WATCH: Celebrating the Consecrated Life

Religious brothers and sisters from across the Archdiocese joined together with Archbishop Cushley in Edinburgh to mark World Day of Consecrated Life. Watch the video below or on YouTube.

If you are interested in exploring the Religious Life contact our Director of Religious Vocations Sr Mirjam Hugens FSO at religiousvocations@staned.org.uk

Helping women say YES to God

Scotland has one of the lowest rates of women entering religious life in the world. Ahead of World Day of Consecrated Life (Thursday 2 February), Sr Mirjam Hugens FSO explains why she is determined to change that...

I was studying engineering at the University in Wageningen in the Netherlands when the thought of becoming a religious sister came to me.

At that time, I could not picture myself as a nun so I dismissed it.

When the thoughts kept returning, I kept saying ‘no’!

I wasn’t convinced that this desire in my heart was actually God’s voice. Was it really His invitation to follow Him more closely? Despite dismissing these thoughts, they remained with me. It was a quiet desire.

The big issue for me was this: could the religious life be something I could commit to for the rest of my life? Like so many people, men and women alike, I struggled to discover God’s will.

My older sister Karin had already decided to follow God’s call to religious life. I was happy for her, but I still kept saying ‘no’ to the Lord.

One day she gave me a prayer card of St Thérèse of Lisieux and I still remember the French saint’s words: “Aimer c’est tout donner et se donner soi-même [“To give everything (to the Lord) and to give oneself”].

I have the privilege of helping young women discover what their vocation is, through prayer and gentle encouragement, just like my parish priest gave to me.

That really made me think. I knew that while I was ready to give everything to the Lord, I was not quite ready to fully give myself! My journey discerning a religious vocation raised questions and doubts, but eventually led me to joyful discovery.

How did I start? I prayed more. I asked the Lord to show me His plan for me.

In the beginning, I did not want to share these thoughts with anyone.

But I realised I could not figure this out on my own—I needed support. I spoke to my parish priest and he became my spiritual director.

Through regular meetings he helped me discover where the desires of my heart were. Most importantly, he encouraged me to trust the Lord.

The result? I am happy in my vocation as a religious sister! I’m based at St Columba’s in Edinburgh and work in the curia for the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh. I was asked by Archbishop Leo Cushley to become the director of religious vocations in 2019.

That means I have the privilege of helping young women discover what their vocation is, through prayer and gentle encouragement, just like my parish priest gave to me.

Begin with prayer. Then have a conversation with someone you trust for advice. God sends us His help; we need to look for it.

God calls women to follow him in different ways. It may be in the sacrament of marriage, in the single life or as a religious sister. Whatever the vocation, I help young women say ‘yes!’ to God.

The fact that there are few religious sisters in Scotland now can be a barrier: There aren’t as many examples with which young women can identify. It also shows how great the need is.

The Church here needs religious sisters desperately.

My tips? Begin with prayer. Then have a conversation with someone you trust for advice. God sends us His help; we need to look for it.

I’m starting a group in Edinburgh in January for young women to explore how they can discover God’s will more deeply. Our starting point is this: God has a plan of love and happiness for each person.

It is a unique plan for you and where you will find fulfilling happiness. The foundress of our religious order (The Spiritual Family The Work), Mother Julia Verhaeghe, often said: “God wants your happiness and we do too!”

Join other young Catholic women to chat and explore God’s will for you at St Columba’s Church, Upper Gray Street, Edinburgh, from 4-7pm on the following dates. February 26, March 26, April 30, May 28. Contact Sr Mirjam Hugens at religiousvocations@staned.org.uk

Sr Mirjam Hugens is the Director of Religious Vocations for the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh. Article first published in The Scottish Catholic.

LISTEN: Archbishop Cushley on Pope's Apostolic Journey

This morning (Tuesday 31 February) Archbishop Cushley reflected on the upcoming Apostolic Journey of Pope Francis to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, on BBC Radio Scotland's Thought for the Day. Listen below or on YouTube. Scroll down for transcript.

