WATCH: Euthanasia - A Warning from Canada

Alex Schadenberg spoke at a specially arranged Webinar on Wednesday (13 March) about the dangers of legalising assisted suicide.

Watch it below or on YouTube.

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Alex is one of the world’s premier opponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide and is visiting Scotland to highlight the dangers of Euthanasia.

With Liam McArthur MSP planning to publish his proposed Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill imminently, Alex warned of the dangers of Scotland following the example of Canada in legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia.

About the Speaker
Alex Schadenberg is one of the world’s premier opponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide. He is the co-founder and executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, founded in 1998 and based in the Canadian Province of Ontario. He produced The Euthanasia Deception, a documentary exploring 15 years of euthanasia legalisation in Belgium. He has spoken on the subject across the world and in more than 25 US States. Alex organized the first conference on euthanasia at the European parliament in November 2022.

Life inside the Cathedral’s 9am Sunday choir

Since its founding in 2018, singers of different ages, backgrounds, and abilities have joined the St Mary's Cathedral 9am Sunday choir.

The group is an important part of the tapestry that makes up the musical life of St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh.

“I think the choir’s life is shaped by three overlapping priorities”, explains director of music Michael Ferguson, “musical, spiritual, and social.

“Membership of the choir is open to everyone regardless of musical background, and we usually find that people come looking for all three of these things in some way when they join us.

"We’ve had many successes as a group, but I think the way we integrate these musical, spiritual, and social dimensions has been key to our flourishing as a choir”.

Musical life

Ailsa, a soprano, says: “The choir does absorb everybody who comes into it.

"There are different backgrounds...but it is all made to work, using everybody’s talents to encourage everyone to participate more and more — and that wouldn’t work in every setting”.

Currently, members come from such diverse occupational backgrounds as education, the legal profession, film and animation, marketing and promotions, and the music industry.

The inside of St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh, where the choir sing at the 9am Sunday Mass.

According to Michael, the choir’s musical repertoire plays an especially important role in enabling wide participation amidst this diversity.

"There is quite a different approach to the 12pm Schola Cantorum, say, where in a Palestrina Mass you might have six separate voice parts, each of which demands a specific range and skillset from the singers.

"In the 9am choir we move much more freely between solo and unison singing, and two and three-part harmony, and sometimes we even write our own harmonies when there aren’t pre-composed ones available”.

Lucy, an alto, says: “There are some hymns that we might be over-familiar with or remember from school, and maybe not remember that happily, but we can make them our own again”.

Spiritual life

Being part of the choir also brings spiritual rewards for the singers.

“Singing feels such a more intense form of prayer”, says alto Rosie, whilst others mention that singing helps them to engage more deeply with Scripture and the texts of the Mass.

“I quite like the hymns that draw on texts”, explains Lucy, “where you can make that connection between the hymns and whatever the readings are.

"It is interesting to see that you’ve got a version of the words, and then music on top of that — it enriches the engagement with the readings.

"When you’re learning a language you learn songs because it helps imbed it in your memory much better. And it’s quite like that with our music”.

People come up to us at the end of Mass quite regularly...telling us how moved they’ve been by the music.

Rebecca agrees: “it’s different when the texts are sung than when you read them”.

Likewise for Ailsa, when one encounters a text in the context of singing, “it can help you think about it in a different way”.

Fr Ajeesh George joined the choir in autumn 2022, and while he is often busy celebrating Mass on Sunday mornings, he sings regularly with the ensemble on Wednesday evenings.

He said: “Some people are attracted to the words and ideas the priest says in the homily, and some people are attracted to the songs and they come to God.

"So we are really spreading the Gospel to people who come to church”.

Ideally, the spiritual enrichment stemming from the choir’s music-making extends beyond the confines of the group, to the Cathedral community at large.

" People come up to us at the end of Mass quite regularly — to be honest, most weeks there is someone telling us how moved they’ve been by the music — and this is especially true of visitors to the Cathedral.

"In some sense it’s not for us to predict what people might find spiritually helpful, but it seems to be the case that what moves us tends to move other members of the worshipping community too.”

As well as singing stand-alone songs and reflections, the primary role of the choir is to lead the congregational singing each week.

For the choir members, this connection between their singing and the wider congregation is strongest when they themselves feel enlivened and uplifted by the music.

“I think the congregation come on side when they can tell that we’ve loved something”, explains Rosie, “there are moments where the congregation feels buoyed too, I think”.

Rebecca agrees: “If we’ve done a reflection and it was really good, the Communion hymn tends to be louder than the Offertory hymn was.

