything else that needs doing
like washing, cooking or
fetching water. The most vulnerable families also receive
our food packages.
school. I do not want them to
end up picking rubbish like I
had to. It is not a good life. I
want them all to be educated so
they can do better.”
I
n addition to providing
vocational skills, SCIAF
also helps to provide training for carers so they can look
after people living with HIV
and AIDS. Through the Real
Gift of an angel (£75) SCIAF is
able to train carers in Uganda
who make home visits to deliver basic nursing services, ensure
medication is being taken and
advise people affected by the
illness on health and hygiene.
Sharon is so grateful for the
help she receives. She told us:
“I don’t know how we would
survive without this help. My
grandmother is too old to be
able to help me much. I am
working hard on the farm to
get the food for the family. I
am the head of the household
and do not have an elder who
can be responsible for us all.
It’s all up to me. We are
grateful to the project for the
help we get. They assist us
financially and bring us food,
and other things we need but
cannot afford like soap and
toothpaste.”
SCIAF supports many programmes in developing countries helping people affected
by HIV and AIDS.
I Members of the public can
donate to the SCIAF
Christmas Appeal at
www.sciaf.org.uk or by calling
0141 354 5555.
For these especially vulnerable
people, having someone care
for them can make a huge difference.
This year, SCIAF has a range
of 20 Real Gifts that will suit
every budget and interest. If
you can’t decide which one,
you can always make a donation in someone’s name. Give
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onto the lucky recipient.
I Visit www.sciaf.org.uk/real
gifts to visit the online shop or
call 0141 354 5555 to receive a
free copy of the Real Gifts
Christmas catalogue.
Scottish Christians and Muslims
united in tackling climate change
CARDINAL Keith O’Brien
has led senior members of
Scotland’s Christian and
Islamic communities in writing to the Prime Minister to
call for the UK government
to do ‘everything it can’ to
ensure progress is made at a
UN summit in Cancun in
delivering a global climate
change deal.
The letter highlights what the
signatories call the ‘moral outrage’ that wealthy industrialised
nations are not helping poorer
nations deal with the problem.
The letter has been signed
by Scotland’s most senior
Catholic Cardinal Keith
O’Brien, the Right Reverend
John Christie, Moderator of the
General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland, the Most
Reverend David Chillingworth
of the Scottish Episcopal
Church and Shaykh Ruzwan of
the Islamic community.
The UN summit on climate
change started on Monday
November 29 in Cancun,
Mexico, and will run through
to December 10.
“Whilst many politicians may
have believed delays in agreeing
a global deal were without consequence, every day that passes
sees lives in the South affected
and even lost,” the letter states.
“That is why it is vital that the
UK Government does everything
it can to ensure agreeing a fair,
THE Catholic Church has condemned a Scottish Government plan
to rebrand Christmas ‘Sexmas.’
ambitious and legally binding
global agreement on climate
change (above) is at the forefront of negotiations in Cancun.
“The final agreement must
also include vastly improved
greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for the wealthiest
nations and greater financing for
poor countries to help them cope
with the challenges brought on
by climate change. It is a moral
outrage that as yet developed
countries appear unwilling to
find the money so urgently needed to deal with this issue.”
The letter also calls for the
UK coalition government to
show positive international
leadership by increasing its
emissions reduction target to at
least 40 per cent by 2020 and
also guarantee that its climate
finance contributions will be
separate from and additional to
its existing overseas development aid commitments.
Alex Salmond’s government is set to
approve an official sexual health website
that substitutes the word ‘Christ’ with
‘sex’ when issuing advice to young people on how to avoid risky behaviour.
The £100,000 campaign titled ‘Sexmas
Survival Guide’ was designed by government agency Sexual Health Scotland. It
advises festive partygoers to ‘slip a few
condoms into your bag or pocket.’
Wrong message
A Catholic spokesman said it sent out the
wrong message.
“As the Pope said recently modern society often trivialises sexual behaviour,”
John Deighan the Catholic Church’s parliamentary officer said. “Using language
like this, with its lack of delicacy gets in
the way of people developing an authentic
understanding of sex and so is counter
productive.
“The advice should be more respectful.
Using the word Christmas like that is
symptomatic of a whole philosophy that
undermines their safe-sex strategy. They
don’t show enough delicacy of language
and they don’t show enough respect.”
A senior member of the Church of
Scotland backed Mr Deighan’s comments.
Rev Alan Falconer of the Kirk’s St
Machar Cathedral in Aberdeen said:
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“Aware as we are of the
deaths of two Scottish miners
in the disaster, we are also
aware of the family bonds
which have united the people
of New Zealand and the people
of Scotland for very many
years,” the Cardinal writes.
“Consequently, while our
prayers were recently for the
success of the rescue mission,
now our prayers are that those
who died in the disaster may
be at rest with God while their
families and friends in New
Zealand and in Scotland are
consoled in some way by the
thoughts of so many people
throughout the world.”
The letter concludes by
assuring the archbishop and all
New Zealand of the cardinal’s
‘ongoing prayerful sympathy.’
Defending the good name of Christmas
By Ian Dunn
Three generations later, his words are just
as important to our family business today.
CARDINAL Keith O’Brien
has written to the most senior
Catholic clergyman in New
Zealand to express his sorrow,
and that of the people of
Scotland, on the deaths of 29
men in a mining disaster. The
letter to Archbishop John
Atcherley Dew of Wellington
refers to the loss of life at the
Pike River Mine last week.
NEWS
Catholic Church condemns Scottish Government plans to rebrand Christmas as ‘Sexmas’
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“This would not be appropriate at all.
This detracts from the festival for it to be
classified in this way.”
John Deighan, parliamentary officer for the
Catholic Church, and Cardinal Keith O’Brien
have both been critical of the Scottish
Government’s sexual health strategy
PIC: PAUL McSHERRY
Sexual health strategy
In 2008 Cardinal O’Brien called on the
Scottish Government to end its failing
sexual health strategy.
“Scotland has, as you know, one of the
worst records in Europe on ‘sexual health’
yet we continue to pursue approaches
which are patently flawed,” he said. “By
far the most glaring omission in the current orthodoxy, is the intentional absence
of any moral framework.
“This is an utterly inadequate vision
for the future health of our citizens.
Trumpeting the increased provision of
sexual health clinics and services is a
measure of failure not success. A strategy
akin to permanently stationing an ambulance at every accident blackspot in the
country rather than educating drivers to
improve their driving and to moderate
their behaviour on our roads.”
Although the SNP have recently
announced cuts to the budget of their sexual health strategy they continue to back it.
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NEWS
Arrests made
after the Iraqi
church seige
TWELVE suspected militants have been arrested in
connection with the siege at
a Baghdad Catholic Church
in which more than 50 people lost their lives.
Jawad Bolani, Iraq’s interior
minister, said the arrests were
made last week following the
deaths at Our Lady of
Salvation Church on Sunday
October 31.
Gunmen had seized the
church during the celebration
of Mass, demanding the release
of Al Qaeda prisoners.
A stand off, which lasted
hours, ended only when security forces stormed the church
and, in addition to more than
50 deaths, about 60 people
were injured.
The suspects are said to
include Huthaifa al-Batawi, the
Baghdad chief of the Islamic
State of Iraq, a Sunni militant
umbrella group to which alQaeda in Iraq belongs.
“The group members confessed to involvement in and
responsibility for the attack on
Sayidat al-Nejat Church,” a
statement read by General
Ahmed Abu-Rugheaf, director
of Iraqi Interior Ministry’s
police affairs, said.
Police captured the group in
raids in the upscale west
Baghdad neighbourhood of
Mansur and on Palestine
Street, in the capital’s east.
NEWS IN BRIEF
LIFE WITHOUT FAITH HAS NO
PURPOSE, SAYS CARDINAL
CARDINAL George Pell,
Archbishop of Sydney, has
said that the lives of those
without faith are ‘coarse,
uncaring and without purpose.’ Speaking on Sunday, at
a Mass to install the former
Defence Force Chief General
Peter Cosgrove as chancellor
of the Australian Catholic
University, Cardinal Pell said
that the lives of people without
faith have ‘nothing beyond the
constructs they confect to
cover the abyss.’
“A minority of people, usually people without religion,
are frightened by the future,”
he said. “It’s almost as though
they’ve… nothing but fear to
distract themselves from the
fact that without God the universe has no objective purpose
or meaning. Nothing beyond
the constructs they confect to
cover the abyss.”
Life without God was ‘life
without purpose, without constraints,’ he said. The cardinal
added that education alone was
not enough to create a civilised
society saying that faith was a
necessary component too.
LAST SERMON FOR
ANGLICAN BISHOP
ANGLICAN Bishop Andrew
Burnham of Ebbsfleet made
his final sermon at the weekend before he joins the
Catholic Church under the
ordinariate offered by Pope
Benedict XVI.
Irish archbishop calls for solidarity
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin tells students of need for renewed national purpose
By Dominic Lynch
ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin of
Dublin has said that Ireland needs a
‘renewed sense of national purpose’
based on solidarity in the face of the
country’s financial meltdown.
Speaking to graduating students at the
Mater Dei Institute of Education last
Friday the archbishop said the Christian
community should be a ‘model of solidarity.’
Call to share
As the country faces the worst financial
crisis in its history, the archbishop called
on students not just to share ‘financial
resources but also our own talents and
abilities and our basic humanity and
love.’
“Ireland in its current crisis requires
obviously to keep its feet firmly on the
ground in addressing the unprecedented
challenge
we
have
inherited,”
Archbishop Martin said.
“We must be lucid about the mistakes
of the past and the uncertainties of the
path forward. A political climate of anger
about the past and anxiety of the future
could also lead to a negative politics,
which is only ‘against’.
“The basis of that national purpose
must be solidarity. It will be solidarity
among us all in the face of the challenge.
Solidarity, however, cannot be dished out
across the board in equal-sized portions,
as a common percentage of cuts or additional revenue. Solidarity is the art of
measuring in proportion to specific
The bishop spoke on
Sunday at St John the
Evangelist Church, Oxford
about his reasons for leaving
the Church of England and
what the future will hold for
him when he is ordained as a
Catholic priest.
MAJORITY OF UNDERAGE
PREGNANCIES ARE ABORTED
NEW statistics show that over
60 per cent of all pregnancies
among girls under 16 in
England and Wales ended in
abortion in 2008.
Concern has been expressed
over the figures from the
Office for National Statistics
(ONS), with a warning that a
termination can have an
impact lasting a lifetime. The
ONS statistics also show that
four in 10 pregnant women
under the age of 20 had an
abortion, an increase of 12 per
cent in just one decade. The
figures are from the latest year
available, 2008.
SPECIAL BOND: THE PRIESTS
AND POGUES FRONTMAN
FR MARTIN O’Hagan of The
Priests group has spoken of the
special bond between himself
and colourful Irish singer
Shane MacGowan. Fr O’Hagan
said the singer joined the
priests in prayer following the
recording of the 1977
Christmas hit Little Drummer
Boy/Peace on Earth. “I know
Shane has his own story, but
he was very insightful and
brought a new interpretation to
the piece. He is also a man of
faith and had a spiritual sense
of connection” he said.
Church’s
Olympic
legacy is
underway
ARCHBISHOP Vincent
Nichols, president of the
Bishops’ Conference of
England and Wales, was
present last week for the
first board meeting of the
John Paul II Foundation for
Sport.
needs; it involves that special insight
which comes by looking at reality
through the lens of focus on the vulnerable.”
The archbishop added that there was
‘no doubt’ that our society today ‘needs
insight.’
“Not just into the mysteries of a complex global economy, where the hidden
hand of legitimate market mechanisms
seems replaced by many hidden and
unscrupulous hands whose power is
uncontrollable and unaccountable,” he
said.
“We also need insight into what is
required in political leadership.”
Faith and abuse
Archbishop Martin also alluded to the
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin (left)
and Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern
Ireland, in Rome last year
publication of the Murphy Report, which
investigated the Church’s role in covering
up clerical abuse in Dublin Archdiocese.
He said that openly testifying faith was
becoming difficult for many people as a
result of the abuse scandals.
“Today is the first anniversary of the
publication of the Murphy Report, an
anniversary which will reawaken the pain
and the anger of many survivors of
abuse,” he said.
The Vatican’s visitation of Irish seminaries and religious houses of formation
started last month.
SPOTLIGHT ON...
4
‘Retiring’ choir members hit the right note
By Tom Eadie
TWO parishioners from
St John the Baptist in
Uddingston received a
special presentation
when they decided to
‘retire’ from the church
choir. Father of 13 Pat
Doyle has been singing
in the church for 63
years. He was joined by
organist Mary Hood
when she arrived in the
parish in 1998.
Encouraged by parish
priest Canon Patrick
McCarthy, Mr Doyle
launched his vocal career in
the League Hall and has been
singing in the church since
1947. The lead tenor along
with family members,
Margaret, Ellen, Edward and
Martin take part in club concerts throughout the diocese.
His wife Sadie is also a
singer. Mr Doyle was the
first recipient of the Bene
Merenti medal in St John’s
parish. It was presented by
the Bishop Joseph Devine
for services to music in the
parish. His wife Sadie is also
a singer.
Son Patrick, 56, followed
father’s footsteps by singing
in the school choir. He studied music at the Royal
Scottish Academy of Music
and Drama graduating in
1975. Now an international
film composer, who has gone
on to score major films such
as Calendar Girls, Henry V,
Harry Potter And The Goblet
Parish priest Fr Dominic Towey
makes the special presentation
to organist Mary Hood and lead
tenor Pat Doyle
PIC: TOM EADIE
of Fire and the 1995 Sense
and Sensibility, earning him
an Oscar nomination. In
1990, the Prince of Wales
commissioned him to write
The Thistle and The Rose, a
song for a full choir, in honour of the Queen Mother’s
90th birthday.
He will join his six brothers and six sisters in the new
year to celebrate his father’s
90th birthday and the tenor
voice of Pat Doyle will still
echo through the church on
Sundays as he joins the congregation at Holy Mass.
The foundation
unveiled by
Pope
Benedict
XVI during
the celebration of Catholic Education at St
Mary’s University College,
London during his state visit to
the UK in September—is made
up of representatives from the
world of professional football
and athletics, sports management and every level of education.
The foundation was created
by the Catholic bishops as a
legacy in the UK to the forthcoming 2012 Olympic and
Paralympic Games to be held
in London. It aims to create a
charter of values for schools,
parishes and other organisations, encouraging greater
sporting participation as well
as giving people of any age or
level of sporting ability the
opportunity to play sport. It is
also committed to the research
and deeper study of sport and
spirituality, including the
words and actions of Pope
John Paul II.
Speaking at the board meeting, Archbishop Nichols
recalled how his own interest
and participation in sport
began ‘like many youngsters’
on the street and at school.
“I played hours and hours of
football on the street because
fortunately we lived in a culde-sac and we took it over, as
well as playing cricket along
the pavement,” he said. “There
is such an openness, a richness
and a natural affinity of thinking in sport.
“As many people have said,
a joint sporting endeavour is a
much better thing to belong to
than a gang that hangs around
street corners or gets into trouble. It is that sense of belonging and corporate identity that
sport can so quickly give.”
He went on to stress the
importance of trying to ‘capture the spirit of this foundation which must bring together
an appreciation that we are
spiritual beings as well as
physical beings and that there
is a way of understanding our
physical selves which is deeply
enriched when there is a spiritual awareness as well. Sport is
never simply a physical activity. It is mind, body and spirit.’
“As a result of the Pope’s
visit, polling research shows
that people are much more
aware of the importance of the
spiritual dimension of life,
which is a wonderful window
of opportunity that I think this
sporting endeavour in its inspiration can address,” the archbishop said.
NEWS
5
Cardinal shares friendship and faith
Visit to Blackhall Mosque by Cardinal Keith O’Brien helps strengthen inter faith relations
By Martin Dunlop
CARDINAL Keith O’Brien, president of
the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, visited his Muslim neighbours last Saturday
as one of the highlights of Edinburgh’s
Inter Faith Week programme.
The cardinal was present at the city’s
Blackhall Mosque for the first time alongside Sir Tom Farmer as the Muslim community welcomed those of all faiths for an
open afternoon.
Speaking enthusiastically about the visit
and some of the opportunities offered by
Inter Faith Week, the cardinal said that he
had been ‘deeply privileged to meet with
many Muslim friends in Scotland and
across the world over many years.’
“I am grateful to have been invited to
visit the new Blackhall Mosque in
Edinburgh and to witness the Muslim community thriving,” he added.
Getting to know faiths
Prior to meeting the community the cardinal
said that he was looking forward to ‘seeing
their Saturday school activities and in particular meeting many of their young people.’
“I’m also greatly looking forward to sitting with my Muslim friends, getting to
know each other better and sharing food
together,” the cardinal said.
The cardinal took time out to speak to
members of the community including Imam
Shahbaz Ahmad from the mosque. He also
enjoyed lively discussions with some of the
youngsters who were interested to learn more
about the ‘cardinals’ ring’ he was wearing.
Following a question and answer session
Cardinal O’Brien was the grateful recipient
of a bouquet of flowers, presented to him by
five-year-old Sumayah Ahad.
PIC: KENNY McCOLL
Christ the King’s double celebration
By Martin Dunlop
ARCHBISHOP Mario
Conti of Glasgow helped
the community of Christ the
King Church, King’s Park,
close two years of celebrations marking the 75th
anniversary of the parish
and the golden jubilee of
the church building.
Diverse but united
Organisers of the Inter Faith Week activities
in Edinburgh had encouraged Christian
practitioners from across denominations in
the city to join the cardinal at Blackhall
Mosque, an invitation that many were
happy to accept.
“One of our aims is to bring people
together from the many diverse faiths and
cultures here in our city,” Victor Spence,
general secretary of the Edinburgh Inter
Faith Association, said. “We recall the wonderful reception Cardinal O’Brien received
when he visited Annandale Street Mosque
and the Sikh Gurdwara in Leith.
“We are delighted to be working with the
cardinal and Blackhall Mosque in this Inter
Faith Week and bringing people of different
Cardinal Keith O’Brien with Imam Shahbaz
Ahmad and some of the parents and children at
the Blackhall Mosque in Edinburgh
PIC: PAUL McSHERRY
faiths and cultures together to share hospitality and friendship.
“Cardinal O’Brien regularly demonstrates his commitment to inter faith dialogue and relationship building among the
people of all religions here in our city. On
this occasion the cardinal is taking the
opportunity to meet with his Muslim
friends. The cardinal is demonstrating his
commitment to further developing good
inter faith relations locally and globally.”
I [email protected]
Representing the Church and discussing religious matters
CARDINAL Keith
O’Brien represented the
Catholic Church at the
2010 Conference of
Edinburgh’s Religious
Leaders and Faith community representatives on
Thursday November 25.
The conference, which
included 30 of the city’s religious leaders, takes place
annually during Inter Faith
Week and this year’s discus-
sions at the City Chambers
focused on a range of issues
including the Scottish
Government’s Equalities
Update and Edinburgh City
Council’s budget review and
cuts that will affect the care
of the elderly.
