George thanked for representing Catholic schools in Fife

Archbishop Cushley has thanked George Haggerty for being a Catholic Church representative in Fife for over a decade.

He was presented with a gift as he steps down from the role after working with councillors for 11 years to support Catholic schools in the area.

From left Fr John Deighan, George Haggerty, Margaret Russell, Angela Campbell, Maureen Harkins, Pat Nicol, Archbishop Cushley, Marian Docherty, Anne-Theresa Lawrie and Gerry McCormick.

He was joined by other church reps at the Gillis Centre in Edinburgh yesterday. They each represent the Archdiocese on the various local authorities' education committees.

Also present was Fr John Deighan, our new Vicar Episcopal for Education and Margaret Barton, RE advisor for High Schools.

Please keep them all in your prayers as they work to be a voice for our Catholic schools at local authority level. 🙏

EVENT: Children's Liturgy Information Day

Those who are involved in their parish Children's Liturgy are invited to join volunteers from across the Archdiocese for our Children's Liturgy Information Day.

It takes place at the Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1BB, on Saturday 10 September (10:45-am 3pm). Register here.

This day of training and tips will help ensure volunteers have the tools and the know-how to continue their work of sharing the faith to kids in fun and creative ways.

It's also a chance for volunteers to get together and share ideas and testimonies for the first time since the pandemic.

Fr Daniel Doherty, who leads the Archdiocesan Catechetics Commisssion, said: "This event has been successful in the past so we're looking forward to getting together for the first time since the pandemic.

"It will serve as a refresher course for those involved in Children's Liturgy as well as a chance to share tips in an encouraging and relaxed environment.

"We also welcome those who want to get involved in Children's Liturgy in their parish so we can inspire and guide them."

The day will conclude with Mass at 2:15pm.

Event organised by the Catechetics Commission of the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh. Free parking onsite. A light lunch will be provided. Register for this event here.

Priest travels from Chile for relic of St Margaret

Archbishop Leo Cushley has given a holy relic to a church in Chile where St Margaret of Scotland is inspiring parish life.

He presented a relic of the scapular bone of the saint to a delighted Fr Thibault Pontbriand who travelled from the Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile to collect it today (Tuesday 23 August).

Fr Pontbriand collected the relic, which is placed in a cross-shaped reliquary, at St Bennet's in Edinburgh.

Fr Pontbriand, parish priest at St Margaret of Scotland in La Florida, said: "We decided to restore our church, inspired by the life of St Margaret of Scotland.

"It has been a challenge, we are a poor parish, but we have had the blessing of St Margaret throughout the process. It has been a great adventure and we give thanks for this great gift."

St Margaret of Scotland inspire parish life and art at St Margaret of Scotland in La Florida.

The Archdiocese has been approached by parishes dedicated to St Margaret after the relic fragmented while being removed from its reliquary at St Margaret's Church in Dunfermline in 2019.

That meant smaller relics were made available and Fr Pontbriand petitioned the Archdiocese to entrust to his parish a relic for veneration by the faithful there. His petition was approved by Celestino AĂłs Braco, Cardinal Archbishop of Santiago de Chile.

Fr Pontbriand, who is from France, speaking to youngsters at his parish.

Archbishop Cushley said: "We were delighted to see that in our great Catholic family throughout the world there were churches dedicated to St Margaret in places far away, including Santiago.

"St Margaret would be pleased because her relic is going to a poor parish and she was very close to the poor and it was lovely to meet Fr Pontbriand and present the relic to him."

Bishops' prayers for persecuted Church in Nicaragua

The Bishops' Conference of Scotland has called  issued the following statement on the situation in Nicaragua:

"Alarmed by the increased persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, following the arrest and detention without trial of clergy and the summary closure of eight radio and television stations run by the Catholic Church, the Bishops’ of Scotland express their solidarity with the Bishops’ Conference of Nicaragua.

"We offer the promise of our prayers for a just resolution to the current situation, which will allow the people of Nicaragua to enjoy such fundamental rights as freedom of speech and freedom of religion and permit them to worship, pray and manifest their faith freely.

"We urge the government of Nicaragua to enter into a respectful dialogue with the church in the hope that both church and state may coexist peacefully. We pray too that good relations between the Holy See and Nicaragua will soon be restored."

HOMILY: Festival Mass, St Mary's Cathedral

Archbishop Cushley celebrated the annual Festival Mass at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh yesterday (Sunday 21 August).

Among the congregation were the city's Lord Provost, Robert Aldridge, and the Very Rev. Colin Sinclair, former Moderator of the Church of Scotland.