"And then the recessional hymn is always louder still. I think sometimes people say, ‘Yes! I’ll join in’.”

Social life

For all of the singers, the social dimension of the choir’s life is important.

Soprano Liz says:“I enjoy being with younger people, and a few not much younger than me, from backgrounds different from my own”.

Choir members enjoy social time together with Director of Music Michael Ferguson (left).

Bass David agrees: “We’re a very welcoming and friendly choir and as a new joiner I’ve encountered great camaraderie and a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.”

For others like Rosie, joining the choir has helped her feel more connected to the wider St Mary’s Cathedral community.

“This is the church that I’ve felt most a part of the parish community, which is almost entirely to do with coming to choir and feeling like I know people better than I would if I just turned up and sat in the pews.

"There’s not that much social engagement within a Mass, unless you already know people.

And so it’s outside the Mass — for example at a choir rehearsal — that that social connection really happens.”

“We understand that singers need to balance the commitment of choir membership with working and family life,” explains Michael.

“And so part of our ethos is that we allow as flexible an approach to attendance as we’re able.

"This is another benefit of our adaptable musical style, because so long as we have a core of singers each week — which we always do — we’re able to excuse people from certain commitments if they need time away in a manner that just isn’t possible with the Schola Cantorum.

"What we find though is that attendance is very strong and consistent simply because people love singing in the choir. We’re blessed with a very loyal and committed bunch!”

The choir rehearses on a Wednesday evening at 7:00pm at 63 York Place, and sings at the 9am Sunday morning Mass each week. The group is open to members of all backgrounds and abilities. To get involved, please contact Michael Ferguson at DirectorOfMusic@stmaryscathedral.co.uk

*This is an abridged version of the original article that appeared in the Summer 2023 edition of Crux, the magazine of the Friends of St Mary's Cathedral.

Explore Catholic Social Teaching

Join us at The Gillis Centre in Edinburgh as we explore Catholic Social Teaching and issues of poverty and injustice.

Pathways of Hope takes place on Saturday 16 March and the aim of the day is to help participants develop:

  • A greater awareness of Catholic Social Teaching
  • A deeper understanding of poverty: its causes, structures and effects
  • A plan to take action on poverty and injustice

Register for this FREE event here. Pathways for Hope is organised by the Archdiocesan Commission for Caritas, Justice & Peace. We look forward to welcoming you!

GALLERY: New Bishop for Galloway Diocese

Here is the homily of Archbishop Leo Cushley from the Episcopal Ordination of Frank Dougan at St Peter in Chains, Ardrossan, on Saturday 9 March. All pics by Paul McSherry.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

A renewed word of welcome to you all as we gather to ordain Fr Francis Dougan as Bishop of Galloway, in the line of St Ninian and in communion with the universal Church.

We are also very pleased to welcome among us distinguished representatives of civil and political life in this part of the country, and to welcome our brothers and sisters in Christ, our ecumenical friends from other churches active in the area.

You are, all of you, most welcome here.

What we will witness here today is both one of the happiest and one of the most solemn things that the Church does, and that she has done since apostolic times, and those with a personal knowledge and memory of Jesus of Nazareth.

We recall again how the Lord himself chose twelve from among his disciples, to be apostles, that is, the ones he would send from his side to take the good news to others.

We recall the frailties, and the limitations of those first Christians – and how few they were – and yet we also recall their success with affection and hope.  As we like to read in the Psalms on apostles’ feast days, their span indeed extends through all the earth.

And yet, apostles have first to be disciples of the Lord.  They are called first to know and love the Lord, and to learn to serve him and to do his will.  And only when the Lord breathes his Spirit upon them, can they be called to go out as authentic witnesses to the Gospel.

Only then can they be like John the Baptist, the great precursor, and point to Jesus - not to themselves, but to Jesus - and knowingly say “Look, there is the Lamb of God!”

The readings that we have just heard were chosen by Fr Frank for this occasion and they help to illustrate this.  In the first reading, Isaiah tells us that the gift of God’s spirit sends him to bring the good news to the poor, to bind up broken hearts, to proclaim a new kind of freedom, and a time of the Lord’s favour, comfort, gladness and praise.

We notice the other things that the Spirit brings us through that ministry, but the word I’d like you to notice today is “sends”.  To be an apostle, to be a bishop, is to be sent.

A vocation to serve God’s people is just that: it is a call from God, not a career choice.

The vast majority of people nowadays, choose a job, choose a career path, then train for it, then apply for it, then get interviewed for it, then eventually get it.