Fergus Ewing MSP,
Scottish Government Minister
for Community Safety, attended the event and addressed the
capital’s faith leaders.
The recent visit of Pope
Benedict XVI to the UK, a
visit which began in
Edinburgh, was also discussed at the conference.
Representatives of all the
major faiths and their denominations were present in
Edinburgh including
Christianity, Judaism, Islam,
Bahai, Brahma Kumaris,
Buddhism, Hindu, Pagan,
Sikh, Quaker and Unitarian.
THE OFFICIAL DVD OF THE PAPAL VISIT 2010
Produced by The Bishops’ Conference of
England & Wales, and distributed by
The Universe Media Group Limited.
This is the official account of Pope Benedict’s
highly celebrated visit to the United Kingdom
in September 2010.
Features...
• Commentary by Archbishop Vincent Nichols
of Westminster.
• Additional interviews and features.
• Full footage of all 13 Papal speeches.
• Running time approximately 80 minutes.
St Mary’s parishioners walk in the footsteps of Jesus
Price: £12 including P&P (UK only)
€15 including P&P (Ireland)
PARISHIONERS from St
Mary’s Church, Greenock,
recently enjoyed a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land, seeing for
themselves the places where
Jesus walked, led by their
parish priest Mgr Denis Carlin.
The party of 49 pilgrims
(right) included some friends
from other churches in Paisley
Diocese, two members of the
Episcopalian parish in Greenock
and one Buddhist.
Mgr Carlin, who was previously based in the Holy Land
for three months, said the idea
of the pilgrimage was first
voiced by parishioners, as a
result of their exposure to his
constant recollections of memorable experiences there.
“I spent three months there on
sabbatical, and I think I must
talk too much about the Holy
Land because the suggestion
that we go there came from
them,” Mgr Carlin said. “We
were based in both Jerusalem
and Bethlehem, and in the second half we visited Nazareth,
Cana, Mount Tabor and all the
places along the lakeside associated with the ministry of Jesus.”
The archbishop, Canon Peter
Gallagher and Fr Anthony
Gallagher, who currently serve
the parish, were joined for the
celebration of Mass on Sunday
November 21 by former priests
of Christ the King (above).
Christ the King parish was
founded in 1934 with the present church building opening in
1960.
During 2009 and 2010 a
number of events have been
organised to mark Christ the
King’s special place in the
community of King’s Park.
To mark the 75th anniversary last year a parish outing to
Dunkeld Cathedral took place
in May with a Mass celebrated
with the Redemptorists at
Kinnoull Hill.
The parish music group has
played a key role in the various
celebrations and in November
last year Archbishop Conti was
present for a celebratory dinner
at the church with 200 parishioners in attendance.
This year’s celebrations have
included appearances at Christ
the King from many speakers,
invited by Canon Gallagher,
and during the summer the first
of three stained glass windows
was installed at the church,
with the final two set to be
placed next year.
The two years of celebration
came to a fitting conclusion last
Sunday with the celebration of
the golden jubilee Mass.
Philip Tausney, a parishioner
of Christ the King and a member
of the parish’s jubilee committee, highlighted that the music at
the Mass, provided by the parish
choir, music group and local
schools, was ‘second to none.’
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The party enjoyed a special
experience in Cana, where several couples on the pilgrimage
chose to renew their marriage
vows at the site of Jesus’ first
miracle, at the wedding feast.
The eight-day pilgrimage
included the celebration of Mass
at St Helen’s Chapel, Bethlehem,
part of the Franciscan Basilica
over the grotto of the Nativity,
visits to the Mount of Olives and
Tiberias, on the shores of the Sea
of Galilee, and a further celebration of Mass in the Ecce Homo
Basilica, reputedly built on the
site of Pilate’s headquarters.
Sailing across the lake on their
return to Tiberias, Don Keane, St
Mary’s parish deacon, led the
group in reflection on the story
of the calming of the storm.
Looking back on the events
Mgr Carlin speaks fondly of the
experience.
“Although we were there in
mid-October, the weather was
very hot and sunny,” Mgr Carlin
said. “Israelis spoke of having a
‘second summer.’ The only rain
we saw was on our final bus ride
back to Tel Aviv Airport; we
were obviously being prepared
for our return to Scotland.”
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6
NEWS FEATURE
The Australian priest with a pro-life mission
A visiting expert warns that, despite being poised to win the battle against the End of Life Assistance
Bill in Scotland, UK pro-lifers face losing the war on euthanasia if steps are not taken, IAN DUNN reports
MARGO MacDonald’s assisted suicide bill
looks set to be rejected by MSPs this week
but proponents of euthanasia continue to
gain ground in the UK, according to a leading Church expert in the field.
Fr John Fleming, an Australian priest from
Adelaide Diocese, is a member of the Pontifical
Academy for Life and has devoted much of his
ministry to opposing abortion and euthanasia in
Australia and around the world.
The married Anglican convert recently visited
Scotland during a lecture tour to speak to Catholic
clergy about euthanasia in Britain today. In his
talk—Voluntary Euthanasia will be the death of
me—at the events sponsored by a Society for the
Protection of Unborn Children, he explained that
the step-by-step approach of the pro-euthanasia
movement had led Britain to a situation where
euthanasia is essentially already legal.
Pro-euthanasia agenda
Fr Fleming makes a powerful case that the proeuthanasia movement has vigorously pursued
this step-by-step agenda for the last 50 years.
“History of voluntary euthanasia in Britain is
a long one,” he said. “The first attempts to
legalise it were in the 1930s and they tried again
in the 1950s and the key figure behind these
attempts was a Lord Chorley.
“Although he failed, what is interesting is that
he said his proposed law didn’t go far enough, it
only applies to adults it doesn’t apply to children who come into the world deaf, dumb and
crippled, but we must go step-by-step and I
think that is very significant and important.”
During his talk he drew particular attention to
the case of Tony Bland, who was severely
injured in the Hillsborough disaster and left in a
persistent non-responsive state.
“The doctors and parents wanted to discontinue feeding and medical treatment so that he would
die. And they had to bring a case to the courts to
have the right to do that. And the court found that
the purpose of withdrawing food, fluids and medicine was to end life but this did not authorise
euthanasia. This is clearly nonsense.”
Fr Fleming then draws attention to the British
Medical Association guidance of 1999, ‘which
condones the removal of tube feeding from
some non-PVS patients.’
“The BMA claimed that a body of medical
opinion had developed on the withdrawal of
feeding tubes which meant the courts no longer
needed to be consulted on these issues,” he said.
“So the Bland court decision, which was meant
only to apply in very rare cases, could now be
applied much more widely.”
A key next step, he said, was the Mental
Capacity Act of 2005, this ‘provides for legally
binding directives requesting removal of food
and fluids when patients become incompetent’
Fr Fleming explained.
“So the traditional concept of the objective
best interests of the patient has now been
replaced by a subjective test, [that is] consideration of the previously expressed ‘wishes and
feelings’ of the now incompetent patient, even
‘the beliefs and values’ that would be likely to
influence his decision if he had the capacity,” he
said. “So the doctors are no longer just concerned with preserving life.”
Fr Fleming says that this approach of the proeuthanasia lobby has taken us to a stage where
‘non dying patients can be refused foods and
fluids if in a non responsive state and legally
binding advance directives based on autonomy
act as a ethical trump on personal values on
beliefs. But they won’t stop there.’
Pushing the issue
In countries where euthanasia has been
legalised Fr Fleming believes the statistics show
the number of cases goes up all the time and the
euthanasia lobby pushes for more and more
rights all the time.
“In Holland the number of cases of euthanasia has gone up more than ten per cent in each
of the last three years and that is not including
the assisted suicide cases or the large numbers
of patients given opiate overdoses with the
explicit intention of hastening death,” he said.
“In addition there is a new proposal before the
Dutch parliament that a healthy person over the
age of 70 can receive a lethal injection if they
feel they’ve ‘completed life’ so we can see that
the euthanasia lobby have no end to their ambitions.”
In a similar vein, he said that in Belgium in
2003, just one year after the country legalised
euthanasia, assisted suicide lawmakers
announced plans to extend the law to include
those under 18 and all hospitals now face pressure to have a team of euthanasia doctors.
Pro-life issues
In the face of such an overwhelming assault, Fr
Fleming believes there are measures Catholics
can and must take to protect life.
Australian priest and pro-life expert, Fr John Fleming
from the Adelaide Diocese recently visited Scotland to
give a talk on the increasing danger of euthanasia in
our society today
“The public often do not understand what the
courts and politicians are up to and crude opinion
polls are used to show support for pro euthanasia
positions,” he said. “There needs to be thorough
and comprehensive research showing just what
the community understands and will tolerate, that
sort of research tends to show that when they
understand what is going on the public are
opposed to it, but that research can and should be
done now, because time is urgent.”
After Fr Fleming had finished his talk at
Glasgow University’s Turnbull Hall, John
Smeaton, SPUC director, and the group’s treasurer Robert Edwards spoke to the assembled
clergy about just what their organisation was
doing to fight against the push for euthanasia.
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In parishes from December 23rd
Priced only £2
SCHOOLS
7
S5 pupils follow the path to China
Second group of pupils from Our Lady’s High School enjoy great experience of China
By Martin Dunlop
A GROUP of S5 pupils from Our
Lady’s High School in Cumbernauld
followed in the footsteps of their S6
counterparts when they enjoyed a
taste of Chinese culture on a recent
trip to Beijing and Shanghai.
Our Lady’s High School is a Confucius
hub for North Lanarkshire, where pupils
are enjoying Mandarin lessons and discovering more about Chinese culture and
way of life.
During the summer holidays five senior pupils from Our Lady’s, accompanied
by teacher Margaret O’Boyle, undertook
three weeks of study and leisure activity
in China.
A similar experience was enjoyed by
45 S5 pupils during the October break as
they took in sights including the Great
Wall, Shanghai Harbour, Tiananmen
Square, Beijing’s Olympic stadium and
the Temple of Heaven.
A visit from Gruffalo
brings fiction to life
By Martin Dunlop
Staff and pupils from Our Lady’s High School,
Cumbernauld, pictured at one of their many
stop offs during their visit to China
Highlights
Robert Lynch, a geography teacher at Our
Lady’s, was one of five teachers accompanying the pupils on the trip and he spoke of
one of the highlights—attending Mass at a
packed Our Lady of the Immaculate
Conception Cathedral in Beijing.
“We stood up to a round of applause in
church,” Mr Lynch said.
“The priest told us there are now over
2000 baptisms annually in Beijing alone,
a tremendous increase.”
Travelling to Tianjin High School by
one of China’s bullet trains proved to be a
hugely enjoyable experience for the
Cumbernauld pupils. When they got there
the Scottish pupils exchanged tales of life
with their Chinese counterparts and also
took part in morning exercise and a tour
of the campus.
Following their return to school the
Scottish pupils have been sharing their
experiences with their fellow pupils,
recalling many of their favourite
moments of the trip.
“The trip was nothing like I expected it
to be,” pupil Bryan McShane said.
“I had already seen great pictures of
Shanghai but they were nothing compared to standing on the top deck of a
cruise-liner that was breezing down the
Huangpu River at night viewing the fantastically lit buildings on either side.”
Fellow pupil Jack Pirret believed the
trip was ‘a great success.’
“It was wonderful to visit the school
and actually see how people my age can
live such a different life,” he said.
“Some of the temples, like the Temple
of Heaven, were breathtaking, but the
highlight was most definitely the Great
Wall. It showed the incredible things that
man can achieve, it was amazing.”
Hard to believe
Looking back on the trip Hannah
McGinness still finds it hard to believe
the events she took part in.
“It was such an amazing trip, and it was
interesting to try out all the different foods,
experience a different culture, and see lots
of amazing beautiful sights,” she said.
“It is one of those memories when you
look back and think ‘was I really in
China?’.”
As a result of a plane fault the pupils
spent an extra two days in Shanghai and
got to enjoy the luxury facilities of a sixstar hotel.
[email protected]
Inspired pupils publish book of their own prayers
Barry McIntrye, St Columba headteacher, is pictured alongside
pupils holding copies of their
prayers
cessful fund-raising venture, the
prayer book provided a positive
bonding opportunity for pupils.
“It brought the school together
with a shared focus, which was
great for the beginning of a new
term,” Mr McIntyre said.
“The primary one pupils were
only just in the door, so we had
the older kids coming down to
scribe or type for them, while
they drew their own pictures.
“But it also brought together
children of other faiths. We have
one Muslim girl, who contributed, albeit that her prayer is
to Allah, and we have other children of no faith, who contributed in their own way. It was
a very unifying experience.”
More than 100 copies of The
Little Book of Prayers, which
costs 50p, have already been
sold and a cheque sent to
MISSIO Scotland.
trying to encourage in schools.”
As well as proving to be a suc-
[email protected]
By Martin Dunlop
PUPILS from a Catholic primary school in Dumfriesshire
have come up with an
inspired way of keeping the
pledge they made to ‘pray a
little, give a little’ in the run
up to Pope Benedict XVI’s
September visit to Scotland.
Youngsters at St Columba’s
Primary School, Annan, produced a book of their own
prayers and have even been selling it at local Masses to raise
money for MISSIO Scotland.
Given the freedom to choose
their own themes of prayer, the
pupils prayed for sick relatives,
the success of the Papal visit, the
victims of the Pakistan floods
and, in one instance, a pet cat.
“Rather than give the kids too
much direction we left the
guidelines woolly so they could
say what was in their hearts,”
Barry McIntyre, St Columba’s
headteacher, said.
“It was quite empowering for
them. They could be creative and
use their own voices—pupil
voice is something we are always
Christmas Competition
Do you have a poem or piece of artwork that sums
up the true meaning of Christmas? If so the Scottish
Catholic Observer wants to showcase them in our
Christmas edition. Prizes will be awarded in both
primary and secondary school categories
Please send entries to: SCO, 19 Waterloo St Glasgow,
G2 6BT or e-mail: [email protected]
Closing date is Friday December 10
Prizes supplied by Lion Hudson
Your school can light up Christmas
by entering our annual competition
THE SCO has once again
launched its Christmas competition, which gives both
primary and secondary
schoolchildren the chance to
get creative over the festive
period.
Last year saw a fantastic
wide-ranging number of entries
of both poems and artwork
depicting many images of
Christmas and with some fan-
tastic prizes on offer this year
children are asked to have a
think about what Christmas
means to them and how they
can display this in either a poem
format or a piece of artwork.
The best of this year’s entries
will be displayed in the special
Christmas edition of the SCO.
Details of how to enter the
competition can be found on the
left of this page. Good luck!
A SPECIAL guest was on
hand to help youngsters
from St Cuthbert’s Primary
School, Glasgow celebrate
the re-opening of their new
school library on Monday
November 15.
The life-sized star of Julia
Donaldson’s book The Gruffalo
lumbered into the school to
share in the celebrations with
pupils, their parents and members of the local community.
The book, which has sold
more than 10.5 million copies,
recently topped a poll of
favourite books for children and
parents and has won several
prizes for children’s literature.
The very special guest was
invited to join in the celebrations by Susan Quinn, St
Cuthbert’s headteacher.
“We wanted someone who
would ignite the imaginations
of the children and who better
than the Gruffalo,” Ms Quinn
said of her choice.
“With books newly donated
by the Scottish Books Trust and
Pupils and staff from St Cuthbert’s
Primary School get into character
mode for the visit of the Gruffalo
(top). Some of the St Cuthbert’s
teachers continued with the theme
by dressing up as other fictional
characters from film (below)
Kelvin Books, we have refurbished the school library to
encourage the youngsters to
read more and to enhance their
interest in books.”
Bailie Jean McFadden, executive member for education at
Glasgow City Council, spoke
positively on St Cuthbert’s aim
to encourage more children to
read.
“The benefits of reading from
a young age are well known,”
she said.
“It is so important that we
instil and encourage a love for
reading in primary school and
parents, teachers, and pupils
can then build on this foundation.
“Reading is knowledge and
knowledge is power.”
[email protected]
School Nativity Plays
The Scottish Catholic Observer invites all Catholic
schools who are staging their own colourful Nativity
plays to send us in information and photographs to
be included in our December editions
Please send copy and pictures to: SCO, 19 Waterloo
St Glasgow, G2 6BT or e-mail: martin
@sconews.co.uk
Closing date is Friday December 10
8
COMMENT
A changing of the guard in Scotland?
HUGH McLOUGHLIN takes an in depth look at the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland as well as highlighting
some of the potential changes that may affect the Scottish Catholic hierarchy in the forthcoming years
Through the Sacrament they have received,
Bishops are stewards of the Lord’s gift. They
are stewards of the mysteries of God (I Cor 4:
1); as such, they must be found to be ‘faithful’
and ‘wise’ (cf Lk 12: 41-48). This requires
them to administer the Lord’s gift in the right
way, so that it is not left concealed in some
hiding place but bears fruit, and the Lord may
end by saying to the administrator: “Since you
were dependable in a small matter I will put
you in charge of larger affairs.” (cf Mt 25: 1430; Lk 19: 11-27). Pope Benedict XVI’s
address to the Roman Curia, Christmas 2005.
O
VER the next two-and-a-half years
or so, from within the Catholic
Church in Scotland Pope Benedict
XVI has to find a minimum of five
new bishops as present members of
the eight-strong Scottish Catholic Bishops’
Conference go into retirement.
In addition, either from amongst these five,
or, from amongst the three remaining members
of the current active hierarchy, two must be
deemed worthy of the archiepiscopal dignity;
and, at least one of these two might have to, in
the fullness of time, be ready of a cardinal’s hat
on his coat of arms.
While this may seem to be a mighty challenge, it is not the real problem. Scotland is at
the present time blessed with far more than five
worthy candidates for the episcopacy, although
some are presently working in other areas of the
Lord’s vineyard.
Moreover, with a bit of experience under their
belt, more than one would be able to grace the
Sacred College.
No. The real problem will only begin to
become evident when the other three bishoprics
fall to become filled, one in little over five years
time. And it will hit us with full force when the
five chosen over the next two-and-a-half years
themselves have to be replaced.
The position today is that two members of the
Scottish Catholic Bishops’ Conference are currently in a sort of limbo.
O
n March 20, 2009, Archbishop Mario
Conti, Glasgow, celebrated his 75th
birthday and in accordance with the
Code of Canon Law of 1983 (Canon 401 §1)
submitted his resignation to the Holy Father.
However, as yet Pope Benedict has not accepted this. Bishop Peter Moran, Aberdeen, is in a
similar position. He celebrated his 75th birthday
on April 13, and to date his resignation has also
not been accepted.
Over the next two-and-a-half years a further
three other members of the Scottish hierarchy
will attain the official episcopal retiral age. First
to do so will be Bishop Joseph Devine,
Motherwell (August 7, 2012), followed by
Bishop John Cunningham, Galloway (February
22, 2013) and then finally, and most importantly, His Eminence Keith Patrick Cardinal
O’Brien, St Andrews and Edinburgh.
However, although His Eminence will celebrate his 75th birthday on St Patrick’s Day,
March 17, 2013, and will then be required to
submit his resignation as Metropolitan
Archbishop, he will not cease to be a cardinal
elector for another five years, until he celebrates
his 80th birthday in 2018.