Transcript

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but the United Kingdom has an Ambassador in the Vatican.

Diplomatic relations were established between Britain and the Holy See in 1982, and those relations are very cordial.

The British Ambassador to the Holy See is Chris Trott. But while he’s an ambassador like any other, his mission is a little different because the Vatican is a mission like no other.

I met Chris a couple of years ago, just as he was starting his new job, and he told me that he had been working previously in South Sudan, and that he had considered the job of Britain’s Ambassador to the Holy See partly because of the work he had seen the Church doing to build peace in that troubled country.

Of course, the Vatican doesn’t use armies or tanks or planes to put an end to war. Rather, whatever influence it has on the world stage, it tries to use for the common good.

That’s why Pope Francis is going to the Congo and then South Sudan in a couple of days’ time.

South Sudan only became an independent nation in 2011, breaking away from Sudan itself. But since then it has been in the grip of what Human Rights Watch describes as intercommunal conflict and abuses by security forces and armed groups that are exacting an ‘horrific toll on civilians’.

The United Nations adds that the food insecurity in South Sudan is the worst it’s been since the country’s independence.

This is why Pope Francis wants to go there.

As South Sudan is largely a Christian country, he will be accompanied by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Iain Greenshields, the Moderator of the Church of Scotland in an ecumenical Pilgrimage of Peace.

And all three are going there to urge men of violence to come back to the negotiating table, and for the good of their own people.

I personally don’t know if Britain’s ambassador had a hand in bringing all these important figures together, but either way, we ought to wish them all well as they strive to bring peace to a troubled corner of the world.

HOMILY: Funeral Mass of Canon Bill Conway

The funeral Mass of Canon Bill Conway took place today (Friday 27 January) at St Machan's in Lennoxtown. May he rest in peace.

Homily of Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews & Edinburgh

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

A very warm welcome to you all on the sad occasion of the funeral of Canon William Conway.

I’d especially like to greet Bill’s sisters and brother, Anna, Maureen and Laurence, and the members of their families who are with us here today.

I am grateful to Canon Bath and the people of St Machan’s for their welcome here, and to Canon Holuka who has done so much to prepare today, and who will continue to look after Bill’s affairs until everything here is concluded.

Canon Richard and the family chose the readings that we’ve listened to, and they are chosen to remind us of something of the man that Bill was, of his faith, and of his life of service to the people and future clergy of St Andrews & Edinburgh.

The first reading from the prophet Isaiah evokes eternal life in a calm and reassuring scene on a hilltop, and as an eternal banquet.

The joy of a festive banquet is a theme found quite often in both the Old and New Testaments.

The image more specifically of a wedding feast is something that is used more than once by the Lord Himself, and it lets us see and feel the anticipation of God’s welcome to us, the great joy in the occasion, and the super abundance of God’s love for us.

All are welcome here, even if death and life are intertwined in our human condition, along with love and loss, and there is the gentle suggestion that, if we never lost someone or something precious to us, we might never learn to love, and never grow into the fullness of our humanity that God wishes for us.

Goodness

Bill lived a long and, I believe, a happy life, but we know it was not without its losses.

As many of us are aware, one of the things Bill was to lose for a long part of his later life was the natural and very human pleasure of eating and drinking normally.

He had to feed himself in a way that practically meant tasting little or nothing of what nourished him, from before I came to know him some ten autumns ago.

He bore illness with remarkable stoicism and forbearance

This happened due to an illness that he bore with remarkable stoicism and forbearance, at least in what I saw of him.

He wasn’t able to eat and drink as most people do, but he nevertheless had the forbearance and the goodness to continue to attend meals, and the humility to let his food be prepared in a different way while others around him enjoyed the normal pleasures of such things.

He never omitted to join the senior clergy when we gathered for dinner or indeed the luncheons for retired priests, and was of good cheer among us, enjoying what he could of the moment and camaraderie of his old friends, without fuss or fanfare.

It is, therefore, at least a small comfort to picture him, beside the Lord, at the great banquet of life and love and comfort that await those who are faithful to Christ, the Bridegroom.