In his Homily, the Archbishop highlighted the inspirational foundations of the Festival and said: "It is successful, not only when there are great names performing and lots of things to see and to do, but when our great city promotes the dignity and worth of us all, from the greatest to the least."

Homily

Homily of Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews & Edinburgh, Festival Mass, St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh , 21 August 2022

My dear friends,

A warm welcome to our Cathedral on the happy occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Edinburgh International Festival

In your name, I’m very pleased to welcome for the first time Councillor Robert Aldridge, the Right Honourable Lord Lieutenant and Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, a number of our city’s councillors, several distinguished representatives of the City’s Consular Corps, representatives of the Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta and of the Holy Sepulchre, the city’s High Constables, and other distinguished guests and friends.

In particular, I’d like to welcome my dear friend Very Rev. Colin Sinclair, former Moderator of the Church of Scotland.  Thank you for honouring us with your presence today.

As many of you will know by now, the scripture readings that we have just heard are part of a cycle read everywhere in the Catholic Church throughout the world every day, and do not indicate a choice on my part to make some point about politics or diplomacy or the concert of nations.

They’re simply the next readings up for the prayerful consideration of those at Mass today throughout the world. But, as always, in their own curious, providential way, they do give us something to think about, if we let them.  Every day’s a school day.  So, what does Isaiah or Jesus of Nazareth have to say to us about the 75th anniversary of the Edinburgh International Festival?

In the Gospel we have just heard, Jesus is asked by a stranger “how many” people will be saved.  In his reply, Jesus ignores the “how many” part of the question and instead replies with a look at the “how”.

So, how are people to be redeemed?  Well, Jesus says, the best way to find redemption is by taking the “narrow path” and entering by the “narrow gate”.  Whatever he meant, it doesn’t sound very easy or comfortable, because it makes all of us look at our lives and, if we’re honest, we easily find room for improvement.  But it’s not a reply that lumps us all together.

Elsewhere, in St John, Jesus calls himself the Way and the Gate. But here, it seems that we are all going to have to find our own path, we’re all going to have find the narrow gate that applies to us.  To every one of us, the greatest and the least.  We are individuals, with the same dignity and worth, it is true, with similar possibilities, but we will also have to find our own path through life, to what makes us completely human, and in harmony with our maker.

In one of his excellent books on the scriptures, the late Rabbi Jonathan Sachs quotes an old Jewish proverb which talks of the Mint of God.  Not the After Eight kind of mint, but the Royal Mint kind.  Imagine that God had a mint like the Royal Mint.  The Royal Mint produces coins that are absolutely identical to each other, in look, weight, feel, and value.  That, of course, is the point of a mint.

Now, imagine that God had a mint for minting human beings in his image and likeness.  We believe that we are created in the image and likeness of God; because we are like God, we have our dignity and worth; and that helps us to see why by extension human life is sacred.  But when the divine Mint creates a human being, that person is unique.

Any coin of the realm can replace any other coin of the same denomination.  But we who are minted in the divine Mint, in God’s image and likeness, with the same dignity and worth as Him and as each other, are utterly and completely unique.  We are irreplaceable.  There never was, and there never will be, another human being like you.  We are made in the image and likeness of God, but we are also utterly unique.

And this is one reason why the celebration of the human person, the human spirit, in a festival such as ours in Edinburgh, born at it was in the face of war with Nazi Germany and the tyranny of states, is so important.  From the greatest to the least, we all share this dignity; from the greatest to the least, we are all irreplaceable, utterly unique.

I was in Washington DC last week and a stranger, upon discovering I was from Edinburgh, started to talk to me enthusiastically about the Edinburgh International Festival.

It has gone from a modest idea proposed by the late Sir Rudolph Bing into a major contribution to the world of music, theatre and the arts.  A Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, Bing wanted to create a celebration that was not only an antidote to the policies of extremist governments, but also one that would put the human person and the human spirit back at the centre of our world, our concerns and our efforts to better ourselves.

All of us, regardless of who or what we are, have imagination, we have spirit, we have a sense of right and wrong.  And above all, each of us is utterly unique, and worthy of respect, in spite of our personal frailties and shortcomings. In its own way, the Edinburgh International Festival is an extension and a consequence of that.  At its best, it aspires to be a festival of the dignity of the human person.

We’re entitled to take some civic pride in the Festival, but it is more significant than that because it started being about disarming the extremists and the nihilists; it was about putting the human person, the human spirit at the centre of what we do.  It was about denying ground to the extremists who don’t believe in the dignity and worth of human beings.