Bearing in mind that His Eminence has had
some problems with his heart—albeit that he
continues in reasonably good health—it is
expected that he will request that his resignation
be promptly accepted in order that he might
devote more time in service of the Church, both
at home and abroad, free of the burdens of episcopal office. Readers will recall that Cardinal
Winning expressed a similar desire as his
75th birthday approached, when he appealed to
Rome for an auxiliary.
A
lthough it is not written in stone that the
President of the Scottish Catholic
Bishops’ Conference will be made a cardinal, since the three holders of that position to
date have been, then this is an important consideration in relation to the succession to the
archiepiscopacy of either, or both of, Glasgow
and St Andrews and Edinburgh. The next
incumbent in either of Scotland’s major Sees
might well hope that the highest Papal sign of
approval will be forthcoming: “Since you were
dependable in a small matter I will put you in
charge of larger affairs.”
As things stand, it would be expected that the
cardinalatial dignity would go to whoever succeeds Archbishop Conti; but, that may very well
change. It has been suggested that since we now
have a parliament in Edinburgh, if we are to
have a cardinal archbishop then it would be
more fitting to have him in the capital’s archdiocese.
The three members of the Scottish Catholic
Bishops’ Conference who will remain after the
coming retirements might very well be more
concerned about this than most, particularily
Bishops Philip Tartaglia, Paisley, and Joe Toal,
Argyll and the Isles, who are far too episcopally youthful to have even begun to think, as their
elders must, of retiral. The former will be 60
next January and the latter is only 53. Moreover,
they are both thought by many to be eminently
suitable for hierarchical advancement.
However, which priest, or bishop, might or
might not be earmarked for higher office is secondary to what requires to be done in these
undoubtedly troubled times in order to avoid
serious problems further down the line.
Pope Benedict XVI pictured during a celebration
marking the installation of a new bishop
Problems like being able to fill episcopal vacancies.
There is one way in which this particular
problem might most easily be obviated. But it
would require Papal intervention. In a big way.
C
an we but hope that when the Holy
Father sat down with our bishops for
lunch at St Bennet’s, Cardinal O’Brien’s
residence in Edinburgh, that a thought might
have crossed his mind: “As the number of
parishioners and priests show decline, in such a
small country, do we not have too many bishops
in too many dioceses?”
In light of Pope Benedict’s commitment to
the “New Evangelisation” might fewer not be
better? And this is NOT a criticism of our present bishops, either collectively or otherwise. It
is simply to face up to reality.
Prior to the re-establishment of the Scottish
Hierarchy by Pope Leo XIII in 1878 (and in fact
thereafter up until about the time of the
Eucharistic Congress in London in 1909)
responsibility for the Catholic Church in
Scotland resided within the Palazzo of
Propaganda Fide (which forms the North facade
of Piazza di Spagna) in Rome, now the
Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
Can anyone seriously doubt that we now have
to consider the situation of our Church here in
Scotland in any terms other than in relation to
the work of the new Pontifical Council for
Promoting the New Evangelisation?
How did we acquire our episcopal structure?
What do you think of HUGH MCLOUGHLIN’S comments on the Scottish hierarchy?
Write to Letters, SCO, 19 Waterloo St, Glasgow G2 6BT
Put briefly, prior to 1878 Scotland was divided
in three: the Western District, the Eastern
District and the Highland District. When in late
1877 Propaganda summoned to Rome
Archbishop Eyre and Bishop Strain from
Scotland and Cardinal Manning from
Westminster, the latter emphasised to the
Cardinals of Propaganda his belief that were the
Scottish hierarchy to be restored he felt it necessary to ensure a continuation with the historic
diocesan structure obtaining in pre-Reformation
days.
Put quite simply, that was a nonsense then
and it is even more of a nonsense now. But the
Lord Cardinals of Propaganda bought it.
If it were now determined that within a set
time the Catholic Church in Scotland would
revert to the pre-1878 arrangement, or something similar to it, it could realistically be hoped
that from amongst a diminishing number of
priests we would be able to secure not simply
worthy bishops in the future, but bishops better
prepared for the New Evangelisation with far
more than adequate diocesan curias to support
them in their work.
There would of course be all sorts of practical
problems to be overcome. For example, as certain bishops retire, instead of them being immediately replaced responsibility for their diocese
would have to pass into the hands of another
bishop.
Were this thought too great a strain, then the
judicious use of an auxiliary bishop here or
there might suffice without detriment to the
Faithful.
One thing alone is certain: The status quo is
not an option.
Send your points of view to the SCO
Or e-mail [email protected]
A Christmas wish list
St Nicholas may enjoy
A young Catholic student writes to JAMES MacMILLAN on his
hopes that the UK Papal Masses will be an inspiration to us all
T
HE way the Holy Father celebrated Mass when he was here
in the UK in September astonished many who have accepted
other approaches to divine
praises. Are there any lessons to be learned
from the guidance of our Good Shepherd?
I received this eight-point litugical wishlist from a young Catholic student which
seems as clear-headed, moderate and sensible as anything else I’ve seen recently.
What is it about the young that they ‘get’
Pope Benedict XVI?
1
Instrumentation. Explicit rules about
exactly what is and is not appropriate
for liturgical use, with a particular
promotion of a) the organ; b) the choir;
and c) congregational singing.
2
Rhythms. Excessive use of syncopated rhythms produces a very secularised effect since it draws attention
to itself and is therefore incongruent with
its purpose as an aid to prayer.
3
Plainchant. A much greater promotion of and respect for plainchant—
the original musical language ‘of the
people’ in church. This is an ancient treasure that has been sorely neglected in recent
years, and a tradition that should be welcomed back into the Church with open
arms. In addition to its prayerful nature, it
is also extremely practical: no harmony, all
the congregation singing together in unison, and no organ/ist is required.
4
Investment. The main reason the
Anglican Church excels musically in
many of its churches (and certainly
its cathedrals) is simply because it invests
in musicians. While the average parish can
scarcely afford the salaries of a dozen lay
clerks, paying a competent organist/choir
master a reasonable fee each week would
make a dramatic difference.
As it stands, whoever ‘gets in first’ with
music in a parish church, regardless of
their musical qualifications, seems to be
unchallenged. Priests have their hands tied,
terrified of hurting the emotions of these
self-appointed figures, and so it goes on
for years.
This is not only unfair to other people in
the congregation who may be far more
musically capable, but it also encourages
mediocrity.
5
Text. Care should be taken to avoid
some of the over-saccharine poems
that have replaced either good-quality
poetry or sacred texts. Poetry does not
need to be sentimental to be accessible to a
wide audience.
6
Silence. This is perhaps the greatest
loss of all. When was the last time
you were able to sit and pray in
silence during the Mass? There is no sense
of the numinous, no sense that we should
behave in a particular way because we are
in a church.
Some may have found the Tridentine
Rite too austere, but we have rather
thrown the baby out with the bath water. I
think the musical change, especially the
resuscitation of plainchant, would greatly
assist the return of awe and respect that is
appropriate in a church. After it is sung, a
period of silence almost always inevitably
follows.
7
Notices. These always seem excessively long, especially given that all
the information is printed on newsletters. I appreciate important issues must be
addressed, but brevity should be the key
word.
In addition, there should be emphasis
placed upon the conclusion of the Mass, so
that people do not leave after Communion,
nor during the organ introduction to the
last hymn. Either we all get together as a
community in a form of worship, or we
don’t.
8
Refusing to sing. There should be
much, much more publicity of St
Augustine’s famous Quis cantat, bis
orat — ‘he/she who sings prays twice.’
Again, why do we all gather together each
Pope Benedict XVI was greeted with enthusiasm
and reverence at the Bellahouston Papal Mass on
September 16 but it was the type of celebration
some Catholics had not experienced before. One
student tells composer James MacMillan he
hopes we will see its likes again
PIC: PAUL McSHERRY
week if 90 per cent of us refuse to take
part in worshipping God through song?
People don’t obstinately stand with their
mouths closed during the spoken recitation
of the Creed, so why do they feel so comfortable to do so during a hymn—or even
a sung part of the Ordinary?
This schism between those who sing and
those who refuse is deeply problematic, as
it weakens the whole point of Sunday worship: to do so as one body—as the Church.
COMMENT
9
Discover God’s precious
gift to us this Christmas
SNOW means travel chaos.
The problem is that we are
used to getting into our cars
and going wherever we want,
whenever we want. Few of
us, nowadays, get excited by
the prospect of the journey
itself. We set out, we endure
the hitches and we arrive, do
what we want to do and then
go home again. This is routine. This is how we do so
much of life.
The recent death of Gerard
Kelly just before pantomime season was tragic. He was a star
who will be missed by the theatre
family and obviously, his own
family too. He was, for many an
integral part of the whole
Christmas season. Uniquely, his
performances and energy,
brought laughter and excitement
to those who love pantomime.
His death, in a very poignant
way, reminded me of the days
when a journey was exciting. The
journey was to the pantomime in
Glasgow. In those days Glasgow
was a long way away. We got to
travel by steam train and go to
Glasgow, a real city. This
marked, for those of us of a more
rustic origin, the high point of
travel from the country to the
city. Our Christmas outing from
St John’s Primary School in
Cumnock wasn’t just a journey, it
was a process of discovery.
Pantomime is one of the truly
imaginative ways to spend an
evening or afternoon in Glasgow.
The journey to St Enoch’s
Station was magical enough.
Dark, smoky Glasgow with
bustling traffic and huge buildings an endless source of wonder. To go to the pantomime in
the Alhambra Theatre to be
entertained by the wonderful
Jack Milroy and Rikki Fulton
was almost too much for one
person in one day in the 1950s!
Many years later, reminiscing
with my dear friend Sr Marion
Dewhirst about those heady days,
she told me that ice cream for us
schoolchildren at the pantomime
was provided by the generosity
of so many Glasgow people.
They assumed that a crowd of
children with a nun in attendance
must be orphans! ‘Here sister!’
they would say pressing a half
crown or a ten shilling note into
sister’s hand. ‘Get something for
the weans for Christmas!’
If the snow and ice persist, any
journey will be fraught with difficulty. Fortunately, the journey
through Advent can be less complicated. It need not, in most instances,
take us outside into the cold, but
rather challenges us to look into
our hearts and view the journey
from a different perspective.
The Gospel this week
announces the arrival of John the
Baptist. ‘In due course John the
Baptist appeared’ the Gospel of
Matthew tells us. Of much more
importance than the appearance
of the Baptist is his message;
John the Baptist is calling the
people of Israel to repentance.
The temptation for us is to sit
back and say, ‘But what happened to Christmas?’ This is,
after all, supposed to be preparation time for Christmas. At one
level this is true. We are all
preparing for Christmas. In some
ways, however, this is like my
Fr Eddie
McGhee
remembering the pantomime at
the Alhambra. It was a moment
in history. A special moment, certainly, but a moment in the past
to be remembered and treasured.
The birth of Jesus happened
over 2000 years ago. A moment
in history and a moment to be
celebrated, savoured and treasured. We don’t live 2000 years
ago. You and I live in the 21st
century. The season of Advent
reminds us of this. It reminds us
that we are on a journey of faith.
It reminds us that the call of
John the Baptist to repent is as
valid today as it was all those
years ago. It is easy for us to filter this reality out of our lives
and become enmeshed in the
purely social and commercial. At
one level or another most of us
deplore the trend but find it
almost impossible to escape from
it clutches. This is why the John
the Baptist’s invitation is so
important for us. We don’t make
the journey back in time to a
moment in history. We journey
forward as disciples hoping to
help establish the Kingdom that
Jesus spoke so eloquently about
in His lifetime.
How often have we heard it
said that ‘life is not a dress
rehearsal.’ This is for real and
this is our lifetime. Theatre and
pantomime offer us an escape,
laughter and excitement. All of
these are important. Do they
invite us to invest our time energy and talent in the building of
the kingdom? I wonder?
The message of John the
Baptist is as integral a part of
this season as any. It challenges us
to become focused on the reality
of our lives rather than the ‘make
believe.’ There is room enough for
both at this time. It is not fashionable, however, to give time to the
Gospel message. We live in an
increasingly secular society and
society never tires of reminding us
of this. We have a choice. We can
go with the flow or we can make
decisions for and about our own
lives that bring us inexorably to
the heart of Christmas.
The truth of the message of
Jesus will never burden or
restrict us. It will free us to celebrate with real joy all that
Christmas implies. It will allow
us to discover that God’s most
precious gift to each of us is our
uniqueness and that the journey
inwards won’t have been wasted.
I FR EDDIE McGhee has been
a priest of Galloway Diocese
since 1972. Currently serving
three parishes in the Kilmarnock
area he helps on a part time
basis with chaplaincy in HMP
Kilmarnock. He holds a diploma
in religious education and a
masters in education and has
worked extensively in Catholic
schools as an advisor in religious
education. A columnist for the
SCO since 1991, his hobbies
include fishing, pigeon-racing
and poetry. He can be contacted
by email: edwardmcghee
@btinternet.com
10
COMMENT
P
OPE Benedict XVI has said that Catholic
newspapers have an irreplaceable role in
shaping Catholics’ consciences and voicing the Church’s perspective on contemporary issues.
As ‘newspapers of the people,’ Catholic papers can
also favour real dialogue between different social
sectors and debate among people of different opinions, he recently told members of the Federation of
Italian Weeklies.
And while secular media often reflect a sceptical
and relativistic attitude toward truth, the Pope says
the Church knows that people need the full truth
brought by Christ.
“The mission of the Church consists in creating the
conditions so that this meeting with Christ can be
realised,” he said. “Cooperating in this task, the communications media are called to serve the truth with
courage, to help public opinion see and read reality
from an evangelical viewpoint.”
The Pope said the printed newspaper, because of
its simplicity and widespread distribution, remains an
effective way of spreading news about local diocesan
events and developments, including charity initiatives.
Comforting words in an era when print media is
under pressure from its digital counterparts and the
continuation of the Catholic press, valued for generations, is too often taken for granted.
P
eter Kearney’s timely article on the ‘Popegate’
e-mail scandal can be boiled down to a simple
truth.
There are people in Scotland who hate Catholics.
No one who reads this paper will need to be told that.
In general these enemies of the Church can be divided into two groups. There are smug self-satisfied
atheists who have a roaring contempt for
anyone who professes any kind of religious belief but hold a particular brief
against the ancient magnificence of the
Catholic Church. Then there are bigoted rumps, thuggish remnants of the
days when Scotland was openly
antagonistic to Catholics.
Both groups are profoundly foolish in their own way, though ultimately they should be pitied. It
must also be remembered that even
put together they represent a tiny
portion of the Scottish population.
Not two months ago Pope
Benedict XVI visited Scotland and
was greeted in Edinburgh by a
100,000-strong crowd, many of who
were not Catholic but all delighted to
see him. That is far more representative of
the country we have every right to be proud of
than snide e-mails and sectarian violence, which
nonetheless cannot be tolerated.
Opinion
A week of good news and bad news for Catholics and the press
MAIN SWITCHBOARD
Tel: 0141 221 4956 • Fax: 0141 221 4546
EDITOR
Liz Leydon—Tel: 0141 241 6109
[email protected]
DEPUTY EDITOR
Ian Dunn—Tel: 0141 241 6107
[email protected]
REPORTER
Martin Dunlop—Tel: 0141 241 6103
[email protected]
SUB-EDITOR
Gerard Gough—Tel: 0141 241 6115
[email protected]
Following the recent Mass of
Thanksgiving marking the
reopening of St Columba’s
Cathedral in Oban and the
canonisation of Mary MacKillop,
Denise Roberts was presented
with a medal by Bishop Joseph
Toal of Argyll and the Isles in
recognition of her appointment as
diocesan youth worker
PICTURE
OF THE
WEEK
PIC: ANTHONY MacMILLAN
Knights keep Christ
in Christmas
THE Knights of St Columba
in Glasgow are absolutely
delighted that this year the
city council has renamed its
previous Winterfest
celebrations Glasgow Loves
Christmas.
Brothers of the order in
Glasgow have written to and
contacted various councillors
objecting to the fact that the
birth of our Saviour was not
associated with the
celebrations in Glasgow but it
is wonderful that, in the year
that we were visited by the
Holy Father, the Nativity is
back at the centre of our
festivities.
The Knights will again be
distributing ‘Keep Christ in
Christmas’ stickers throughout
the archdiocese and all over
the United Kingdom, to place
on Christmas card envelopes.
Last year nationally over a
million stickers were
distributed. In this time of
widespread secularism it is
vitally important that we heed
the Holy Father’s words at
Bellahouston and stand up
and spread the good news,
especially at this time of year.
Can we remind everyone
that the Post Office do have
stamps with a Christmas
theme this year but you have
to ask for them. Please ask.
In the coming months
Province 1 of the Knights of
St Columba will be launching
the second phase of our latest
recruitment project and in this
year ahead we are prioritising
the South West and North East
areas of Glasgow to raise
awareness of our great Order
and the work that we do.
KNIGHTS OF ST COLUMBA
GLASGOW
Appalled by planned
‘Sexmas’ campaign
I WAS appalled to read that
the SNP Government is
running a ‘Sexmas’ campaign.
Please print this letter in your
paper to urge other readers to
complain to their SNP MSP.
M Smythe
EDINBURGH
Use of condoms is
not the full answer
AS Chesterton states, the
exception does not destroy the
rule, it emphasises it. The
Catholic Church, to which
Christ has given the authority
both to bind and loosen, has
the right to state the rule as
Letters
SCO, 19 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6BT
[email protected]
well as assess and define any
individual exceptions. It does
so in many areas of life.
Contraception, abortion and
euthanasia are still sins
against the First
Commandment—deciding
who shall be born and who is
to live or die is the right of
God alone.
The misunderstanding
immediately embraced by the
world media on the Pope’s
comment on the use of
condoms as possible
evidence of a first small step
towards civic and moral
responsibility in certain
persons is explained fully in
the Catholic Internet
Magazine Zenit [ZE101121].
MT Kielty
CLYDEBANK
E-mail attributed to
referee creates debate
I AM really disgusted that an
editor of the Scotsman
newspaper, on Reporting
Scotland, saw fit to criticise
Peter Kearney’s complaint
about the highly offensive
e-mail alleged to have been
sent by Hugh Dallas.
He said that the matter was
getting out of proportion and
looked like the Catholic
Church was getting involved
in an arguement between
Celtic FC and the referees
debacle.
As someone who is not
interested in football, I take
grave offence at a so-called
professional insulting the
figurehead of my church.
Mr Dallas should be sacked.
Most employers have IT
policies where this would
certainly happen.
T Reilly
EDINBURGH
I AGREE that Hugh Dallas
should be sacked. He is in a
position of power and has
shown intolerence to others,
there can be no excuse, even
if he professes deep regret.
W Armour
BY E-MAIL
I AGREE that Hugh Dallas
should be sacked. No-one
who shows intolerance to
others should be in a position
of power, even if they profess
regret at their actions.