The second reading from St Paul’s letter to the Romans is a reminder of our baptism into Christ’s death and our connection to the Lord through word and sacrament.

Priesthood

Those connections, initiated and fostered, not here in Lennoxtown, but in New Stevenson, brought Bill into the orbit of the Church from his youngest years and set him, gradually, eventually, on the path to the priesthood.

Ordained in 1968 for St Andrews & Edinburgh, he served all over this Archdiocese: from Falkirk to Jedburgh, from Loanhead and Edinburgh to Denny and Lennoxtown.

A significant time in his ministry was his 14 years teaching Sacred Scripture to the seminarians of St Andrew’s College, Drygrange.

All of this took place, starting with the faith of his family and godparents and the journey of conforming himself to Christ crucified that begins for all believers in Baptism.

St Paul adds, “If in union with Christ we have imitated his death, we shall also imitate him in his resurrection.”

He was surely imitating the Lord and his sufferings with the greatest patience and simplicity.

The last time I saw Bill, in Glasgow Royal Infirmary a few hours before he died, he was surely imitating the Lord and his sufferings with the greatest patience and simplicity.

When the wonderful staff there had finished readying him, we had a slow and difficult conversation, and when we had finished, he asked for my blessing.

Those were my last words to him, and I left him to continue the last few paces of his journey.

As Bill imitated the Lord in his death, may the Lord likewise grant Bill to rise with him in life.

The Gospel reading from St John chapter 5 is one that we don’t hear very often, but it holds several lessons for us from the Lord Himself.

There are two I want to pick up on here: the first is that whoever listens to the Lord’s words and believes in them, will have eternal life.

The second lesson is those who did good will rise again to life.

Scripture scholar

Bill was a scripture scholar, someone with a privileged insight into the Word of God.

He spent much of his life listening to that Word, studying it, deepening his knowledge of it, and not for his own sake, but “doing the good” of sharing it with his students, those who would eventually become his brother priests.

The good that we learn from our teachers and the good we pass on from them surely counts not only in our favour but in theirs.  And a way of paying our debt to our teachers is to pass on the best of whatever we learned from them.

It ensures the tradition of the faith down through the years; but, more importantly on this occasion, it reminds of the good they did.

The Lord assures us today that those who listen to His voice, and who do good as a consequence, will rise to eternal life.

This is what we pray for our brother Bill, as we commend him to almighty God and to the mercy of the risen Lord.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Rev Dr George Whyte made Papal Knight

The Rev Dr George Whyte has been honoured for his commitment to dialogue between the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church.

He was invested as a Papal Knight of the Order of St Gregory the Great by Archbishop Leo Cushley at St Bennet's in Edinburgh on Tuesday (24 January).

He said: “I was both extremely surprised and deeply touched when Archbishop Cushley presented with me my Knighthood at a dinner within his home which he had given to mark my time as Principal Clerk.

"It has been a privilege to work with Catholic colleagues throughout my ministry."

Friendship

He added: "In recent times, I have greatly valued the cooperation and friendship of the Archbishop and his colleagues as we worked together on issues of common concern such as our response to the pandemic.

"This thoughtful gesture is a sign of how we have grown together as denominations – a closeness which was expressed more publicly in the St Margaret Declaration signed at last year’s General Assembly.”

The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St Gregory the Great is one of five categories of papal knighthood of the Holy See, in which recipients are made either knights or dames. It was established by Pope Gregory XVI in 1831.

The honour is bestowed in recognition of  personal service to the Holy See and to the Church, through good work and the good example they set in communities and countries.

Archbishop Cushley said: "I was delighted the Holy Father welcomed my request to have George honoured in this way.

"We hope that people in our communities will continue to grow in faith, respect and brotherly and sisterly respect for each other."

