Canon Brian Gowans, of St Serf’s Parish in Kirkcaldy, recently met Pope Leo in Rome and presented him with a special book.
The Song of the Poor is written by the late Fr Tommy Greenan. He was a priest of our Archdiocese who served the poor in El Salvador at a time when Catholic priests were under threat of execution.
Canon Gowans said: “I spent about seven minutes with him and also gave him a big envelope full of letters from prisoners in Puerto Rico and a book of reflections from prison chaplains around the world, for which I wrote the foreword.”
Canon Gowans is President of the International Commission of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care, and Vicar Episcopal of the Archdiocesan Caritas, Justice & Peace Commission.
As well as serving in El Salvador, Fr Tommy served at Holy Cross in Edinburgh (1980-81) and St Andrew’s in Livingston (1981-86).
He died in 2020 and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s. He was 64.
‘The Song of the Poor’ has this week sold out at St Paul’s bookshop at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh but will be back on the shelves soon. It can also be ordered online.
Songs of the Poor and other stories of El Salvador is out now, published by Darton, Longman & Todd.