S Small
BY E-MAIL
Paraphrase may have
missed the point
I WAS shocked to read (SCO
letters, November 2010) that I
had said that ‘no respected
theologian… believes in a
personally assigned angel,’
not least because I would like
to be thought of as a respected
theolgian and I have a
guardian angel!
What I wrote was that
guardian angels, in common
with other teachings I listed,
had once been held to belong
to a specific category of
Church teaching, known as de
doctrina catholica.
I then said that no resepcted
theologian today ‘holds any of
these things to be true’— in
other words they do not hold
it to be true that they are de
doctrina catholica.
What people believe is
different from what people
have to believe.
It is always dangerous to
paraphrase statements before
criticising them.
I would happily accept that
the phrase could have been
clearer, but paraphrasing it as
Mr Findlay does is not a
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expressed are not necessarily shared by SCO
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Whether you use e-mail or post, you must provide your full name,
address, and phone number or your letter will not be used
clarification, but a
misrepresentation.
Mgr Basil Loftus
Confusion surrounding
Holy Communion
ON SEVERAL occasions I
have been in the company of
Mgr Basil Loftus and consider
him a very learned man.
However, as a fairly
intelligent person, I cannot but
admit that I am confused by
the articles from the paper on
divorce and remarriage,
concerning the receiving of
Holy Communion (SCO, Dec
2008; SCO, Nov 2010).
In the words of the Holy
Father: “It seems that the
granting of full Communion,
after a time of probation, is
nothing less than just and is
fully in harmony with our
ecclesiastical traditions.”
Please can someone explain
this to me.
A mother, herself a faithful
practising Catholic, who is in
a loving and good marriage
deemed ‘irregular’ teaches her
child that his or her first
Communion day is the most
beautiful and wonderful day
of his or her life but then
never accompanies the child
to receive the Sacrament.
How confusing, not to say
bewildering, that would be to
a child of six or seven.
This is an intolerable
situation and the sooner a
decision is made concerning
it, the better.
Name and Address withheld
Perfect time for St
Ninian’s pilgrimages
I WAS delighted to see that
Cardinal Keith O’Brien
highlighted the feast day of St
Ninian and the celebrations and
pilgrimages of the past for the
Pope and people of Scotland.
It was good news too that
Mary’s Meals and Marie Curie
Cancer Care will benefit from
collections on that day.
I would suggest that St
Ninian’s feast day would also
be a good time to kick-start
pilgrimages to St Ninian’s
place, church, and cave at
Whithorn, Galloway.
The Bishop of Galloway
and the people of his diocese
have carried on the tradition
of pilgrimages there for many
years in late August.
That leaves plenty of time
for planning pilgrimages for
next year.
John D Rooney
TORONTO
THAT’S LIFE
11
Goodnight to the population control debate
THAT’S LIFE admits that family life is not always the picture perfect world as seen in The Waltons, but
our fortnightly columnist argues that larger families must not be blamed for all the modern world’s woes
By Mary
McGinty
I
AM of the generation in which The
Waltons was requisite viewing. Actually
you can catch the re-runs just now on Sky
if you want to top- up on the couthie,
homespun goings-on of Ma and Pa and
their big brood. Admittedly, after a few episodes
the formulaic presentation of moral dilemma,
gentle parental wisdom and subsequent happy
ending can be a tad wearing but the strength and
unity of family life is heart-warming.
I’m not claiming to be on a par with Ma Walton
but with four children I’m way ahead of the
national average. So as a big fan of larger families
I had a heavy heart when I heard of a Holyrood
conference being organised by the Optimum
Population Trust—the pressure group rightly
branded eco-fascists—at which the First Minister
was called on to launch a drive for smaller families with the campaign title ‘two’s plenty.’
Speakers at the conference included Dr Ian
McKee the only MSP on the health and sports
committee who supported Margo MacDonald’s
End of Life Assistance Bill, and Dr Libby Wilson
the tireless euthanasia campaigner. And you
might have known it, Green MSP and avowed
anti-Catholic Patrick Harvie was a prime mover
in the event.
It is a serious subject and I wholly reject the
arguments of the OPT but I did have a quiet laugh
when just as they were setting up stall the
Registrar General of Scotland released figures
predicting the nation’s population will continue to
decrease and fall below five million. And the
biggest impact will be on the birth rate.
The population control argument always
angers me because it is founded on the idea that
new life is a burden; it is another mouth to feed
for the family and another problem for the planet.
As for their concern for global climate change the
Large families may not always be the happy homes as
seen on The Waltons (above) but they are not the threat
to our survival as advocates of population control
would have us believe
advocates for population control would do well to
consider that the per capita consumption and carbon footprint of the population of the developing
world is so low as to be almost negligible. It is the
countries with easy access to abortion services
and a low birth rate which have the highest levels
of carbon emissions. It is us in the developed
world who are the consumers, but curbing the
population at home won’t make us any more considerate of our world.
I
firmly believe big families can be a great
example to us all in all manner of ways. I
know quite a number of families who have
eight or nine children and a couple who have
made it into double figures. In all of them I see a
harmony and a concern for the others that is fostered at home but not limited to their own family
life. The generosity that saw their parents accept
so many children is evident, too, in their concern
for others. Ultimately, humanity is our most precious resource.
I believe that the OPT and Patrick Harvie
should be concerning themselves less with their
campaign to have us limit our families and more
about the bigger aim to make the world a better
place. Nowhere is the commitment to the needs of
others more evident than in our Catholics schools.
Trips to build schools in Malawi, soup kitchens
for the poor, assisting at pilgrimages to Lourdes
are just a few examples.
I find it sad that ecological issues have been
tainted by the humanism so prevalent in the
Green movement. I wholeheartedly believe that
we should honour the web of life recognising the
interconnectedness of all things. I am convinced
too that with creativity and imagination we can
develop an alternative to the dominant force of
consumerism which is depleting the earth’s
resources and causing climate change.
O
n a lighter note, I love voting day for the
sheer fun of approaching the Green
Party’s canvassers to tell them that their
party wouldn’t want my vote. It never fails; every
time they ask me why, their trepidation evident as
my gleeful looks says there can be only one winner here.
“Because I have too many children for you,” I
reply before I troop smugly into the polling station, my mission accomplished.
In the past I always suspected that my children,
if not obviously proud of their mother in her
moment of triumph, were at least amused. My
mood was spoiled this year by an embarrassed
teenager telling me: “Mum, will you let it go.”
I’m not sure how Ma Walton would have handled the situation.
BOOK REVIEW
A new chapter for Church and state in First Minister’s biography
SALMOND AGAINST THE ODDS
David Torrance,
Birlinn, £20
295 pages
RESEARCHER and author David
Torrance received much deserved
praise for two previous books,
The Scottish Secretaries and We
In Scotland: Thatcherism In A
Cold Climate and his meticulously neutral style is evident again in
his latest book, this time
analysing Alex Salmond,
Scotland's First Minister and
leader of the Scottish National
Party.
It is the first biographical volume of
its kind and aimed at the serious student,
running to 295 pages of main text and
36 pages of sources. Despite the length
of this book, it is hard for any author to
completely pin down Alex Salmond.
Friends would say (and opponents dispute)—that he could have made a fortune as an economist, but chose public
service. He chose power for his country,
not power for himself and he has
become one of the best known Scottish
politicians at home and abroad. He does
not lack hostile and vociferous critics
and has endured years of political combat and party in-fighting. A rocky political road lies ahead.
Two other books about Alex
Salmond are reportedly on the stocks,
but it will be hard to beat this one for
detailed thoroughness. It is factual, not
adulatory.
Despite being so much in the public
eye, relatively little is fully understood
about him as a human being : what
makes him a Nationalist, what shaped
his political views, what was his boyhood life like in Linlithgow, his political activism at St Andrews University
and his early career at the Royal Bank
of Scotland. The text covers his marriage to stalwart Moira, his hobbies of
supporting Hearts and horse-racing, his
career as an MP, and an MSP, his relationships with colleagues, and his temporary resignation as SNP leader. He
has a great love of Burns poems and
possesses a fine singing voice.
He can sometimes find time to follow Dr Who and be a Trekkie. His
office is spartan in its furnishings, and
he rarely slackens the press on pace.
Many Catholics will be intrigued by
the accounts of his relationship with the
churches. He went to Church of
Scotland services every Sunday until he
was 18 and later partly lapsed while not
losing his respect for church men and
women. He made approaches to the
Catholic Church authorities aimed at
initiating talks about sectarianism in
Scotland.
The book covers a significant
exchange in 1994 between the then
Archbishop of Glasgow, Thomas J
Winning, (later Cardinal), and Alex
Salmond and Helen Liddell, the then
general secretary of the Scottish Labour
Party, (and later Baroness Liddell).
The cardinal invited the two politicians to join him in a discussion on
how sectarianism could be tackled in
Scotland and particuarly in west-central Scotland.
The meeting followed the July 1994
Monklands East by-election held in the
wake of Labour Leader John Smith’s
premature death and which had been
soured by ugly sectarian issues.
According to a biography of
Archbishop Winning, quoted by David
Torrance, the Archbishop told an
‘unimpressed’ Helen Liddell that the
Labour Party had problems with bigotry, which she denied but he the archbishop) immediately warmed to Mr
Salmond, marking ‘the beginning of a
close political relationship that would
bloom over the next seven years.’
Alex Salmond later said: “I liked
Tom Winning and I think he liked me.”
David Torrance’s account states that the
archbishop had developed into a
Nationalist despite confessing to Mr
Salmond that he had voted against a
Scottish Assembly in 1979.
They also discussed the role of the
Church in promoting and protecting
Scottish independence over the centuries. Archbishop Winning is quoted as
explaining to the SNP leader that his
ambition was to see Catholics finally
accepted as Scottish. Alex Salmond later
referred to the archbishop as ‘a great
cleric with a common touch.’ The text
states that Mr Salmond has also been
praised by Cardinal Keith O’Brien.
It is clear that Salmond can be severe
and hard-edged if the times or circumstances demand it, but the biography
states he has a kind heart. On his first
visit to the United States as First
Minister, he learned that his
Washington fixer, Alison Duncan, was
suffering from cancer.
“She was bed-bound,” remembered
Colin Pyle, a former aide. “He left his
advisers, jumped in a cab, bought flowers, arrived at her door on the outskirts
of DC, walked in (he knew she left the
door open), stood in her lounge and sang
an old Burns lullaby until she came
down. She was startled to say the least...
but it gave her energy for months.”
RENNIE McOWAN
12
ST ANDREW’S DAY
ST ANDREW’S DAY
Cardinal O’Brien’s
homily from capital
Bishop Tartaglia’s
homily from Rome
Celebration of the feast of St Andrew,
St Mary’s Cathedral Edinburgh
Feast of St Andrew,
Scots College Rome
O
VER the past 2000 years reverence
has been paid to St Andrew, brother
of Simon Peter, one of that first
group of Apostles called by Jesus
Himself to follow Him and to
become ‘fishers of men.’
Others valiantly took that same teaching of Jesus
Christ throughout the world. This year, of course,
in a special way we thought of St Ninian, who
some 1600 years ago, handed on the Gospel at
Whithorn in Galloway—just as in our own time,
Pope Benedict XVI handed on that same Gospel
here in our midst.
As is well known a great shrine developed at St
Andrews in Fife where major relics of that great
apostle were preserved and soon a magnificent
cathedral was built in St Andrews with it becoming
the Primatial See in Scotland. One can imagine the
pilgrimages which must have taken place in those
far off centuries with people travelling not only
from all over Scotland but from all over Europe to
pay homage at the shrine of St Andrews in the
town itself now linked with our capital city of
Edinburgh in my own title as the present
Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
In my words today I want to dwell on two things
in particular: Our archdiocesan seminary dedicated
to St Andrew and once situated at Drygrange in the
Borders; and then that event to which I have
already referred the visit of Pope Benedict to
Scotland and his call to us to follow in the tradition of those early fathers of our Faith.
St Andrew’s College, Drygrange
I have already mentioned those early pilgrimages
and celebrations in honour of St Andrew. With the
establishment of St Andrews College at Drygrange
as the Senior Seminary of the Archdiocese in
September 1953 there was again a focal point for
the celebration of St Andrews Day in our
Archdiocese. Members of staff and students, as
well as those priests ordained from St Andrews’
College down through the years of its existence,
gathered together for the celebration of Mass and
ongoing discussion afterwards proud to remember
what their seminary had meant to them.
On thinking of what the seminary inculcated in
to me personally following on now my 45 years
of priesthood with 25 of them being archbishop of
this diocese and the last seven spent as a cardinal I
would single out three things: First of all a love of
the diocese and the people in it itself spreading
from the north of Fife to the south of the Borders,
and from east of Edinburgh to within 10 miles of
Glasgow on the West; I think the seminary also
inculcated in to me the value of outreach from the
seminary itself in to the society in which we live
while having concern for outreach also in to the
developing world; and basic to those two things I
think the seminary also inspired me with an ongoing desire to serve—serving God Himself as best I
could as well as serving others to whom I was to
be sent.
Reaching this particular anniversary in my life
as a priest namely the silver jubilee of my ordination as a bishop I renew my affection for my alma
mater on this occasion—as we now celebrate the
Feast of St Andrew here in our Metropolitan
Cathedral year by year continuing with our outreach to our diocese and calling together not only
the priests of our own archdiocese but those
ordained for other dioceses and countries who
wish to join us on these celebrations.
G
Pope Benedict’s call
Initially thinking of the ways in which the Word of
God was handed on to me and to my fellow seminarians at St Andrews College itself has also
encouraged me to think of how we hand on that
same word of God at this present time.
In that letter to the Romans St Paul speaks of the
words of the preacher indicating that: “Their voice
has gone out through all the earth and their message to the ends of the world.” That is indeed
what happened when Pope Benedict was here with
us preaching not only to our Catholic community
but to the whole society of the United Kingdom
with his words being broadcast and listened to
throughout our world.
At the Palace of Holyroodhouse the Pope said:
“The Christian message has been an integral part
of the language, thought and culture of the peoples
of these islands for more than 1000 years!” And at
that wonderful celebration of Mass at Bellahouston
Park the Pope stated: “Today’s Gospel reminds us
that Christ continues to send His disciples into the
world in order to proclaim the coming of His
Kingdom and to being His peace into the world,
beginning house by house, family by family, town
by town.”
Then in the great Westminster Hall in the Palace
of Westminster the Pope proclaimed: “Religion is
not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital
contributor to the national conversation... there are
worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only
the rights of believers to freedom of conscience
and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate
role of religion in the public square.”
Consequently that same call with which Jesus
sent out to His Apostles: “Go and teach all
nations!” must still echo in our own hearts and
minds, priest or lay, male or female, young or old.”
By virtue of our baptism in to the Body of Jesus
Christ we too have that same responsibility of
Peter and Andrew, of James and John and of the
other apostles to continue living our Faith and
handing it on.
Standards
We live in the midst of a world so often seeking
and crying out for standards of morality, standards
by which they can educate themselves and their
young people, standards through which they hope
to reach out to those of other nations near and far.
The words of the Gospel, the words of Jesus
Christ are still the same—they must be grasped by
ourselves and loved by ourselves so that the continued preaching of the Gospel will indeed continue until the end of time.
13
HOLY DAY
Messages from Rome and for St Andrew’s Day
W
HEN Cardinal Keith O’Brien
and Bishop Philip Tartaglia
were in Rome over the weekend
of the Feast of Christ the King,
they celebrated an important
anniversary in the life of Bishop Tartaglia—the
fifth anniversary of his Episcopal Ordination.
Granted that later on the day of the Feast of
Christ the King they would be together at the
‘Mass of the Rings’ in St Peter’s Basilica, they
decided to concelebrate a Thanksgiving Mass in
the Crypt of the Pontifical Scots College. The
altar they chose was the altar described as ‘St
Ninian’s Altar’ because of the very beautiful
mosaic in place behind the altar itself. Letters on
the mosaic picked out those very beautiful words
concerning St Ninian and noted the fact that having been ordained a bishop in Rome, he was sent
back to Scotland as a bishop to his native land
some 1600 years ago.
At the present time, there are 22 students for
the priesthood at the Pontifical Scots College with
the Rector Fr John Hughes, Vice-Rector Fr
Francis Dougan and Spiritual Director Fr John
Eagers.
The Glasgow-founded Franciscan Sisters of
the Immaculate Conception are now well settled
into the routine of the college life, with Sister
Raphael OSF being the Superior of the
Community.
Sisters from Nigeria and Kenya, who are
members of the same congregation, namely Sister
Stella Maris, Sister Stella and Sister Juliana also
help in the seminary and regularly welcome other
sisters from Scotland—including on this occasion, Sister Francesca OSF.
During the course of their visit, the guests took
the opportunity of visiting the recently-dedicated
website of the Pontifical Scots College.
As well as keeping members of staff and students up to date with all that is going on in the
world, it also gives a wonderful outreach from the
college to other parts of the world, but particularly to Scotland itself. Over the months and years it
is hoped that it will be an invaluable ‘promoter of
vocations’ to the priesthood, giving an insight
into all that continues at the college to those who
might be interested in a vocation whether in late
secondary school, at college or university, or
those who have already been working for some
years.
Clergy and students at the college were greatly
looking forward to St Andrew’s Day, a day of special festivity for the College, and many distinguished guests and friends were due to come to
Mass, including Mr Francis Campbell, British
Ambassador to the Holy See, to whom the
College planned to make a presentation during
lunch to mark his service in Rome, which is coming to an end very soon, and to acknowledge the
role he played in the diplomacy of the Pope’s visit
to the UK.
Five Scottish priests, former pupils of the
(Above) Bishop Philip Tartaglia and Cardinal Keith
O’Brien celebrate Mass in the Cript of the Scots
College, Rome, (above right) for the anniversary of
Episcopal Ordination of Bishop Tartaglia before going to
St Peter’s Basilica for the celebration of Eucharist for
the General Consistory and presentation of Rings
(Left) Cardinal O’Brien and Fr Frank Dougan, vice rector
of the Pontifical Scots College in Rome, join the
Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in
their chapel at the Scots College
PICS: PAUL McSHERRY
College, who are celebrating 25 years of priestly
ordination, also attended (above right). They are
Fr Gerard Tartaglia; Mgr William McFadden
(Galloway Diocese); Fr Michael McMahon
(Paisley Diocese); Fr Paul Morton (Motherwell
Diocese), and Mgr Leo Cushley (Motherwell
Diocese, now working in the Vatican’s Secretariat
of State). Mgr Cushley was part of the Pope’s
staff during his visit to the UK.