A priest, and by extension a bishop, does not and cannot apply for the job.

Having offered themselves for service in the Church, they give up their own will in the matter and leave it to others to decide where to send them.  This is not by accident; rather, it is profoundly important for their whole life.

Every deacon and priest and bishop you see here has been sent to the people he now serves.

We all know that and understand that when we respond to God’s call.  But that is what it is: a personal willingness to respond to God’s call.

Personally, of course, that means there is always a degree of uncertainty about what to expect, and there is always a kind of challenge in every new mission that we are given.

But that is what are trained for; that is what we are called to do.  But letting us be sent by the Lord and by his Spirit, is, when willingly and cheerfully embraced, a truly liberating experience.

And I believe that in the experience of the vast majority of us here, it is a joyful one.  Once we entrust ourselves to the Lord, we can be confident that we are where the Lord wishes us to be; we are sent, we become truly apostolic.

As we hear in our second reading from St Paul, all of this “is God’s work”.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus himself gives a name to this kind of leadership, to someone who is sent by God, who is filled with God’s spirit, and who comes willingly to serve his people with his whole life.  That name is shepherd.

Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd in Chapter 10 of John’s Gospel, but this quickly became applied to the bishop as well.

In the ancient world, a shepherd wasn’t’ someone looked up to, but Jesus has transformed our view of what a shepherd can be: someone who knows his sheep as well as Jesus knows God his Father; someone who gives his life, his time, his energy in service to his sheep.

Anyone with a small familiarity with the strands of what is demanded of a bishop knows just how daunting it is, but they will also see how God’s spirit makes this call a happy one and a fulfilling one.

This is surely one of the reasons our Holy Father, Pope Francis has made so much of the clergy “gaining the smell of the sheep”, that is, being close to their people.

And so, Frank, let me address a brief word to you personally.  I have known you for more than three decades, since you were a seminarian in Rome.

We who have seen you grow in maturity and experience in the priesthood are very pleased to see you accept this new and more demanding call, this time to serve the people of Galloway, and we pray that the Lord, who himself sends you, will accompany you in all your ways.

The task over oversight in the Church is not an easy one, and much of what you will have to say and do due to your office will only be understood and appreciated once you’re gone and it’s all over.

But you have gained the confidence of the Holy Father and those advising him, and you stand in a line going back to St Ninian, whose times and circumstances were ones of an uncertainty and difficulty much greater than our own.

You and your people are heirs to the golden thread of the Catholic Christian faith in our country, and the tenacious, good and faithful folk who stood here before us.

There is also a warm welcome for you here, from a well-established and affectionate local church, and you have roots here that will give you a good start.

You also bring much of your own to this important task, beginning with a willingness to embrace lovingly God’s will for you.  Stay humble, then, and be open to the Lord in prayer.

Be close to your people, and always treat them as your brothers and sisters in Christ.  Be ready to listen to them, and accompany them with your presence and your prayers.

Inspire them with your good conduct personally and your good decisions on their behalf.  In a special way, be close to your priests and deacons.  Never forget to confirm them in faith and joyful service, especially by your own fidelity to the promises you will make shortly before us here today.

Finally, be assured of the support and prayers of your brother bishops, and of all here for your blessed and successful ministry in the ancient church of Galloway.  Thank you for taking up this burden, and may God bless you abundantly.

Archbishop Leo Cushley

 

GALLERY: St Joseph's celebrates 50 years!

Congratulations to Canon James Tracey and all at St Joseph's Church in Burntisland, Fife.

They celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Mass at their Cowdenbeath Road home on Sunday (10 March), and invited Archbishop Leo Cushley to join the celebrations.

 

WATCH: Pro-Life Reflection from Fr Jonathan

Fr Jonathan Whitworth, of St Thomas the Apostle Parish, Neilston (Diocese of Paisley) describes how we can be tempted to put down our Cross and blend back into the crowd.

But if we remain steadfast in prayer, and with the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we shall bear fruit in courageous service to the truth.

This reflection was part of our Lent Stations of the Cross. Join us online each week at 7:45pm. Register at bit.ly/lentstations

Companions support Bethany Trust Care Van

Angus Hay and Matthew Kirby, Companions of the Order of Malta, joined the Edinburgh Bethany Trust Care Van on its regular lunchtime outing recently.

The van travels around the city, stopping at prearranged locations, providing coffee and sandwiches as well as a variety of coloured woollen socks that were given to those who asked for them.