Group picture, above (l-r): Canon Jeremy Bath, Vicar Episcopal for Ecumenism for the Archdiocese, Sr Anna Marie McGuan RSM, catechetical advisor for the Archdiocese, Rev Dr John McPake, Ecumenical Officer of the Church of Scotland, Moira Whyte, her husband the Rev Dr George Whyte, Archbishop Leo Cushley, the Rev Fiona Smith, Principal Clerk of the General Assembly, her husband Andrew Smith, Ann Mulligan DCS, Elspeth Atkinson, chief operating officer for the Archdiocese.

Day for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion

We invite Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion to this special day of advice, reflection and prayer on their role at their parish.

Our theme for the event is 'Mary, Mother of the Eucharist'. Fr Jamie McMorrin (St Margaret's, Davidson's Mains) will give an inspiring talk on the Eucharist and learning to love the Eucharistic Jesus with Mary.

This event takes place at 11am at the Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1BB, on Saturday 4 February 2023. Register here.

There will be a reflection from an extraordinary minister before exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction and an opportunity for Confession.

You will also get the chance to meet and chat with fellow extraordinary ministers from across the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh.

Event organised by the Catechetics Commission of the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh. Register here.

Vatican astronomer to visit Edinburgh for free event

The Vatican’s chief astronomer will speak at a free event in Edinburgh next month.

Brother Guy Consolmagno will deliver a lecture entitled, “From Peru to Mars: New Worlds and Jesuit Science” on Monday 6 February, from 7pm-9pm at the James Watt Centre at Heriot-Watt University.

Brother Guy said: “We will explore what these Jesuit scientists did and why – up to modern research at the Vatican Observatory.

"Faith and science are often seen as polar opposites – but scientists in the church have played an important role in bringing the two together.”

Jesuits

Brother Guy has degrees in planetary science from the University of Arizona and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and leads a team of 12 astronomers from four continents.

He and many of his team are Jesuits, a religious order of priests and brothers in the Catholic church who work in areas including education and research.

In the Heriot-Watt Chaplaincy lecture, Brother Guy will explore the work of Jesuit scientists through history.

Reverend Jane Howitt, University Chaplain at Heriot-Watt, said: “We are thrilled that Brother Guy can join us for our annual Chaplaincy lecture to share some of the fascinating science and history behind the Vatican Observatory.”

The lecture is free and open to all. Light refreshments will be served from 6:15pm This lecture will be interpreted into British Sign Language (BSL).

From Peru to Mars: New Worlds and Jesuit Science, with Br Guy Consolmagno. Monday 6 February, 7pm at the Robin Smith Hall,  James Watt Centre, 3 Heriot Watt University, Currie EH14 4AS Please register here by Thursday 2 February 2023.

 

GALLERY: Diploma in Catechetics Graduation

Congratulations to all graduates of the Diploma in Catechetics!

They gathered at the Gillis Centre in Edinburgh on Saturday where Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Leo Cushley before he presented their certificates.

The Diploma in Catechetics in a one year online course in which people are invited to explore the depth and riches of the Catholic Faith.It is led by Sr Anna Maries McGuan RSM, who is the Catechetical Advisor for the Archdiocese, along with priests and laity.

A Scots priest in Rome

Fr Nick Welsh (pictured front right) describes his life as a priest in Rome, where he is Vice-Rector of the Pontifical Scots College.

One of the strangest things about being a priest in the seminary is that we don’t work in a parish.

For diocesan priests this is quite unusual since the normal work of a diocesan priest is parish work: to be in the midst of the people entrusted to him, caring for their spiritual needs and preaching the Word of God.

It also involves celebrating the sacraments, visiting the sick, comforting the dying and the bereaved, joyfully celebrating baptisms and marriages and being involved in our school communities.

In the seminary some of that takes place, but it is still very different.

Seminary

The seminary certainly is a place for living in the midst of the people entrusted to us – even more so than in the parish because we live in the same building.

It is a place for preaching the Word of God, but the only sacrament I would celebrate as vice rector would be the Eucharist.

There’s no baptisms to be done and I can’t hear the confessions of the seminarians (the spiritual director is the only priest in the house who can).

There are certainly no marriages to be celebrated, and given the youth of our seminarians, funerals are unlikely.