ATHERED together in the Chapel of
the Scots College, Rome, dedicated
to St Andrew and whose statues and
stained glass windows honour the
great Apostle himself, as well as
other Scottish saints, Ninian, Columba, Margaret
and John Ogilvie, and which remind us of so many
key episodes in the history of the Church in
Scotland going back some 1600 years, I want first
of all to thank the rector, Fr John Hughes, for his
kind invitation to me to preside at Mass on the
Feast of St Andrew. Having been a seminarian
here myself, a post-graduate priest, member of
staff, and more recently rector of the college, I
know how significant today’s feast is in the life of
the college, and I gladly convey to the rector, staff,
students, sisters and employees of the college the
prayerful good wishes of the Bishops’ Conference
and of the Catholic community of Scotland for this
St Andrew’s Day. I am pleased also to acknowledge the presence of five priests, former students
of the college, who are celebrating this year the
25th anniversary of their priestly ordination, to
whom we offer our warmest congratulations, asking the Lord to continue to bless their lives and
their ministry in the land which is proud to claim
St Andrew the Apostle as her patron saint. I also
acknowledge the presence here today of distinguished guests and friends of the Scots College
Rome.
The Gospel tells us that Andrew was the brother
of Peter, and that together they were called by the
Lord to follow Him. “Follow me and I will make
you fishers of men,” Jesus said. And that scene is
depicted on the mural painted so beautifully in the
atrium of this chapel, as if to say to each seminarian and priest, who passes daily beneath it: “YOU
come follow me and I will make you a fisher of
men.” And that is the call addressed to each of you
present-day seminarians of this college, as it was
to generations of seminarians in the past. With St
Andrew praying for you, I hope that you will be
able to give a positive, joyful and willing answer
to the Lord. I can promise you that you will not
regret it, for the life of a priest is deeply blessed.
God loves His priests. Jesus invites you to follow
Him intimately and act in His person. Mary and
the saints support you and strengthen you with
their prayers. The whole Church loves you and
needs you. If there is one thing that has emerged
from the terrible chastisement of the abuse crisis, it
is that the Church loves Her priests and needs
them to be holy pastors.
Pontifical Scots College
From very early in the now 410-year history of the
Scots College Rome, the college has been dedicated to this mission of forming young men in their
response to the Lord’s call to come follow Him as
priests for the Church in Scotland. Over the centuries, the mission of this college has been central
to the good of the Church in Scotland. In our
times, we must implore the Lord unceasingly to
grant us candidates who will offer themselves for
priestly formation. We must implore the Lord that
the men who come through this college’s doors are
inspired to answer the call of the Lord to come follow Him in the priesthood and to persevere in
faithfulness to that call. We must invoke the help
of the Holy Spirit on the priests who are invited to
lead, guide and form this seminary community.
And we—and this ‘we’ is the ‘we’ of the Bishops’
Conference and the ‘we’ of the Catholic community in Scotland—we must make sure that the
College has the resources it requires so that it may
fulfil its mission, which, is important, central, and
indeed essential to the good of the Church in
Scotland. For they will not believe in the Lord
‘unless they have heard of Him,’ as St Paul
famously says in today’s second reading, ‘and they
will not hear of Him unless they get a preacher,
and they will never have a preacher unless one is
sent,’and it is from here, the Scots College Rome,
that our new preachers, our new priests, our new
pastors of the present and of the future will be
sent.
St Andrew
Andrew was the brother of Peter. Once when Pope
Paul VI met Cardinal Gordon Joseph Gray of
happy memory, Archbishop of St Andrews and
Edinburgh, the Pope said: “Peter greets his brother
Andrew.” We are coming to the end of a year
which has seen the visit of His Holiness Pope
Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom and to
Scotland. As you know, the Pope’s visit was widely judged to have been a success, for which we are
all deeply grateful. The mantle of Peter swept
across our land bringing God’s blessings to the
whole nation. And dioceses and parishes all over
Scotland and the UK have set about the task of
prolonging the effect of the Pope’s visit and using
his most excellent homilies and addresses as well
as the example of his person as a platform for
evangelisation and catechesis.
We needed to hear the Successor of Peter uphold
the place of faith and of religion in public discourse, and to argue so graciously and convincingly that faith in God is not the enemy of a liberal
democracy, but provides the only real foundation
for social consensus which has moral depth and
protects that consensus from what the Holy Father
referred to in his homily in Glasgow as the dictatorship of relativism. But perhaps more than anything, the people of Scotland and of the UK
responded to the Pope’s profound, transparent personal faith in Christ. In his words and demeanour
and actions, Pope Benedict unfailingly pointed
beyond himself to the God of Jesus Christ. People
of all faiths and none sensed that and were moved
by it. He called us all to a renewed faith and to
holiness of life, and this clear and humble witness
to Jesus Christ will be perhaps characterise the
legacy of his visit.
Once again, then, in coming to Scotland the
Successor of Peter greeted his brother Andrew.
And on this Feast of St Andrew, I want just to readdress to the seminarians of this college part of
the Pope’s message to the young people of
Scotland during his homily at Bellahouston Park,
words which express the Pope’s personal witness
to the Lord of which I have been speaking and
which seem especially appropriate for young men
in priestly formation: “There is only one thing
which lasts: the love of Jesus Christ personally for
each one of you. Search for Him, know Him and
love Him, and He will set you free from slavery to
the glittering but superficial existence frequently
proposed by today’s society. Put aside what is
worthless and learn of your own dignity as children of God... Jesus asks us to pray for vocations: I
pray that many of you will know and love Jesus
Christ and, through that encounter, will dedicate
yourselves completely to God, especially those of
you who are called to the priesthood and religious
life. This is the challenge the Lord gives to you
today: the Church now belongs to you!” As you
seek to respond to the Lord’s call, the same invitation He extended to Peter and Andrew, “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” you
can be sure that you are surrounded and embraced
by the enduring love of Jesus Christ personally for
you.
St Andrew, pray for us.
14
MARIAN SERIES
DR HARRY SCHNITKER continues his extensive SCO series looking at
the blessed figure of the Virgin Mary from many different perspectives
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Journey with the Holy
Family during Advent
(DECEMBER) ADVENT
If Christmas is the fulfilment of the
dream of the domestic Church, then
Advent is the period in which we may
anticipate that fulfilment.
The Holy Family, certainly in light
of the aformentioned, is what we may
hope that our families will resemble.
We work towards this, pray for its fulfilment, and that is what lends an
Advent element to our thoughts whenever we contemplate the Holy Family.
The Holy Family is focused on Jesus.
That is, again, a template for our families. Children are far too frequently
portrayed as a nuisance. Even within
our parishes there are often complaints
that they are disruptive in church: clearly Our Lord’s injunction that we are to
be child-like is often forgotten. It is
Jesus, and by implication our children,
that create a family. They are the main
reason for the Sacrament of marriage,
and ought to be the ties that bind.
Poor St Joseph is, like many fathers,
rather at the periphery, or at least
seems to be there. A closer reading of
the Gospels reveals that this was not
the case. Joseph provided protection
for the pregnant Mary, sheltered the
new-born Word Incarnate in his house,
and, we may assume, taught Him the
essentials of human life as a small boy.
Indeed, in the Gospel according to
Matthew, Joseph takes centre stage in
the Incarnation narrative. Here, it is the
reaction of Jesus’ stepfather and his
understanding of the significance of
what is occurring, that is emphasised.
This balances the Gospel of St. Luke
and provides the Faithful with what
every family requires: balance.
“Make each home a family Church”.
T
HIS was the exhortation of
that great Patriarch of
Constantinople and wonderful preacher, St John
Chrysostom (c 347-407
AD). This is a truly tall order. It always
was, for the world has rarely been
friendly disposed towards the wider
Church.
To make one’s home a family
Church requires effort, and, at times,
can lead to trouble. Trouble can come
from the outside world, as, for example, in the old Soviet Union, where
even possessing an icon could lead to
arrest. Trouble can also come from the
inside; not everyone in each family is
equally open to the Word.
Troublesome it may be, but the ideal
is one worth striving for. The ‘domestic Church’ or ‘Church in miniature’ as
the family Church is also called, has a
simple but most inspiring example: the
Holy Family. In the stable at
Bethlehem and in St Joseph’s house in
Nazareth, the domestic Church preceded the Church. There, in the dynamics
between Mother, Son and step-father,
the Church was seeded. It is a Church
of simplicity, of prayer, and of occasional trouble, as, for example, in the
episode in which Our Lord was lost by
His parents, only to be found again in
the temple.
As with so many feasts of the
Church, that of The Holy Family is a
fairly recent arrival. Its roots are in an
unlikely place: the Canada of 1643.
The French colony had been founded
only a few decades earlier, and was
confined to the lower reaches of the St
Lawrence River. In 1643, two people
arrived who would make a major
impact on the new colony, the future
country of Canada, and the Catholic
conception of the domestic Church.
Louis d’Ailleboust with his wife,
Barbe had arrived to take up the position of governor of the colony.
He founded Montréal, Canada’s second largest city, and sowed the first
wheat—the first tiny step in what was
to become one of the greatest farming
enterprises in the world. He also laid
the foundation stone of the great
Canadian pilgrimage site of St Annede-Beaupré, dedicated to the mother of
the Virgin Mary. During his rule, the
martyrdom of Canada’s Jesuit missionaries took place, and he brought the
priests of St Sulpice to Canada, where
they have played an important role
ever since. Barbe made her own contribution: she erected the Confraternity of
the Holy Family in 1663, three years
after the death of her husband.
In this, she was aided by another
striking figure of the vigorous
Canadian Church of this period, North
America’s first bishop, Blessed
François de Laval. During his episcopate, Québec became the seat of a bishopric immediately subject to the Holy
See in 1674. At this time, he was officially the bishop of almost all of North
America, but one doubts if he even
understood what that implied.
This remarkable man ensured that
the project of the widowed Barbe
d’Ailleboust, which was supported by
F
the Jesuits, grew up with official
Church blessing. In 1675, Laval had a
book printed in Paris dedicated to the
Confraternity, which was circulated
widely and spread the devotion
throughout the Catholic Church.
B
y 1921, the Papacy had become
seriously worried about the
growing threat to family life,
and added the feast to the General
Calendar. The date is worth emphasising: 1921. For those who believe all of
society’s evils to have originated in the
1960s, this is a reminder that the roots
of modern problems are much deeper
than usually appreciated.
Several factors have contributed to
the growing threat to family life.
Amongst the most important of these
are economic pressures. The Church
realised and gave expression to this
through the publication of Rerum
Novarum (1891) and subsequent teachings on morality in economics. Work
pressures caused husbands and wives
to grow apart, and parents to lose sight
of their children.
A second major contributor is closely related. Divorce has always existed,
in practice rather than in law, at least.
Government caught up with this when
divorce was legalised. The gradual
drift of government towards accepting
family break-up rather than offering
solutions to prevent it is a third major
factor, and much of this does date to
the 1960s. Finally, modern birth control and the gradual acceptance by
many that abortion is permissible have
The Holy Family—depicted in stained glass
—and the virtues that they embodied
should act as an inspiration for our own
families this Advent
undermined family life, and with it the
domestic Church, even further. The
pressures are phenomenal, and the failure rate of marriages throughout the
Western world with its concomitant
misery of separation and its—statistically verifiable—serious consequences
for children, too well-known to require
repetition.
T
he Feast of the Holy Family will
occur after Christmas, and this is
its natural time. However,
Advent, I would suggest, is a good
time to consider the Holy Family, too.
inally, we reach Mary. There is
no doubt that Mary stands at the
heart of the Holy Family, just as
the wife and mother stands at the heart
of every family. Even in our Christmas
cribs Mary catches the eye as She
stands above the manger; the Holy
Family without Mary is unthinkable.
Through Her, the Incarnation took
place and, through Her, Jesus came
into the world. Without Mary, would
Our Lord have begun His ministry at
Cana? Mary was at His worldly beginning, and She was there at His worldly
end, under the Cross, where Her future
occupied some of His dying thoughts.
Mary, the Mother, was the woman
who pondered all in Her heart, but who
was so much more.
In his letter to the Colossians (3:523), St Paul lists a number of vices
which he believes the baptised should
renounce: impurity, passion, evil
desire, covetousness, anger, wrath,
malice, lies. He counters these with
virtues: kindness, meekness, lowliness
and patience, forbearing, forgiveness
and love. Paul continues his letter and
applies the above to the family setting.
We have seen all these virtues
before: they epitomise Our Lady. So,
as we start our Advent journey, we can
contemplate the Holy Family, which
will once more come to completeness
at Christmas, and the virtues that
formed that family, virtues embodied
by St Joseph and especially by Our
Lady. May their examples be the inspiration as we strive to create our own
holy families.
KT BROGAN’S fictional series this week, sees the canon and Fr John Paul
go to an eventful soirée where they meet some local movers and shakers
T
HE evening meal was a
sketchy affair at the presbytery on the evening of
Mrs Smythe’s soirée. Edith
had left a plate of sandwiches and some crumbly fruit cake on
the table in the dining room.
“You won’t need a full meal as
you’ll be eating at Mrs Smythe’s
tonight,” she said, appearing with the
teapot and without the slightest glimmer of a smile. She had been less than
pleased when the canon had banned
Palestrina and her hopes of singing in a
solo, and the menu had, since that time,
reflected her displeasure.
“I HAD thought that I might have
been invited to the... FUNCTION…
tonight, but I suppose I’m not important enough… or of sufficient significance to parish affairs…” She swept
off with a sniff.
“She could go in my place if it’s that
important to her,” Fr John Paul said,
earning a warning glance from the
canon.
Mon Repos was ablaze with lights
when the priests arrived. The curtains
weren’t drawn and one of the front
rooms looked thronged with guests.
“There’s Fr Hanley’s car,” the canon
remarked. “He was surprised to have
been invited, and, to be honest, I didn’t
think he’d come.”
“Keeping an eye on our progress
perhaps?” was the reply.
“You’re becoming a right oul’ cynic,
John Paul,” the canon said, laughing as
he rang the doorbell.
They were swooped upon by the
hostess, resplendent in chiffon
draperies and, as the canon put it ‘full
warpaint.’
“A glass of champagne, perhaps?”
she trilled, summoning Nell Norton
who, together with Imelda Gildea, was
obviously in charge of dispensing hospitality, pausing now and then to do a
bit of eavesdropping.
“Mineral water, please, Nell” Fr John
Paul said “And one for the canon.” The
canon looked slightly disappointed.
A side table was laid out with trays
of canapés.
“Nice little appetisers,” the canon
said, helping himself to a small selection.
came out of civility,” he whispered to
the canon,
Further conversation was stilled by
the host tapping on a glass to get their
attention.
“No soirée would be complete without a little musical interlude… so
Imelda has very kindly agreed to play
for us… ”
Blushing prettily, Imelda sat down at
the baby grand piano in the corner of
the room and played Fur Elise rather
hesitantly and Rustle of Spring with a
few unexpected pauses, finishing with
a flourish, to rapturous applause.
Mrs Smythe then made a speech in
which she referred to the soirée as ‘an
outbreak of glasnost’ and ‘not so much
hands across the sea as hands across the
parish boundaries.’ A toast was proposed to the future of St Aidan’s parish.
F
he conversation continued to
eddy around the room; Nell
Norton continued to eavesdrop
where she could; Imelda freshened
glasses and coyly accepted compliments on her playing; At length, the
canon murmured to Fr John Paul.
“Is this one of those ‘standing-up’
parties or what? My little legs are getting’ quite numb with all this vertical
networking… I think I’ll find a chair.”
He sat down on a chaise longue,
which looked as if it was ‘just for
show’ and was joined a few moments
r John Paul had to admit that this
was an influential gathering. Fr
Hanley, Mrs Gildea and a very
dignified gentleman who seemed to be
chair of St Jerome’s Parish Council
were sharing animated conversation
with Bert Mullaney, Councillor
Chirray and his wife and Marnie
Forbes-Milliken and her husband, new
parishioners with a new baby and a
new determination to make St Aidan’s
a child-friendly parish. Bernard was
there, too, but stood near the door.
“I’m not sure why I was invited but
T
WEEK 41, VOLUME 1
Conversation and a
little consternation
A GRAND LITTLE PARISH
15
A GRAND LITTLE PARISH
later by the husband of Marnie ForbesMilliken.
“How’s the hall project going.
canon?” he asked.
“Very well indeed,” was the answer.
“The demolition’s nearly done. We can
make a start with the building very
shortly.”
“Building?” The other looked puzzled. I thought you were simply repairing the remaining structure… ”
Mrs Smythe bore down on them at
that particular moment and said: “Ah,
canon. I thought you’d find it worthwhile to have a chat with Mr ForbesMilliken, since he’s come to the planning
department of the local council... ”
At the other side of the room, Fr
John Paul saw the canon fairly leap
from the chaise longue and made his
way towards him.
“That was a short conversation,” he
remarked. The canon mopped his brow
and puffed out his cheeks.
“No… it was a near squeak,” he
replied. “Given that fella’s occupation… ”
Further disappointment followed.
After the circulation of trays of little
sweetmeats, a few guests began to take
their leave.
“They’ll miss the main event,” the
canon whispered. “We’ve had the aperitifs and the appetisers… ” He rubbed
his hands. “Now it’s time for dinner….”
He was to be disappointed.The party
had begun to break up and Fr John
Paul expressed his thanks to Joanne
Smythe and stuffed the canon into his
little car before any tactless remarks
could be made.
“I’m starving,” he announced. “We
could stop at Hughie’s and pick up
some supplies…”
“Certainly not,” was Fr John Paul’s
reply. “You know what this place is
like. News would get back to our hostess in no time and offence would certainly be taken… I’ll make you cheese
on toast, if you like… with a spot of
Worcester sauce.”
“Any port in a storm,” was the glum
reply.
B
ack at Mon Repos, Bert
Mullaney, to his surprise and
delight, was enjoying an
impromptu supper in Mrs Smythe’s
kitchen, while Nell and Imelda cleared
away the debris of the party from the
front room. He had lingered behind to
have a last few words with Councillor
Chirray before being unexpectedly
engulfed in Joanne Smythe’s hospitality.
“So rather than go home and eat
alone, you’re welcome to share supper
with me.”
And so they retired to a warm and
welcoming kitchen for chicken and
salad with a little wine followed by
home-made apple pie with cream.
Bert Mullaney suddenly felt very
comfortable indeed...
Debating Absolution, generally speaking, in our Church
AN ICONIC painting by
Fortunino Matania shows the
British Army chaplain, Fr Francis
Gleeson, mounted on horseback in
front of the 2nd Battalion of the
Royal Munster Fusiliers during the
First World War.
He is administering General
Absolution before they go into battle.
During the First World War, several
German bishops told their people that
they gave General Absolution to the
whole diocese whenever the air-raid
sirens sounded. These were applications
of the canonical principle that in
extreme circumstances recourse may be
had to extraordinary means—‘in
extremis extrema sunt tentanda.’
In 1973, somewhere around the
border that runs between Colombia
and Ecuador in South America, I once
heard confessions for 11 hours
continuously. I’m told that people
continued to troop in and out of the
confessional-box even when my loud
snores betrayed the fact that I had
nodded off again—the temperature
and humidity made the place like a
sauna. I’m sure they had not wasted
their time—but could my time and
theirs have been spent in a way that
would have been spiritually more
efficacious? Would not General
Absolution have been better?
The answer to this question came
shortly afterwards when Pope Paul Vl
issued his Decree Reconciliationem,
(December 2, 1973), making General
Absolution a mainstream practice
rather than an extraordinary means.