It was to contradict the bien pensants, those who “know better” than the rest of us, those who don’t really believe in humanity’s worth.  This is particularly important when we look back to the post-Nazi roots of this festival and forward to what is happening in places such as the Ukraine.

As we give thanks for the 75th anniversary of the Festival and for the way in which the city of Edinburgh has embraced the vision of Sir Rudolf Bing, we recall that the Festival is most successful when it is a celebration of the human person, and the human spirit; it is successful, not only when there are great names performing and lots of things to see and to do, but when our great city promotes the dignity and worth of us all, from the greatest to the least.

Have a happy Festival, and God bless you all!

Children's Liturgy for Sunday

Here is the link to this Sunday's Children's Liturgy:

Children's Liturgy resources are available from the 'resources' in the Catechetics section of this website. Click here.

 

 

 

Fr Raymond, Br Thomas: rest in peace

Please keep in your prayers two members of the Cistercian community at Nunraw Abbey in Haddington who have died.

Fr Raymond Jaconelli (main pic, left) died on Friday 12 August at 5:30am. He was 90 years old, in the 69th year of his monastic profession and the 65th year of his ordination.

Fr Raymond’s funeral will be at the Abbey on Saturday 20 August at 11:00am.

Br Philip Bell also died on Friday, 12 August at 1:45am. He was 98 years old and in the 68th year of his monastic profession.

Br Philip’s funeral will be at the Abbeyon Saturday 27 August at 11:00am.

There will be a buffet in the community refectory of Nunraw Abbey after both burials.

The news comes following the death of fellow Cistercian Rev Thomas Hood. He died earlier this month at St Anne's care home in Musselburgh, aged 93.

All men were members of  the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO), who are wdedicated to seeking God and following the Gospel in prayer and work. May they rest in peace.

 

Scottish Church responds to Pope’s Synod call

The Catholic Church in Scotland has submitted its response to the call from Pope Francis in 2021 to participate in a two-year process called “a synod on synodality,” which will inform discussion and debate in the coming year on the life and priorities of the global church,

The Scottish church sent its response to the Vatican on 10 August. You can read it here.

Each diocese in Scotland participated in the Synodal process, while efforts were made to engage pastorally with the various dimensions of Church life in Scotland beyond diocesan and parish boundaries, including; Prison Chaplains, the Scottish Catholic Education Service, Catholic schools and SCIAF.

Meetings and events held across the country, reported a post-pandemic climate of hope and optimism, with the final document describing “the first shoots of new ecclesial life”.

Parishes and communities, unable to celebrate Mass and the Sacraments together in person, have discovered new ways of being parish, whether in online celebrations, reaching out to the most vulnerable members of their communities, providing foodbanks etc.

For the first-time new volunteers have become involved in the daily parish life, while a new ministry of welcome was instituted in many parishes.

The Scottish document which will feed into the global debate concluded with a call for the Catholic Church in Scotland to renew itself, always aware of its outreach to the world and to civil society, even when core Christian values are rejected.

The Catholic Church in Scotland's Synod response document can be read here. The Archdiocesan synod document can be read here.

EVENT: My Faith & Scotland

Is Scotland a tolerant country for people of faith? What has been the experience of Christians and Muslims?

Join us for a fascinating insight into life as a person of faith in Scotland in 2022, as our speakers lay out the obstacles, opportunities and share the story of 'My Faith in Scotland'.

Share your own experience at this event in which people of all faiths and none are warmly invited.

Details
My Faith and Scotland takes place in the Canon Coban Hall at the parish of St John Cantius & Nicholas, 34 West Main Street, Broxburn on Saturday 10 September, 11am to 3pm. See here for map.

Register
Register on our Eventbrite page here.

Speakers
- Father Tony Lappin - Catholic priest at St Joseph's Parish, Peebles.
- Mohammed Ashman - Blackhall Mosque, Edinburgh.
- Sheila Anderson - Penicuik Trinity Community Church.

Host
Fr Jeremy Bath, parish priest at St Philomena, Winchburgh, and St John Cantius & Nicholas, Broxburn. He is the Vicar Episcopal for Ecumenism & Interfaith Dialogue for the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh.

Event organised by the Commission for Ecumenism & Interfaith Dialogue of the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh.

Rev Thomas Hood: requiescat in pace

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Rev Thomas Hood. He died on Saturday at St Anne's care home in Musselburgh. He was 93.

Fr Hood was a priest of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO), who are based at Nunraw Abbey in Haddington, where he was dedicated to seeking God and following the Gospel in prayer and work. May he rest in peace.