So how does a diocesan priest survive in an environment where so much of his ‘bread and butter’ is not available to him?

Sunday

At a recent meeting of Pope Francis with priests studying in Rome, he encouraged them to have some kind of pastoral activity on a Sunday; to get out of their colleges and have something much more like a normal Sunday as a priest.

Whilst it is slightly different for us as seminary formators as our pastoral responsibility is the seminary community, it is also good for us to get out of the college and regularly experience something of a more typical Sunday for a priest.

I say ‘typical’ rather than ‘normal’ because for us, as a seminary community, the in-house celebration of the Eucharist is normal; it is the norm for us as men either in formation or offering formation.

It’s not odd that seminarians celebrate Mass in the College, it’s just different, and it is right that they do have Mass in the College, because the Mass, especially on a Sunday, is a time of formation, and the homily, especially, ought to be addressed to seminarians and their discernment and formation journey.

To experience that more typical Sunday Eucharist, each Sunday, one of the priests from the College will celebrate Mass in the local parish church, Santa Rosa da Viterbo.

Local parish

The local parish is a ten-minute walk from the College, along the via Santa Giovanna Elisabetta.

Don Federico, the parish priest, along with the two curates don Pablo and don Paschal, have always been welcoming of the College.

They have been keen to have the priests involved in the life of the parish. And so each Sunday one of us will celebrate the 9am Mass.

It’s the first Mass of the day and, whilst it tends to have an older congregation, there is a lively music group composed of around 20 sisters from a nearby convent who help raise our hearts and minds to God through their music and singing.

The real challenge of celebrating the Mass in the parish is preaching.

Having to preach in a foreign language means that a bit more planning and time has to go into the homily, as well as a bit more of an appreciation of the cultural context and the political goings on in Italy.

The people, however, seem to appreciate the homilies of the Scots priests, one advantage being that they tend to be much shorter than the others (Italian priests are known to preach for 20 to 25 minutes, even during the week!).

Socialising

After Mass, we join a group of parishioners at a local bar (and bar has a different meaning in Italy – we’re not heading out for a pint at 10am!) for coffee and a cornetto.

And it is here that I would say we feel very much part of the community of Santa Rosa.

Each week there is a fight to pay, each person keen to take care of the bill.

Each week people make enquiries into life in Scotland, asking after previous College staff members who used to celebrate Mass for them;

And each week there are jokes and banter  - often lost on us foreigners!

All of it reminds us of our typical Sunday in a parish in Scotland, which one day we will return to.

And all of it reminds us of the universality of the Church; that I can show up in a parish in a foreign country and, even though the language is different, the Mass is the same, the welcome is the same, all because of one thing: the Faith is the same!

Fr Nick Welsh is Vice-Rector of the Pontifical Scots College, Rome and a Priest for the Archdiocese of St. Andrews & Edinburgh. Article published originally here.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity takes place from from Wednesday 18 to Wednesday 25 January.

It is organised by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) and this year’s theme is praying for unity amidst injustice.

Dr Nicola Brady, General Secretary of CTBI said: "For this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity we are guided by the churches of Minneapolis as we seek to explore how the work of Christian unity can contribute to the promotion of racial justice across all levels of society.

"Through this resource, the CTBI writers’ group has also focused our attention on the 30th anniversary ofthe murder of Stephen Lawrence, which we mark this year.

"The work of restoring hope through justice undertaken in Stephen’s memory continues to inspire and change lives for the better.

"As we join with other Christians around the world for this year’s Week of Prayer we pray that our hearts will be open to see and hear the many ways in which racism
continues to destroy lives, and to discern the steps we can take as individuals and communities to heal the hurts and build a better future for everyone."

Prayer

God of justice, Empower us to be agents of your grace and mercy Bless us with the courage to relinquish our power. Bless us with the humility to stand with the oppressed. Bless us with the integrity to love our neighbours as we ourselves would seek to be loved.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ,18-25 January. Resources and info at www.ctbi.org.uk/weekofprayer