Mgr Basil
Loftus
This was Rite Three of the new Order
of Penance which followed shortly
afterwards. It allowed General
Absolution, preferably to be given by
the local bishop, whenever there were
not enough priests to hear individual
confessions in a reasonable time.
What happened next was that the
Roman Curia objected not to General
Absolution in itself, but to the way
that bishops were creating the
necessary conditions by, for instance,
holding large Reconciliation Services
for thousands of people, at which it
would obviously be clear from the
start that it would be physically
impossible for individual confessions
to be heard.
It is this which was erroneously
thought to be the ‘cheap grace’
condemned by Bonfoeffer. This
practice was considered to be an
abuse, and was forbidden on January
20, 1978 by the Sacred Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, even
though, in our own countries, it had
proved not only extremely effective in
itself, but also served as the means
whereby many people returned to the
practice of individual confession.
The present legislation is summed
up in the Catechism of the Catholic
Church: “Grave necessity (for General
Zeal and Patience
Absolution) can... exist when... there
are not enough confessors to hear
individual confessions properly in a
reasonable time, so that the penitents...
would be deprived of sacramental
grace... for a long time... The diocesan
bishop is the judge of whether or not
the conditions required for General
Absolution exist.” (Catechism of the
Catholic Church, n 1483).
But in many parishes and deaneries
we are still left with the problem of
not having enough priests who in a
reasonable time can properly celebrate
Rite Two, the communal preparation
followed by individual confession and
absolution, even in the smaller parish
and deanery celebrations. Yet this is
the Rite which Paul Vl wished to
become the norm.
An ingenious solution, which I first
came across one Advent in the
Channel Islands, and which was
christened ‘rite two-and-a-half’ by
Cardinal Basil Hume, was for the
communal celebration of Scripture
readings, homily and examination of
conscience to be followed by priests
stationing themselves around the
Church to hear the confessions of the
people. These were invited very
speedily to confess any mortal sins of
which they were conscious, or in the
alternative one or at most two of their
venial failings.
The individuality and the integrity
of the confession were thus preserved.
The Absolution was then given
communally when all the confessions
had been heard. And everything was
done in a reasonable time.
Like General Absolution, when it
was still allowed to bring people
together specifically for it, this ‘rite
two-and-a-half’ does seem to give
people the grace to return then to
individual confession or Rite One, and
avail themselves there of the spiritual
direction which communal
celebrations cannot cater for.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation
builds up the Church. General
Absolution has a place in that scheme.
It does seem to be at least arguable that
it has not yet found its rightful place.
Mgr Basil Loftus is a priest of the
Diocese of Leeds now living in
retirement in the North of Sutherland.
He worked in secretariat for English
and Welsh bishops in Rome during the
Second Vatican Council
16
MISSIO
Sharing the Faith and giving life
FR PAT McGUIRE, national director of MISSIO SCOTLAND, using the words of missionary nun Sr Janet
Ferns and those of the late Archbishop Oscar Romero, explains the importance of the charity’s work
S
R JANET Ferns, who has
served on Mission in
Zambia, Nigeria, Rome and
who now works with MISSIO was kind enough to
share some of her thoughts on an outstanding missionary. I felt that she
expressed far better than I ever could
my own feelings about mission. I
would like to share her and my
thoughts with the Scottish Catholic
Observer’s readers.
“This is what we are about,” she
writes. “We plant the seeds that one
day will grow. We water the seeds
already planted knowing that they hold
future promise. We lay foundations
that will need further development. We
provide yeast that produces effects far
beyond our capabilities.”
These words come from a prayer
that is ascribed to the late Archbishop
Oscar Romero, but which he actually
neither wrote nor used. It does however describe the life of a missionary. The
murdered Archbishop of El Salvador,
whom many believe to have been a
martyr, would be in complete agreement with its sentiments.
“We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the
master builder and the worker,” he said.
“We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs. We are
prophets of a future not our own.”
The academic priest who reluctantly
became an archbishop during San
Salvador’s bloodiest period has much
to teach missionaries. His only request
of his own reluctant vicar-general, of
his own hierarchy of bishops and even
of a beggar in the street was ‘Help me.’
The archbishop pointed to the many
aspects of missionary endeavours but
also to the heart of mission.
“The Church can be Church only as
long as it goes on being the Body of
Christ,” he said. “Its mission will be
authentic only so long as it is the mission of Jesus in the new situations, the
new circumstances of history... It is the
Church’s duty in history to lend its
voice to Christ so that He may speak,
its feet so that He may walk today’s
world, its hands to build the reign of
God, and to offer all its members to
make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ.
Should the Church forget this identification with Christ, Christ would
Himself demand it of the Church, no
matter how uncomfortable that might
be, or how much loss of face that might
entail.’
Archbishop Romero knew only too
well the basic and urgent needs that
had to be addressed for people but for
him misson addresses the needs of the
whole person.
“Human needs are not fulfilled
merely by putting a water pump in a
village or by providing a school with
educational materials, although these
are useful and necessary,” he said.
“Human beings are body and soul, and
this is where the whole concept of
‘mission’ is so crucial to today’s world.
‘Mission’ feeds hearts and souls as
well as bodies. It is ongoing until the
end of time because ‘mission’ arises
from our baptismal response to Jesus
words ‘to go out into the whole world
and proclaim the Good News.’”
I
n his homily for World Mission
Sunday 1977, Archbishop Romero
explained, simply and beautifully,
the meaning and significance of the
missions.
He describes the function of the
Congregation for the Evangelisation of
Peoples, of which MISSIO is its outreach for the support of the mission
territories across the world. MISSIO
can offer no greater tribute than to let
the archbishop explain how and why
MISSIO exists.
“In the first place what are the missions? The Second Vatican Council’s
document on the missions... explains
to us that the missions are primarily an
endeavour to go forth and evangelise,
to establish the Church of Christ in
those communities and lands where the
Church does not exist,” he said. “The
concept of mission involves communicating the Gospel message and organising the Church in those countries or
continents where no such organisation
exists.
Therefore the Church, in Her great
work of evangelisation, is divided into
two groups.
First, the organised Church. El
Salvador for example has five dioceses
and is an area where the work of evangelisation has achieved an organisational level. The institutional Church is
visible and alive. There are five dioceses and no mission territory in El
Salvador.
On the other hand, those territories
where no diocese has been organised
are called mission territories. In
Central America for example, in
Nicaragua and Costa Rica, we have
two territories that still have no diocese.
In other countries, there are vast
areas where the missionaries are
directly dependent on the Sacred
Congregation for the Evangelisation of
Peoples—which labours for the organisation of the Church in these missionary lands. In these territories men and
women, priests and religious and laity
are trying to bring the Good News of
the Gospel and organise a native hierarchy that has its own bishops and
priests. They are trying to organise the
Church in such a way that the proclamation of the Gospel will continue
there as it does here in El Salvador.
These are the missions: they are not
some invention of our time.
T
he ancient means of communication and those used by St Paul
and the first Christians have now
become modern means of communication: radio, airplane, automobile, and
so on.
Today the missionaries use these
means of communication and come to
the missions bringing gifts. They bring
these gifts not only from the East, like
the kings who came to adore Jesus, but
from all the peoples of the world. My
sisters and brothers, you can see that
the Church is most beautiful, for the
Church is composed of all these different areas that are organised into dioceses. Each diocese contributes its
individual and autonomous values. The
Church does not kill or stifle initiative.
The corn festival in San Antonio de
los Ranchos is really a missionary
scene for the Church speaks to those
who plant corn and from the perspective of the gospel tells them that they
are able to enlighten their paths of sadness with the joy of a celebration that
utilises the products of the earth.
In the same way the Church discovers the values of the people in Africa
and Asia. She does not destroy them
like other colonisers who eliminated
these values of the native people. The
Church is not a coloniser; rather the
Church inspires the values that exist
Whether through missionary clergy (above
left) in Ecuador or through lay missionaries
(above) in India, the role of spreading the
Good News throughout the world is crucial
and one which MISSIO Scotland (staff inset)
plays an important part in on an annual basis
throughout the world. She gathers these
values together and at the time of the
presentation of the gifts prays:
“Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation, through your goodness we have
this bread and wine to offer, fruit of the
vine and work of human hands.” Thus
the Church gives value to this human
labour that provides sustenance to the
families of our campesinos (peasant
farmers).”
T
he mission of the Lord Jesus, of
His Church, of Archbishop
Romero and of MISSIO is ‘to
share Faith and give life.’
It is possible only through the participation of the whole Church. We at
MISSIO Scotland take the opportunity
this Christmas to thank all who work
with us in this privileged task—the
missionaries who make their appeals in
parishes week after week; the children
and teachers in our schools who
valiantly support us with prayer and
contributions; the priests and religious
who constantly bring mission before
their parishes and above all to the
Faithful people of Scotland who never
cease to amaze us by their generosity
of heart and spirit.
My prayer this Christmas is that as
the Christ child, ‘born for us’ so long
ago, may continue to be brought to
birth today through our hearts and our
Faith.
I www.missioscotland.org.uk
CHURCH NOTICES
17
CHURCH NOTICES
ST ALOYSIUS’ CHURCH
LEGION OF MARY
THEWAYSIDE
CLUB CENTRE
THE JESUIT CHURCH IN
THE WEST OF SCOTLAND
25 Rose Street Glasgow G3 (off Sauchiehall Street)
SUNDAY MASS:
Saturday Vigil 5.45pm; 9am; 10.30am (Family Mass);
12noon (Sung); 9pm
WEEKDAY MASS:
Monday - Friday: 8am; 12.30pm; 5.45pm
Saturday: 10am; 12.30pm
CONFESSIONS:
Monday - Friday: 11.30am - 12.15pm; 5.15pm - 5.30pm
Saturday: 10.30am - 12.15pm; 2pm - 3.15pm; 4.15pm - 5.15pm
EXPOSITION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT:
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ROSARY:
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MEDJUGORJE
OUR LADY’S MONTHLY MESSAGE
GIVEN TO
THE VISIONARY MARIJA PAVLOVIC FOR THE
VILLAGE OF MEDJUGORJE AND THE WORLD ON
NOVEMBER 25 2010
“Dear children! I look at you and I see in your heart death
without hope, restlessness and hunger. There is no prayer or
trust in God, that is why the Most High permits me to bring you
hope and joy. Open yourselves. Open your hearts to Godʼs
mercy and He will give you everything you need and will fill
your hearts with peace, because He is peace and your hope.
Thank you for having responded to my call.”
Craig Lodge Family House of Prayer
Dalmally, PA33 1AR. Tel (01838) 200 216
www.craiglodge.org
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Please write to:
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18
FAMILY ANNOUNCEMENTS
DEATHS
CHMURA-PETERSEN,
Boguslaw Jerzy (George)
Died peacefully after a short
illness, bravely borne, and
fortified with the Rites of the
Holy Roman Catholic
Church, on November 5,
2010, aged 95 years. Dearly
beloved daddy of Eva and
Sonia. Private family Requiem Mass and cremation
took place at 11.00 am on
Armistice Day. Memorial
Service to be held near Merchant Navy Day – September 3, 2011. Donations, if
desired, to Royal National
Lifeboat Institution, Stromness, Orkney, 16 Victoria
Street, Stromness. KW16
3AA. Enquiries mobile 07730
– 798259.
McLAUGHLIN
In loving memory of James,
who lived in Southport and
entered into eternal life on
November 20, 2010.
A loving husband to Marie
Gilligan, a loving son to the
late James and Mary
McLaughlin, a loving brother
to Marie and Kathleen.
May God grant him eternal
rest.
BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE
HEAVEY
Jean, whose 67th birthday
occurs on December 4,
2010.
You were called home and
left me on my own, but as
each day comes to its end, I
am a day closer to my best
friend, and when the tears inside subside, then I will be
forever by your side.
Holy Mother Mary, Queen of
Peace, watch over my beautiful little wife.
Love is eternal,
Brian.
MacLEAN
Treasured memories of my
darling husband, Calum, who
died suddenly on March 1,
1992, and whose 75th birthday occurs on December 4.
R.I.P.
Calum, if memories bring us
closer,
We are never far apart,
For you are always in my
thoughts,
And forever in my heart.
With all my love.
Chrissie. Xx
PRETE
Special memories are held
close to our hearts of John
Prete, dear husband of the
late Annie (Tracey), adored
dad, granda and greatgranda, who sadly died August 17, 2005, and whose
84th birthday occurs on December 5.
Thank you Dad for the years
we shared,
For the love you gave and
the way you cared,
You left a place no one can
fill,
We miss you Dad and always will.
To hear your voice and see
you smile,
To sit and talk with you
awhile,
To be together in the same
old way,
Would be our dearest wish
today.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, grant
him eternal rest.
So sadly missed.
From your loving family. xxxx
Our hearts still ache with
sadness,
Our tears still flow,
For what it meant to lose
you,
No one will ever know.
You were a granda in a million.
We will never forget you.
Granda – you were the best.
Happy Birthday Boaby.
From all your loving grandchildren. xxxx
A kiss blown up to the sky so
blue,
Catch it great-granda, it’s just
for you.
From your little great-grandchildren. xxxx
MacNEIL
Remembering Donald John,
much loved husband, dad,
granpa, and great-granpa,
who died on February 4,
2010, and whose 75th birthday occurs on December 4.
We sat beside your bedside,
Our hearts were crushed and
sore,
You left behind some breaking hearts,
And you were much adored.
Loving wife Peggie and family.
107 Borve, Barra.
RELIGIOUS MEMORIAM
BRADY
Of your charity please pray
for Reverend Jack Brady,
priest in charge, St Aidan’s,
Aviemore, who died suddenly on December 8, 1982.
Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, pray for him.
Inserted by his family.
MacDONALD
Of your charity, pray for the
soul of Canon Roddy MacDonald, who died December
4, 2004.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray
for him.
Inserted by his nieces and
Peggy.
MEMORIAM
BUCHANAN
16th Anniversary
In loving memory of Calum,
a dear husband, father and
grandfather, who died December 7, 1994.
Our lips cannot speak how
we loved him,
Our hearts cannot tell what
to say,
But God only knows how we
miss him,
In our home that is lonely
today.
Eternal rest grant unto him,
O Lord,
And let perpetual light shine
upon him.
May he rest in peace.
Inserted by his loving wife
Christine and family.
CONNOR
16th Anniversary
In loving memory of our dear
mother, grandmother and
great-grandmother, Isabella
(Bella), who died December
3, 1994.
for her.
All the family.
DIVERS
13th Anniversary
Treasured memories of my
dear husband, James, died
December 3, 1997.
Always remembered with
love and affection.
for him.
Loving wife Edith and family.
FENTON
sister and much loved aunt,
Patricia, sadly passed away
on December 5, 2005.
Death leaves a heartache no
one can heal,
Love leaves a memory no
one can steal.
St Maria Goretti, pray for her.
Loved and missed every day.
From all the family.
FITZSIMMONS
father, Hugh, who died December 9, 1963, and our
dear mother, Catherine, who
died June 14, 1999; also
loved ones gone before and
after.
for them.
From their loving family.
GRIBBENS – MACMILLAN
In loving memory of our
beloved brother and uncle,
Michael John, tragically
drowned on December 8,
1983.
Sweet are the memories
silently kept,
Of a brother we loved and
shall never forget.
Our Lady, Star of the Sea,
pray for him.
Also our loving granny, Euphemia, died December 10,
1983, and uncles, Angus
John, died December 16,
1993, and John, died January 21, 1999.
Forever in our hearts and always in our prayers.
Inserted by his family, Inverness and Mallaig.
HAMILTON
33rd Anniversary
Remembering today and always, Anna, our darling
daughter and very dear sister, died December 3, 1977,
aged 15 years 11 months;
also remembering our
beloved Ann and Kevin.
Loved and remembered
every day.
The Hamilton and Thomson
families.
HARTE
In loving memory of our
mother, Edith McConville,
wife of the late Paddy Harte,
who died December 9, 1985
and also her beloved
youngest son, Philip, who
died November 28, 2009.
Today ends another sad
year,
But in our hearts you are always there.
Inserted by the family,
James, Patrick, Mary, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
HORSFIELD
1st Anniversary
Loving memories of Gerald,
who died on December 4,
2009, loving husband of
Josephine.
A frequent Mass, a daily
prayer,
The purest token we can
spare,
Whatever else we fail to do,
We never fail to pray for you.
St John the Baptist, pray for
him.
Inserted by his loving wife.
KILKERR
In loving memory of our father, Arthur, who died December 4, 1979, on this his
31st Anniversary.
Trusting that Jesus has provided a house for you and
that you are looking after our
son Aidan.
You are in our prayers.
From Brian Kilkerr and family.
LOGAN
In loving memory of my dear
husband, our dear dad and
grandad, William, who died
on December 4, 1996.
I’ve got to go on living,
I know that this is true,
But it’s just a mere existence,
It’s nothing without you;
My thoughts are always with
you,
Your place no one can fill,
In life we loved each other,
In death I love you still.
From your loving wife
Madge.
A heart of gold stopped beating,
Hard working hands at rest,
God broke our hearts to
prove to us,
He only takes the best.
Archie, Linda, Robert and
Agnes.
Gentle Jesus up above,
Give our granda all our love.
xxx
David, William, Angela and
great-grandchildren Louis,
William, Finlay, Holly and
Blair.
LONG
In loving memory of Peter,
our beloved brother, died December 3, 2006.
Miss you every day.
pray for him.
Owen, Anne and all the family.
McANDREW
30th Anniversary
father, Tony, who died December 5, 1980 and his wife
and our mother, Cathie, who
passed away May 28, 2010.
R.I.P.
for them.
Inserted by Stephen and
Marian.
McCAFFERTY
17th Anniversary
In loving memory of a dear
wife and mother, Irene, who
died on December 3, 1993.
May she rest in peace, a
peace which the world cannot give.
Inserted by Dan, Paul,
Stephen, Moira, Pauline,
Niamh and twins Roisin and
Declan.
McCAHILL
Remembering with pride, my
husband, Michael, died December 5, 1995, aged 55.
When days are dark, and
friends are few,
Michael how I long for you.
Forever yours.
Wife Isabel.
Love and miss you always.
From his loving family,
daughters Jacqueline and
Lorraine, son Michael, sonsin-law Paul and Raymond.
Goodnight, God Bless.
From all your precious
grandchildren.
Remembering Uncle Willie
McCahill, died December 1,
2006 and also uncle Denis,
died October 27, 2009.
Forever in our hearts.
From all your loving family.
McCANDLISH
15th Anniversary
Treasured memories of a
dear father and grandfather,
Willie McCandlish, died December 2, 1995, also a dear
mother and grandmother,
Margaret McElvar, died July
2, 1994.
God saw you getting tired,
And a cure was not to be,
So He put His arms around
you,
And whispered, “Come to
me.”
St Anthony, pray for them.
Inserted by Billy, Liz and
family.
McCRACKEN
parents, James, died December 4, 1988 and Annie,
died December 6, 2003.
We hold you close within our
hearts,
And there you shall remain,
To walk with us throughout
our lives,
Until we meet again.
Sacred Heart, pray for them.
May they rest in peace.
Inserted by their loving family.
