Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, my dear friends, A renewed word of welcome to all of you who have gathered here for the priestly Ordination of Matthew McCafferty.

A special welcome to Matthew’s mother, father, sisters, and friends.

I’m also very grateful to Fr Michael John Galbraith and the people of St Mary’s and St Columba’s for their warm welcome to us.

A word of welcome too, to the Rector of the Pontifical Scots College, Canon Mark Cassidy, to the Jesuit Fathers of the Gregorian University, and to my brother priests and deacons, and many others who have come from near and far for this happy occasion.

A word of congratulations too, to our newest deacon, Ged Holden, ordained just a few weeks ago in Rome.

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Today, 3 July, is the Feast of the great apostle St Thomas.

Feasts of apostles are usually reserved for ordinations to the episcopate, but have no fear, Matthew, your ordination on this occasion will be to the presbyterate.

St Thomas, a famous name since the very first years of the Church, was renowned for his courage in action, his clarity of thought and his boldness in speech. St Thomas wants to see the Lord and, with him, we all do; Thomas says so, bluntly, to the Apostles after they meet the risen Lord while he was absent; a week later, however, poor Thomas has his conversation with them played back to him – by the risen Lord himself.

In that mortifying moment, which would have had most of us cringing and trying somehow to get out of it, Thomas instead rises fully to the occasion, and when given the chance to touch the Lord in the flesh, instead he declares boldly, and with new faith and clarity, “My Lord and My God!” Thomas is a man of his word.

When he’s right, he’s right, and bold with it; and when he’s wrong, he’s man enough to admit it, let it go, and declare his dedication to Christ with renewed vigour and commitment. Later in his life, St Thomas famously is supposed to have travelled as far as India.

This wouldn’t have been impossible – and St Francis Xavier found devotees of St Thomas there fifteen hundred years later – but it would certainly not have been easy.

Perhaps that far off memory of Thomas is also something of the legacy of a ready and willing spirit that went many the extra mile that the Lord asks all his followers to go.

So, my dear friends, to my mind, St Thomas sets an example to the successors of the apostles, the bishops; but he also sets an example to the close collaborators of those successors, the presbyters.

Matthew, he sets an example to both you and me. To me he shows that apostolic leadership is one where my ministry stands or falls by fidelity to Christ and in communion with the successor of St Peter in the See of Rome.

I am sent to preach the faith in communion with him; I am to confirm my fellow disciples in their faith; I am sent to encourage them and to keep them strong.

Meantime, Matthew, to you and your brother priests, St Thomas offers the example of a disciple, set aside for leadership, who has a cheerful, clear-eyed and honest disposition; a servant leader, an elder who is completely committed, joyfully, body and soul, to the mission at hand.

In the 11th chapter of John, as the life-changing consequences around the figure of Lazarus become clear to everyone accompanying Jesus, and as the suspicion around Jesus and his mission becomes a mortal threat to him and his followers, it is St Thomas who speaks up boldly, and says, “Let us go too, and die with him”.

It is a mysterious and intriguing comment, but here we take it to mean that he wished to associate himself with Jesus, through thick and thin, in loyalty, in love, in friendship. And Thomas proves to be a man of his word.

Matthew, you are now to be raised to Order of Priests.

You have been formed by the best means and by the best people available to us, and I have been pleased to see how well you have responded to that formation.

As a man already with a previous training and experience in the world, it must have sometimes been a little uncomfortable for you to assume the yolk of a second academic preparation, and a second human and spiritual formation, but those in charge of your training and I have seen you apply yourself well, growing to become a more faithful and willing disciple of the Lord.

Now, you are to be asked again to express your willingness to assume a greater duty; a more important one, to be sure, but, I also hope, a more joyful and fulfilling one too.

As a priest you will have the opportunity to conform yourself more completely to the Lord’s sacrifice on the cross; you will be invited to offer yourself, as well as Christ’s body and blood, on behalf of all God’s people.

And, over the years to come, you will have the opportunity to grow into an ever truer disciple of the Lord: humble and obedient, but also joyful and strong and serene in your calling.

A disciple isn’t as great as his master, but we can hope and pray – and can glimpse even now – that you have it within you to become like your Master, the living Lord.

Matthew, the sacred priesthood is the most precious thing that we have to offer, and we will entrust it to you today. Be worthy of this great gift; be grateful for it every day; and, by God’s grace, may it be yours to live a long and happy life of priestly service to Christ and His Church.

Amen.

Ordination to the Priesthood of Matthew McCafferty, St Mary’s, Bathgate, 3 July 2026.