A total of 6,000 pairs of Stand4 Socks were donated to the Companions in London, who then shared them with many regional coordinators throughout England and Scotland.

This was the first time that a student from the University of Edinburgh has accompanied the Care Van.

Companions of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta are an all-volunteer force delivering the charitable works of the Order of Malta in Great Britain. Find out more here.

SCSSA: March 2024 Newsletter

The Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (SCSSA) is an independent body which oversees safeguarding arrangements in all dioceses.

The March Newsletter (click here) features a range of information and updates which may be of interest to clergy, parish safeguarding coordinators, and volunteers who are engaged in regulated work.

Find out more about the work of the SCSSA at https://www.scssa.org.uk/

Forthcoming events

Here's a round-up of forthcoming events in the Archdiocese and beyond. Full listings of all our events can be found on our news-events page.

 

Sat 17 March: EXPLORE
Join other young Catholic women to chat and explore God's will in monthly get-togethers in Edinburgh. To register email religiousvocations@staned.org.uk

 

Throughout Lent: The Challenge of the Gospels
Spend time with Canon Hugh White in Lent as he reflects on the coming Sunday Gospel. The Challenge of the Gospel videos will be posted on our YouTube channel each Monday morning in Lent, beginning on 12 February.

Monday 19 February (and throughout Lent): Stations of the Cross
Pray the Stations of the Cross each Monday in Lent at 7:45pm. The first takes place on Monday 19 February. Praying for the unborn, their mothers and all pro-life intentions. Register at bit.ly/lentstations

Sun 3 March: Remembering Service
A service for those who have suffered the loss of a child, from the beginning of pregnancy onwards, together with those who wish to come in love and support, to have time in quiet surroundings to fully recognise their loss and help with healing. It takes place on Sunday 3 March 2024 at 5.00pm in St John the Baptist RC Church, Corstorphine, 37, St Ninian’s Road, Edinburgh, EH12 8AL. This service may be helpful to anyone who feels that they have not had the opportunity to acknowledge and grieve for their loss.

Sat 3 March: Day for Catechists
In this Year of Prayer, we invite parish catechists to join us for a day of workshops, witness and inspiration. Register here (registration closes Thursday 7 March at 2:00pm).

Sat 16 March: Pathways of Hope
Join us at The Gillis Centre in Edinburgh for Pathways of Hope: Catholic Social Teaching and Poverty. Register at bit.ly/pathwaysofhopeevent

Sat 23 March - Called to be Saints
A day of inspiration, friendship and prayer for S1-S4 pupils that asks the question 'what does it to be a saint in the modern world?' Includes talks from TV presenter Judith Ralston and Sr Catherine Farrelly, from the Sisters of the Gospel of Life. Called to be Saints takes place on Saturday 23 of March from 12noon, finishing by 4:00pm at The Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1BB. Free parking onsite. Register your child for this FREE event here.

Students from Archdiocese celebrate pro-life message

Students from across Archdiocese (main pic) recently attended 'Call to Courage', SPUC's annual Youth Conference in Stone, Staffordshire.

Several of them were sponsored by the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office to attend the event.

Tobias Bailey, below, a member of the Catholic Society at the University of Stirling spoke at the conference.

In 2023 his Society was banned by the university's student union for posting their support for a peaceful prayer initiative organised by 40 Days for Life.

Tobias was part of a campaign to stop the censorship and was supported by the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office and SPUC Scotland.

It's a fantastic event ... you learn how to put into practice the Church's teaching that all life begins at conception and that we are loved and valued by God from that first moment."

The student union realised their ban was unjustified and reversed their decision.

"This year's event was a sell out with over 200 young people attending from all over the UK," said Margaret Akers, below, a parishioner at St Patrick's, Edinburgh, and SPUC Scotland's Services Co-ordinator.

"It was great to see record numbers of young people engaged and collaborating together.

"As a graduate of the University of Edinburgh I know how important the event is to nurture young pro-life leaders for the future."

Margaret spoke to the Conference about the dangers of 'pills by post' or DIY abortion at home.

She warned that this dangerous method is now being used to remove any legal basis for abortion.

"People are actually proposing DIY abortion up to birth" she said:  "This could be the biggest change to abortion since it was legalised in 1967."

Also attending were members of Edinburgh University's Life Society (main image).

President Sophia Tait, from West Lothian (main pic centre), said: “This is my third time attending the SPUC youth conference.

"I always leave this event feeling both challenged and inspired to defend the Church’s teaching that life begins at conception, and to help build a culture of life in our world that reflects the inherent value of every human person.”