19
MacDONALD
In loving memory of John
Alex (Shonnie), devoted son
and loving brother and uncle
of the family, died December
5, 2002. R.I.P.
Our thoughts are always with
you,
In a very special way,
Not just on your anniversary,
But every single day.
pray for him.
Saints Peter and Francis of
Assisi, pray for him.
From all the family.
McGLYNN
Of your charity, please pray
for the repose of the souls of
Elizabeth and Teague McGlynn, of their daughter Kathleen and of their sons,
Dominic and Willie. R.I.P.
May they rest in peace.
Amen.
for them.
Inserted by the family.
MacINNESS
parents, grandparents,
brother and aunt, Donald,
died December 4, 1988,
Morag, died March 5, 1989,
Alistair, December 20, 1975
and Joan, died October 10,
1969.
Always in our thoughts and
prayers.
Our Lady of the Isles, pray
for them.
Inserted by all the family.
McINULTY
1st Anniversary
In loving memory of Chrissie,
who died November 29,
2009. A devoted mother,
gran and great-gran.
May you rest in peace dear
mother,
In that heavenly home
above,
With the Sacred Heart of
Jesus,
In His own eternal love.
Inserted by her loving family.
McLAUGHLIN
34th Anniversary
In loving memory of Frank,
who died on December 5,
1976, beloved husband of
Susanna, dear father of
Marie, Morag and the late
Paul Francis.
May he rest in peace.
for him.
St Anthony, pray for him.
Inserted by his loving wife
Susanna and family.
McQUADE
Treasured memories of
Ellen, our much loved Mum
and Gran, who died on December 7, 1991.
Find the softest pillow, Lord,
To rest her head upon,
Place a kiss upon her cheek,
And tell her who it’s from.
Our Lady of Knock, pray for
her.
Sadly missed by Agnes, Gerald and Eilish.
SHEILS
32nd Anniversary
parents, Mary, who died on
December 7, 1978 and
Michael, who died on April 7,
2007. Also their son and our
brother, William, who died
April 20, 1992.
Sacred Heart of Jesus have
mercy on them.
Inserted by the family.
McRURY
In loving memory of John
McRury, a dear husband, father and grandfather, who
died on December 7, 2004,
also remembering Doreen
McRury, a dear daughter and
sister, who died on July 5,
1990.
So sadly missed, so dearly
loved.
Inserted by Katie-Ann and
family, London.
SHIELS (GALLAGHER)
Treasured memories of our
dear sister and aunt, Mary
Theresa Gallagher, who died
suddenly on December 7,
1978, also our dear brother
and uncle, Michael James
Gallagher, died suddenly
July 6, 2001. Also our sister
and aunt, Kathleen Gallagher, died June 23, 2009.
Though you’re no longer with
us,
Every day we find,
In one way or another,
You’re back there in our
mind.
Rest in peace.
Their loving family.
MURRAY
4th Anniversary
Treasured memories of our
dear mother, nana, greatnana, aunt and mother-inlaw, Julia, who died
December 4, 2006.
We think of you in silence,
We often speak your name,
But all we have are memories,
And your picture in a frame,
We come to speak to you in
a special place,
And put flowers there with
care,
But no one knows our
heartache,
When we turn and you’re not
there.
God bless you.
Our Lady and St Anthony,
pray for her.
Inserted by her loving family.
MURRAY
In memory of our dear son
and brother, John Gerard
Murray (01/12/63 –
01/12/09).
A lonely cry, a silent tear,
Forever wishing you were
here.
Inserted by mum, dad and
family.
SIM
4th Anniversary
Nora, beloved daughter of
the late Hugh and Bridget
and loving sister of the late
Mary, much loved cousin and
aunt of the family, died December 5, 2006.
A lonely cry, a silent tear,
Forever wishing you were
near.
St Anthony, pray for her.
Inserted by Maureen, Joe
and family.
SULLIVAN
7th Anniversary
In loving memory of Elizabeth (Lizzie) Sullivan, who
died on December 2, 2003.
Gone from our home, but forever in our hearts.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have
mercy on her soul.
May she rest in peace.
Inserted by William, Gerard,
Diane, Clare, Stephen,
Suzanne and great-granddaughter Grace.
SWEENEY
Loving memories of my dear
dad, Pat, who died December 8, 1955; also my dear
mum, May, who died October 3, 2004.
Never more than a thought
away,
Loved and remembered
every day.
St Pio and St. Bernadette,
pray for them.
Their loving family home and
abroad.
THOMSON
15th Anniversary
Of your charity, please pray
for the repose of the souls of
our dear mother, Elizabeth
O’Neill Thomson, who died
December 1, 1995; also our
beloved father, John Thomson, died February 6, 1963.
Lonely is the home without
you,
Life to us is not the same,
All the world would be like
heaven,
If we could have you back
again,
We never shall and never
will,
Forget you Mum and Dad.
pray for them.
Inserted by their loving son
John, daughter Shirley,
Whiteinch, Glasgow.
TRACEY
In loving memory of my dear
husband, David Tracey, who
died December 6, 2005.
In death’s dark day,
And in death’s dark night,
Sweet gentle Jesus,
Be his light.
Inserted by his loving wife,
Peggy.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
McMAHON, Anne
David and Moira would like
to thank all relatives and
friends for the support given
during their recent bereavement.
Special thanks go to Cannons Kenneth McCaffrey and
James Simcox, Fr. Charles
Kane, Mgr. Gerry Fitzpatrick;
parishioners of St.Leo the
Great, Dumbreck; Mother
Agnes, the Little Sisters of
the Poor and all the residents and staff at
St.Joseph’s, Robroyston, for
their friendship and care over
the last 34 months. To the
Wallacewell GP Practice and
to the staff of Wards 6&7A,
Stobhill Hospital, for their attention during Mum’s last few
days.
Holy Mass will be offered for
the intentions of all.
THANKSGIVING
THANKSGIVING to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, you
who can find a way when
there is no way. Please help
me. Repeat six times and
promise to publish. – J.L.
PRAYER TO THE
BLESSED VIRGIN
O Most Beautiful Flower of
Mount Carmel, fruitful in the
splendour of Heaven,
Blessed Mother of the Son of
God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity.
O Star of the Sea, help me
and show me herein You are
my Mother. O Holy Mary,
Mother of God, Queen of
Heaven and Earth, I humbly
beseech You from the bottom of my heart to succour
me in my necessity. There
are none that can withstand
Your power. O show me
herein You are my mother.
O Mary, conceived without
sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee (three times).
Holy Mary, I place this cause
in your hands (three times).
O thank you for your mercy
to me and mine. Amen. Say
for three days; publication
promised. – A.G.
PRAYER TO THE
BLESSED VIRGIN
O Most Beautiful Flower of
Mount Carmel, fruitful in the
splendour of Heaven,
Blessed Mother of the Son of
God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity.
O Star of the Sea, help me
and show me herein You are
my Mother. O Holy Mary,
Mother of God, Queen of
Heaven and Earth, I humbly
beseech You from the bottom of my heart to succour
me in my necessity. There
are none that can withstand
Your power. O show me
herein You are my mother.
O Mary, conceived without
sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee (three times).
Holy Mary, I place this cause
in your hands (three times).
O thank you for your mercy
to me and mine. Amen. Say
for three days; publication
promised. - P.McC.
DEAR HEART OF JESUS
Dear Heart of Jesus in the
past I have asked you for
many favours, this time I ask
you for this special one
(mention favour), take it Dear
Heart of Jesus, and place it
within Your broken heart
where your Father sees it,
then in his merciful eyes it
will become Your favour, not
mine. Amen. Say for three
days, publication promised.
NOVENA TO ST CLARE
Say nine Hail Mary’s for nine
days with a lighted candle;
publication promised. - B.D.
NOVENA TO ST CLARE
Say nine Hail Mary’s for nine
days with a lighted candle;
publication promised. - C.F.
POWERFUL NOVENA
Of Childlike Confidence
(This novena is to be said at
the same time, every hour,
for nine consecutive hours –
just one day). O Jesus, who
hast said, ask and you shall
receive, seek and you shall
find, knock and it shall be
opened to you, through the
intercession of Mary, Thy
Most Holy Mother, I knock, I
seek, I ask that my prayer be
granted (make your request).
O Jesus, who hast said, all
that you ask of the Father in
My name, He will grant you
through the intercession of
Mary, Thy Most Holy Mother,
I humbly and urgently ask
Thy Father, in Thy name,
that my prayer be granted
(make your request). O
Jesus, who hast said,
Heaven and Earth shall pass
away but My word shall not
pass, through the intercession of Mary, Thy Most Holy
Mother, I feel confident that
my prayer shall be granted
(make your request); publication promised.
NOVENA PRAYER TO ST
JUDE
May the Sacred Heart of
Jesus be praised, adored,
glorified and loved throughout the world now and forever more. Sacred Heart of
Jesus have mercy on us. St
Jude helper of the hopeless,
pray for us. St Jude, great
miracle worker, pray for us.
Say nine times daily.
GRATEFUL thanks top the
Blessed Virgin for prayers
answered. – S.McS.
GRATEFUL thanks top the
Blessed Virgin and St Jude
for prayers answered, still
praying. - H.T.
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FAITH
FIRST
KIDS
CHILDREN’S LITURGY
21
Our weekly series on children’s liturgy has word lesson plans for use with young people who are on the
path to Christ
Each week, catechists will find readings and Psalm responses, complemented by prayer, reflection,
discussion questions, and activities. Please feel free to use them as you wish
The lessons are created by Adorer-theologians using the lens of the spirituality of St Maria de Mattias,
which also embraces precious blood spirituality
While this is the starting point for the lessons, readers are invited to approach them however the spirit
moves you
The Church is concerned with the availability and understanding of scripture for children who have their
rightful place in the Church. In light of this SCO aims to provide a useful tool in drawing children closer to
the Catholic Faith
lives are with Jesus and how much better
they will continue to get as we become
closer to Him.
We get so excited today about the great
things Jesus has done for us that we have
to tell everyone about it so they too can
get to know Jesus and receive His love
and blessings. That is why John and the
other prophets preached about God and
Jesus. They knew how great life could be
if you lived it with God and they wanted
everyone else to experience it too.
We are also asked to be prophets, like
John and share the great things that God
has done for us and to help others live
lives that will enable them to have that
great relationship with God.
Third Sunday of Advent
—First Reading
God will come and save you. A reading from the book of
the prophet Isaiah 35:1-2, 5-6ab, 10
Thirsty deserts will be glad, and barren
lands will rejoice and blossom like flowers.
They will bloom everywhere and sing joyful
songs. They will be as majestic as Mount
Lebanon and as glorious as Mount Carmel
or the plain of Sharon.
Everyone will see the glory and the majesty of
the Lord our God. The blind will see, and the
deaf will hear. The disabled will leap about
like deer, and tongues once silent will shout.
The people the Lord has rescued will come
back singing, as they enter Zion.
Happiness will be a crown they will always
wear. They will rejoice and be glad, because
all sorrows and worries will be gone.
The Word of the Lord
The Children’s Liturgy page is published one
week in advance to allow RE teachers and those
taking the Children’s Liturgy at weekly Masses to
use, if they wish, this page as an accompaniment
to their teaching materials
Discussion
Reflection
DID you notice what colour the priest had
on today? Do you know which candle we
light today? Pink! Today is called ‘Gaudete
Sunday.’ ‘Gaudete’ means ‘rejoice.’
During Advent we talk about, think
about and work on preparing ourselves
for the coming of Jesus. Today, though,
we get to stop for a minute and ‘rejoice.’
Great, but what are we rejoicing about?
Today’s readings list many great things
that happen when Jesus is around: the
blind see, the deaf hear, those who are
sick are healed, and there is singing and
dancing. Sounds like a great party. We,
too, rejoice because of how great our
What are some of the great things that
God has done for you that you can rejoice
about today?
How can you tell others about how great
God is?
Activity
Divide the students into groups of three
or four.
Ask each group to create commercials
telling the great things that God does and
how to ‘get’ those great ‘things.’
Have each group act out their
commercial for the entire class.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, thank you for coming into our
lives! We love you and appreciate all you
do for us. Please help us to become better
friends with you and show others how great
you are. In your name we pray. Amen
Responsorial Psalm
146:6d-7ab, 7c-8abc, 10
(R) Lord, come and save us.
God always keeps His word.
He gives justice to the poor and food to
the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free and heals
blind eyes.
He gives a helping hand to everyone who
falls.
The Lord God of Zion will rule forever!
Shout praises to the Lord!
Second Reading
You also must be patient; do not lose heart,
the Lord’s coming will be soon. A reading from
the letter of James 5:7-10
My friends, be patient until the Lord
returns. Think of farmers who wait
patiently for the spring and summer rains
to make their valuable crops grow.
Be patient like those farmers and don’t
give up. The Lord will soon be here! Don’t
grumble about each other or you will be
judged, and the judge is right outside the
door.
My friends, follow the example of the
prophets who spoke for the Lord. They
were patient, even when they had to suffer.
The Word of the Lord
Alleluia
Isaiah 61:1
(R) Alleluia, alleluia.
The Spirit of the Lord now upon me has
sent me to bring good news to the poor.
(R) Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Are you the one who is to come, or must we wait
for someone else? A reading from the Holy
Gospel according to Matthew 11:2-11
John was in prison when he heard what
Christ was doing. So John sent some of his
followers to ask Jesus: “Are you the one
we should be looking for? Or must we wait
for someone else?”
Jesus answered: “Go and tell John what
you have heard and seen. The blind are
now able to see, and the lame can walk.
People with leprosy are being healed, and
the deaf can hear. The dead are raised to
life, and the poor are hearing the Good
News. God will bless everyone who does
not reject me because of what I do.”
As John’s followers were going away,
Jesus spoke to the crowds about John:
“What sort of person did you go out into
the desert to see? Was he someone dressed
in fine clothes? People who dress like that
live in the king’s palace.
“What did you really go out to see? Was
he a prophet? He certainly was. I tell you
that he was more than a prophet. In the
Scriptures God says about him, ‘I am
sending my messenger ahead of you to get
things ready for you.’
“I tell you that no one ever born on this
earth is greater than John the Baptist. But
whoever is least in the Kingdom of Heaven
is greater than John.”
The Gospel of the Lord
22
CELEBRATING LIFE
8PM NEW SERIES
BIBLICAL STORY OF THE MASS
WED DECEMBER 8
1PM
DAILY MASS
5PM
SOLEMN MASS OF THE IMACULATE CONCEPTION (BNSIC)
7.30PM
THE CLOAK OF JUAN DIEGO
THURS DECEMBER 9
1PM
DAILY MASS
7.30PM
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
8PM
MOTHER CATHERINE
9PM
EWTN LIVE
FRI DECEMBER 10
1PM
LIVE DAILY MASS
7.30PM
TABERNACLE
9PM
THE WORLD OVER
10PM NEW SERIES
MY COUNTRY MY FAITH
SAT DECEMBER 11
1PM
LIVE DAILY MASS
7PM
9 PM
LIFE ON THE ROCK
Do you have a special occasion from your parish or a celebration
at your school that you wish to share with the SCO?
If so, e-mail our local news editor Martin Dunlop:
[email protected]
Marianne Wong, founder of the
Kenya Aid Project, recently
collected a cheque for £1000 from
the pupils of St Andrew’s Academy,
Paisley.
The money will go towards
providing medicines and medical
equipment for a Kenyan orphanage
and hospital and equipment and
materials for local craftsmen.
The goods created by the
craftsmen, including bowls, animal
figures, walking sticks, necklaces,
key-rings, will be sold at the school
to pupils and parents.
Pictured with Ms Wong and St
Andrew’s headteacher Tony Quinn,
are head girl Stephanie Bell, head
boy Adam Strachan and depute
head boy Gerard MacDonnel
displaying some of the intricately
carved goods that will be sold to
the school community.
SPOTLIGHT ON...
SUN DECEMBER 5
9AM
IN CONCERT: CORRETTE'S
CHRISTMAS SYMPHONIES
11AM
ADVENT REFLECTIONS
1PM
SUNDAY MASS LIVE
3PM
THE WORLD OVER
4PM
LIFE ON THE ROCK
7PM
FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY
8PM
BEST OF THE JOURNEY HOME
10PM
ROME REPORTS
11PM
LIVE BENEDICTION
MON DECEMBER 6
1PM
DAILY MASS
7.30PM
GOSPEL OF LUKE
9PM
FR CORAPI
10PM
CATHOLIC LIVES
TUES DECEMBER 7
1PM
LIVE DAILY MASS
7.30PM
SR MARIE DE MANDATGRANCEY
Celebrating Life
Do you have a story for us
here at the Scottish Catholic
Observer? You can call us on
0141 221 4956 or send us an
e-mail: info@scottishcatholic
observer. org.uk
EWTN PROGRAMMES
St Margaret’s pilgrims delight in opportunity to take part in Papal Mass
A GROUP of 58 people
from St Margaret’s Church,
Johnstone recently made a
pilgrimage to Rome.
The hugely enjoyed trip
entailed many highlights,
including Mass with the Holy
Father, Mass at the tomb of St
Peter and a visit to the Scavi,
the excavations under St
Peter’s Basilica.
In addition to visiting the
main sights of Rome, the group
also enjoyed a trip to Assisi.
The whole pilgrimage was a
happy and most memorable
event and the St Margaret’s
group would like to thank Jim
Fr Joseph Burke, St Margaret’s
parish priest, with Fr Tom White and
pilgrims at St Peter’s Square
and Anne Marie Cairns of Alba
Tours for their great help.
LAY READERS’ GUIDE
by Fr John Breslin
MONDAY
Isaiah 35:1-10. Response: Look, our God is coming
to save us. Luke 5:17-26.
TUESDAY
St Ambrose. Isaiah 40:1-11. Response: Here is our
God coming with power. Matthew 18:12-14.
WEDNESDAY
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Genesis
9:9-15.20. Response: Sing a new song to the Lord
for He has worked wonders. Ephesians 1:3-6.11-12.
Luke 1:26-38.
THURSDAY
Isaiah 41:13-29. Response: The Lord is kind and full
of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
Matthew 11:11-15.
FRIDAY
Isaiah 48:17-19. Response: Anyone who follows you,
Lord, will have the light of life. Matthew 11:16-19.
SATURDAY
Ecclesiasticus 48:1-4.9-11. Response: God of hosts,
bring us back; let your face on us and we shall be
saved. Matthew 17:10-13.
SPOTLIGHT ON...
SUNDAY DECEMBER 5
Advent 2A. Isaiah 11:1-10. Response: In His days
justice shall flourish and peace till the moon fails.
Romans 15:4-9. Matthew 3:1-12.
ST JOSEPH’S sisters Audrey
Thomson and Therese
McConway are pictured with
pupils of Banavie Primary
School, Fort William.
The sisters recently spent a
day teaching the pupils about
the story of the recently
canonised St Mary MacKillop
(St Mary of the Cross).
The sisters, from the order
Mary MacKillop helped found,
were invited to the school by
teacher Deirdre MacDonald, a
Civic reception to recognise parish
relative of the saint.
Mary MacKillop’s mother,
Flora MacDonald, was born
in Fort William in the Scottish
Highlands while her father
Alexander was born in
Perthshire.
The pupils learned how
Mother Mary visited the area
in the 1870s and how her
mother was born in a building
that is now a bar in Fort
William High Street.
FR GERARD Maguiness and
some of the congregation
from St Edward’s Parish
Church in Airdrie were
recently welcomed along to a
civic celebration, hosted by
North Lanarkshire Council
Provost Tom Curley to mark
the 50th anniversary of the
parish.
The reception, which was held
at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium,
also included the head teachers
from St Edward’s and St
Dominic’s primary schools.
Provost Curley said it was ‘a
pleasure to mark the anniversary’.
“The parish has a great history
within the community and is well
known for its contributions and
Provost Tom Curley makes a
presentation to Fr Gerard
Maguiness on the 50th anniversary
of St Edward’s in Airdrie
help to those in need,” Provost
Curley said.
“It is a privilege to congratulate
them for the commitment, dedication and hard work they have put
in over the years which make the
parish so well respected.”
The parish was founded in
1960 with the church building
itself being used for the first time
in 1967.
As part of the anniversary celebrations, the parish travelled to
London to visit the tomb of St
Edward the Confessor and took a
pilgrimage to Rome.
22
CELEBRATING LIFE
8PM NEW SERIES
BIBLICAL STORY OF THE MASS
WED DECEMBER 8
1PM
DAILY MASS
5PM
SOLEMN MASS OF THE IMACULATE CONCEPTION (BNSIC)
7.30PM
THE CLOAK OF JUAN DIEGO
THURS DECEMBER 9
1PM
DAILY MASS
7.30PM
8PM
MOTHER CATHERINE
9PM
EWTN LIVE
FRI DECEMBER 10
1PM
LIVE DAILY MASS
7.30PM
TABERNACLE
9PM
THE WORLD OVER
10PM NEW SERIES
MY COUNTRY MY FAITH
SAT DECEMBER 11
1PM
LIVE DAILY MASS
7PM
9 PM
LIFE ON THE ROCK
Do you have a special occasion from your parish or a celebration
at your school that you wish to share with the SCO?
If so, e-mail our local news editor Martin Dunlop:
[email protected]
Marianne Wong, founder of the
Kenya Aid Project, recently
collected a cheque for £1000 from
the pupils of St Andrew’s Academy,
Paisley.
The money will go towards
providing medicines and medical
equipment for a Kenyan orphanage
and hospital and equipment and
materials for local craftsmen.
The goods created by the
craftsmen, including bowls, animal
figures, walking sticks, necklaces,
key-rings, will be sold at the school
to pupils and parents.
Pictured with Ms Wong and St
Andrew’s headteacher Tony Quinn,
are head girl Stephanie Bell, head
boy Adam Strachan and depute
head boy Gerard MacDonnel
displaying some of the intricately
carved goods that will be sold to
the school community.
SPOTLIGHT ON...
SUN DECEMBER 5
9AM
IN CONCERT: CORRETTE'S
CHRISTMAS SYMPHONIES
11AM
ADVENT REFLECTIONS
1PM
SUNDAY MASS LIVE
3PM
THE WORLD OVER
4PM
LIFE ON THE ROCK
7PM
FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY
8PM
BEST OF THE JOURNEY HOME
10PM
ROME REPORTS
11PM
LIVE BENEDICTION
MON DECEMBER 6
1PM
DAILY MASS
7.30PM
GOSPEL OF LUKE
9PM
FR CORAPI
10PM
CATHOLIC LIVES
TUES DECEMBER 7
1PM
LIVE DAILY MASS
7.30PM
SR MARIE DE MANDATGRANCEY
Celebrating Life
Do you have a story for us
here at the Scottish
Catholic Observer? You can
call us on 0141 221 4956 or
send us an e-mail:
[email protected]
EWTN PROGRAMMES
St Margaret’s pilgrims delight in opportunity to take part in Papal Mass
A GROUP of 58 people
from St Margaret’s Church,
Johnstone recently made a
pilgrimage to Rome.
The hugely enjoyed trip
entailed many highlights,
including Mass with the Holy
Father, Mass at the tomb of St
Peter and a visit to the Scavi,
the excavations under St
Peter’s Basilica.
In addition to visiting the
main sights of Rome, the group
also enjoyed a trip to Assisi.
The whole pilgrimage was a
happy and most memorable
event and the St Margaret’s
group would like to thank Jim
Fr Joseph Burke, St Margaret’s
parish priest, with Fr Tom White and
pilgrims at St Peter’s Square
and Anne Marie Cairns of Alba
Tours for their great help.
LAY READERS’ GUIDE
SUNDAY DECEMBER 5
Advent 2A. Isaiah 11:1-10. Response: In His days
justice shall flourish and peace till the moon fails.
Romans 15:4-9. Matthew 3:1-12.
MONDAY
Isaiah 35:1-10. Response: Look, our God is coming
to save us. Luke 5:17-26.
TUESDAY
St Ambrose. Isaiah 40:1-11. Response: Here is our
God coming with power. Matthew 18:12-14.
SPOTLIGHT ON...
by Fr John Breslin
Civic reception to recognise parish
WEDNESDAY
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Genesis
9:9-15.20. Response: Sing a new song to the Lord
for He has worked wonders. Ephesians 1:3-6.11-12.
Luke 1:26-38.
THURSDAY
Isaiah 41:13-29. Response: The Lord is kind and full
of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
Matthew 11:11-15.
FRIDAY
Isaiah 48:17-19. Response: Anyone who follows you,
Lord, will have the light of life. Matthew 11:16-19.
SATURDAY
Ecclesiasticus 48:1-4.9-11. Response: God of hosts,
bring us back; let your face on us and we shall be
saved. Matthew 17:10-13.
ST JOSEPH’S sisters Audrey
Thomson and Therese
McConway are pictured with
pupils of Banavie Primary
School, Fort William.
The sisters recently spent a
day teaching the pupils about
the story of the recently
canonised St Mary MacKillop
(St Mary of the Cross).
The sisters, from the order
Mary MacKillop helped found,
were invited to the school by
teacher Deirdre MacDonald, a
relative of the saint.
Mary MacKillop’s mother,
Flora MacDonald, was born
in Fort William in the Scottish
Highlands while her father
Alexander was born in
Perthshire.
The pupils learned how
Mother Mary visited the area
in the 1870s and how her
mother was born in a building
that is now a bar in Fort
William High Street.
FR GERARD Maguiness and
some of the congregation
from St Edward’s Parish
Church in Airdrie were
recently welcomed along to a
civic celebration, hosted by
North Lanarkshire Council
Provost Tom Curley to mark
the 50th anniversary of the
parish.
The reception, which was held
at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium,
also included the head teachers
from St Edward’s and St
Dominic’s primary schools.
Provost Curley said it was ‘a
pleasure to mark the anniversary’.
“The parish has a great history
within the community and is well
known for its contributions and
Provost Tom Curley makes a
presentation to Fr Gerard
Maguiness on the 50th anniversary
of St Edward’s in Airdrie
help to those in need,” Provost
Curley said.
“It is a privilege to congratulate
them for the commitment, dedication and hard work they have put
in over the years which make the
parish so well respected.”
The parish was founded in
1960 with the church building
itself being used for the first time
in 1967.
As part of the anniversary celebrations, the parish travelled to
London to visit the tomb of St
Edward the Confessor and took a
pilgrimage to Rome.
MEMOIRS
23
In the company of cardinals
We continue with a series of extracts from Holy Smoke?—Memories of Otto Herschan, a director of the
Scottish Catholic Observer from 1953 to 2002, this week looking at his relationships with the cardinals
A
RCHBISHOP Heim, the
Papal Nuncio to Britain
was anything but averse
to change, but he also
respected tradition.
When Bishop McGee’s resignation
was announced he coincided it with the
appointment of his successor, as he did
in the case of Dunkeld Diocese.
Archbishop Heim enjoyed humour.
Before he himself became a nuncio, he
was secretary to the nuncio in Paris,
Cardinal Roncalli, later to be Pope John
XXIII, described by the Catholic
Herald on his appointment as a
‘Caretaker Pope.’ Archbishop Heim
told me that on an occasion when the
nuncio was dining with the President of
France he was asked by him “Cardinal
Roncalli, do we improve with age?”
The reply was brief: “ A bit like wine,
some improve, others don’t.”
Archbishop Scanlan also enjoyed
entertaining. If memory serves me right
he was a late vocation. He did not
become a priest until after he had qualified as a solicitor and had served in the
army, or vice versa. Cardinal Bourne
ordained him a priest, for Westminster
Archdiocese. So Archbishop Scanlan
was a perfect host and the more illustrious the guest, the better.
One frequent guest was the Curial
Cardinal Heard and fellow Scot, a convert to Catholicism. On one visit the
cardinal expressed a desire to visit his
old and very Protestant school Fettes in
Edinburgh. Later to be Tony Blair’s
alma mater. Archbishop Scanlan
phoned the headmaster to arrange a
visit. Much to the embarrassment of the
headmaster before the two Roman
Catholic Prelates arrived someone had
painted on the wall ‘F*** the Pope.’
The headmaster need not have worried.
When Cardinal Heard spotted the message he exclaimed: “Oh great, it hasn’t
changed!”
Y
ears later, when Cardinal
O’Brien was asked to lead an
evening service at Fettes
College, he wore the pectoral cross
which had been given to Cardinal Heard
by the priests of Edinburgh on his first
official visit to Edinburgh as cardinal.
Cardinal O’Brien had carefully
explained this to staff and students of
Fettes College, few of them had heard
of Cardinal Heard, although there was a
large painting of his father as headmaster of the college in the entrance foyer.
A portrait of Cardinal Heard graces the
senior common room at Balliol
College.
Furthermore, the cappa magna of
Cardinal Heard is now a treasured link
between all the Scottish cardinals. The
cappa magna passed to the possession
of Cardinal Gray, then to the possession of Cardinal Winning and now is in
the possession of Cardinal O’Brien. He
used the cappa magna for the first time
Few students of
Fettes College had
heard of Cardinal
Heard, although there
was a large painting
of his father as
headmaster of the
college in the entrance
foyer. A portrait of
Cardinal Heard graces
the senior common
room at Balliol
College
in 2009 when he was the special envoy
of Pope Benedict XVI at celebrations
in Derry.
I
met Cardinal O’Brien at the celebrations in Derry in June 2009 and
said that I was writing a book of
memories and he might enjoy reading
the chapter on Scotland. I sent him a
copy and God Bless him he went to the
trouble of giving me many historical
references I knew nothing about. So
many thanks.
What is more he told me that he had
also been on the Scottish Catholic
Observer Pilgrimage of Peace to St
Patrick’s Purgatory at Lough Derg
with us. He also remembered being
with Cardinal Winning during the
‘Night Station’ (when you don’t go to
bed) and when innumerable Rosaries
were recited. Fr O’Brien, as I think he
then was, heard Archbishop Winning
muttering loudly; ‘this is just like reciting the Chinese alphabet.’
At the celebrations in Derry,
Cardinal O’Brien attended as the Papal
Legate wearing a cappa magna. For
those readers who, like me, do not
know what it is, the cardinal kindly
supplied an explanation.
“A cappa magna is a long flowing
silk robe with a very extended train,
once worn by cardinals in very formal
Liturgical celebrations—but now all
but abandoned.
“They are now not mentioned at all
in our present Liturgies—and only a
few valiant cardinals, including the
The administrator of St Eugene’s Cathedral
in Derry, Fr Michael Canny, shows Cardinal
Keith O’Brien around Derry’s walls in June
2009 (top) during his visit as the Pope’s
special envoy for the celebrations at Long
Tower Church. It was during this trip that
Otto Herschan met His Eminence and told
him of his upcoming book (above)
TOP PIC: PAUL McSHERRY
Scottish cardinals, would wear them
on very, very special occasions—making sure all mothball smells have been
purified from them!”
24
VATICAN NEWS
Pope’s appeal for peace in Korea
As tensions increase between North and South Korea, Holy Father speaks out
By Stephen Reilly
through universities, schools,
hospitals and charities that
serve the entire community.
POPE Benedict XVI
launched an appeal for peace
and the non-proliferation of
nuclear weapons on the 65th
anniversary of the Hiroshima
and Nagasaki bombings, as
tensions in the Far East
increase between North and
South Korea
The Holy Father (right) last
Saturday praised the ‘Land of
the Rising Sun’ for its regional
role as a promoter of peace and
democracy and its efforts to end
the threat of nuclear arms when
he recieved the new ambassador
to the Holy See from Japan,
Yamaguchi Hidekazu.
“Since its entry in the organisation of the United Nations
Japan has always been a major
player on the regional and international scene and has contributed significantly to the
expansion of peace, democracy
and human rights in the Far
East and in the rest of the world,
particularly in developing countries,” the Pope said.
Hiroshima anniversary
The Pope called to mind the
65th anniversary of the nuclear
bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, noting that ‘nuclear
weapons remain a major concern.’ The ‘possession and the
risk of their possible use has
increased tensions and mistrust
Korea
in many parts of the world.’
He highlighted the efforts
made by Japan in nuclear disarmament and in formulating
solutions to the ongoing political tensions in the region.
“We share this concern with
Japan for a world without
nuclear weapons,” he said.
“The Holy See encourages all
nations to patiently build the
peace with economic and political means that have to stand as
a bulwark against every attempt
to resort to weapons and promote the integral human development of all peoples.”
Finally the Holy Father also
emphasised the freedom of religion and conscience in Japan,
which has ‘enabled the Catholic
Church not only to live in peace
and brotherhood with everyone,
but also play an active and
vibrant role in the country,
Church leaders in South Korea
are also calling for peace on the
peninsula after last Tuesday’s
artillery attack by the North on
the island of Yeonpyeong. Fr
Johannes Kim Yong-hwan, chancellor of the Diocese of Incheon,
which covers Yeonpyeong,
asserted that relations between
the North and South have worsened under the current South
Korean Government.
He called on South Korea to
‘introduce dialogue and embrace
the North.’ Fr Kim also noted his
concern for residents of the
island, some 450 of whom are
Catholic.
Four people were killed in
Tuesday’s attack, and at least 18
people, most of them troops,
were injured.
Fr John Kim Hun-il, executive secretary of the subcommittee for Aid to North Korea
under the Korean Bishops’
Committee for Reconciliation,
called on the North to avoid any
future attacks.
“Aiming at civilians and civil
houses is inhumane and it can
cause further tragedy in the
Korean peninsula,” he said,
urging South Korea to avoid
return fire and to foster dialogue with the North.
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NEWS IN BRIEF
POPE CALLS FOR GREATER
RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE
POPE Benedict XVI has
called on politicians, the
media and world leaders to
show more respect for human
life at its earliest stages, saying embryos are not just biological material but dynamic,
autonomous individuals.
The Holy Father made the
comments during a vespers
service to mark the beginning
of Advent, the period leading
up to the celebration of the
birth of Christ. This year, the
Vatican urged bishops around
the world to make the service a
vigil for ‘nascent human life.’
Pope Benedict stressed the
need to protect human life from
the moment of conception in
his homily. Science itself has
shown how autonomous the
embryo is, how it interacts with
the mother and develops in a
coordinated and complex way,
he said.
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MONACO AWAITS HISTORIC
PAPAL VISIT CONFIRMATION
POPE Benedict XVI is planning a visit to Monaco, in what
would be the first visit by a
Pope to the tiny principality in
nearly 500 years, Monaco’s
Catholic Church has said.
“We invited him several times
and now we have received a positive answer,” Rene Giuliano,
vicar-general of the Monaco
archbishopric, said. The timeframe being discussed was 2012.
The last Pope to visit Monaco
was Pope Clemens VII in 1532.
HOLY FATHER ADVISES THE
RETHINKING OF ‘VOCATION’
THE Holy Father said that considering religious life means
rethinking the very meaning of
vocation, and seeking God.
Pope Benedict XVI made the
comments when addressing the
participants in the general assembly of the Union of Superior
Generals and International Union
of Superior Generals.
“Seek God in the brethren
that He gave you, with whom
you share the same life and
mission,” the Holy Father said.
“Seek Him in the men and
women to which you are sent to
offer them the gift of the
Gospel. And seek Him in particular in the poor—the first
recipients of the Good News.”
CROSSWORD
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You friend or relative will receive a FREE book
and a greetings card with your
personal message followed by a copy of the
SCO delivered to the door.
VATICAN CONDEMNS CHINESE
STATE-CONTROLLED ORDINATION
THE Vatican has issued a vigorous condemnation of the ordination of Fr Joseph Guo Jincai as
a bishop by China’s state-controlled church as a ‘grave violation of Church law.’
It added that Pope Benedict
XVI had learned of the ordination ‘with deep regret’ and said
that Chinese authorities had
seriously damaged ‘freedom of
religion and conscience’ by
forcing Vatican-approved bishops to attend the ceremony.
Fr Guo was ordained on
Saturday in Chengde, a city in
the northern province of Hebei.
Dozens of police blocked the
building during the ceremony,
denying entry to the media.
24
ACROSS
1
4
8
9
10
11
12
15
17
19
21
22
23
24
Modest (6)
Forest clearing (5)
Survey (4)
Mother getting on though causing harm (8)
Generator (6)
Jottings (5)
Concurs (6)
Holy one beams, finding homeless creatures (6)
Strong winds (5)
Beast (6)
Bedclothes (8)
Send out the results (4)
Worship (5)
Joined Manchester or Leeds? (6)
DOWN
1
2
3
5
6
7
13
14
16
18
19
20
Go off for a month? Yes! (5)
Authority given to chap by appointment' (7)
Galloped into ring in equestrian event (5)
Illumination (5)
Line made by a succession of rulers (7)
Adjusts compensation (6)
Chuckled (7)
There's method in my set's madness! (6)
Ambition: to tear about in old clothes (7)
Large passenger ship (5)
Sonar operation detects firing (5)
Put two and two together? (5)
Last week’s winner: Anna Jackson, Bothwell
First entry out the hat next
TUESDAY will receive a
copy of CODE RED by
Andrew J Drain
Send your completed
crossword entries—along
with your full name address
and daytime phone
number—to CROSSWORD
CONTEST SCO 19 WATERLOO
ST GLASGOW G2 6BT
The winner’s name will be
printed next week
The editor’s decision is final
LAST WEEK’S
SOLUTION
ACROSS
7 Part 8 Ceremony
9 Chaplain 10 Aria
11 Herbs 13 Hackney
16 Asinine 17 Admit
19 Coma 21 Hallmark
23 Carefree 24 Path
DOWN
1 Cashiers 2 Stop
3 Ocean 4 Grandad
5 Embarked 6 Anti
12 Bandaged
14 Emigrate 15 Anchors
18 Alien 20 Oral
22 Maps
Scottish Catholic Observer: Scotland’s only national Catholic weekly newspaper
printed by Cumbrian Newsprint, Newspaper House, Dalston Road, Carlisle CA2 5UA

Scotland still a hostile home?

Transcription

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