Society of St Vincent de Paul chief to visit Scotland

The President General of the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SSVP) will visit the Archdiocese during a special trip to Scotland next week.

Renato Lima de Oliveira makes his first official visit to the country from 21-24 June with a tour taking in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Motherwell.

The President General will get to know the work of the charity, which has conferences in parishes across the Archdiocese and Scotland, during four days of activities.

In our Archdiocese it includes

The programme for the visit includes liturgical celebrations, meetings with the Vincentian family and visits to see the special works of the SSVP across central Scotland.

After each Mass, President Renato will address Vincentians and the Catholic community.

Schedule of livestreamed events

All broadcasts: Sancta Familia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Historic chapel faces closure over £2m repairs

St Mary’s chapel in Blairs, Aberdeenshire, is expected to close due to a catalogue of structural defects that would cost £2m to repair.

St Mary's College was a junior seminary from 1829 to 1986, and although the surrounding land and seminary buildings were sold, the chapel has remained in use as a place of worship.

An architectural survey of the chapel was carried out in December on behalf of the Blairs College Chapel Trust. It concluded that it would cost over £2,000,000 to repair.

Bishop Hugh Gilbert, the Bishop of Aberdeen and Chair of the Blairs College Chapel Trust, said: “The Trust, with the help of the parish and other sources, has worked hard over many years to find funding and maintain the property as a place of worship."

Defects

He added: "Regrettably, however, rising running costs, a diminished number of parishioners and a catalogue of serious defects in the building brought to light by the recent survey make it difficult to see how the Chapel can be sustained for its present purposes.

"The estimated costs of rectifying the current problems exceed £2,000,000, a figure beyond the means of the Trust and, indeed, of the Diocese of Aberdeen or other interested parties.

“While the church has capacity for 250 to 300 people, currently around 30 people attend Mass each Sunday, with only some 20 residing within the parish.

"Fortunately, St Mary’s is located in close proximity to the parishes of St. Francis, Mannofield and Our Lady of Aberdeen, Kincorth, both of which are around a 15-minute drive away.

“With these considerations in mind and after due consultation, the Trustees have come to the view that the building will have to close permanently.

Sadness

"Given the beauty of the church and the historical connection with the former junior seminary, they are fully aware of the sadness this will cause.

"However, the Trustees know that many will also understand the physical and financial realities in play here. They can also offer the reassurance that nearby parishes will be able to accommodate the needs of the parishioners without undue hardship.

“In order to allow time for any further considerations to emerge, no final decision will be taken until 30 September 2022."

EVENT GUIDE: Corpus Christi Procession

Archbishop Cushley invites all Catholics in the Archdiocese to take part in a Corpus Christi procession today (Sunday 19 June) in Falkirk. Event guide here.

Watch his message below or on YouTube.

Where/When to meet
Gather at the bandstand in Falkirk High Street from 2:30pm. We begin at 3pm. Google Map here.

Route
We will walk down the High Street before turning right onto Hope Street where St Francis Xavier's Church is based. This is expected to take around 20 minutes.

What happens en route?
Eucharistic hymns will be sung and a booklet of hymns will be provided. Archbishop Leo Cushley will carry the Blessed Sacrament under a canopy. You will be guided where to stand.

Will bystanders know what's happening?
Probably not, so event volunteers will be equipped with a simple leaflet to hand out which explains what we're doing and why we're doing it.

What happens at the Church?
Once we arrive at St Francis Xavier's there will be a period of adoration and a simple Benediction service. This will take around 15-20 mins.

Refreshments?
Yes, in the church hall after Benediction.

Where can I park?
Parking is free in Falkirk town centre on Sundays and there are plenty of public parking options. Parking spaces at the church are limited. There is an Asda across the road from the church with free parking (a 10 min walk to the Bandstand where the procession begins).

Notes for parents
If your child is an altar server please encourage them to wear their cassock.
If your child recently made their First Holy Communion please dress them in what they wore on that day.

 

WATCH: Archbishop's Thought for the Day

Archbishop Leo Cushley gave the Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Scotland this morning  (Thursday 9 June). Watch below or on our YouTube channel. Transcript bottom..

Transcript

Although bumping elbows is also fairly common these days, in my line of work, I get to shake hands with lots of people. Recently, one of the handshakes wasn’t just a nice thing to do, it was also pretty historic.

The handshake in question was with this year’s Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr Iain Greenshields, and it was in the light of a declaration of friendship that had just been approved between the Catholic Church here and the Church of Scotland.  Is that a big deal? Well, I’d say it is.

Most of us know something of the history between Catholics and Protestants in this country. It contains some dark pages, and there’s much for us to regret.  But over the last few decades something new has happened: we have been learning to pray together; our people and our parishes now work in various way together, through food banks, action on homelessness, credit unions and more.

And, while sifting through our theological differences, and praying together, and helping others, we have also stumbled into something perhaps a little unexpected: many of us have become friends.

And, given our shared history, that isn’t nothing.

So, the declaration – now called the St Margaret Declaration in you want to google it - celebrates this friendship. It also recalls what we have in common as Christians – which, when you start writing it down, turns out to be more than you might think.

Now, smarter people than me have been working sincerely and well over the last forty years to resolve the issues that divide us.  They’re not insignificant and they’ll need time to understand and patience to resolve.  But what brings us together is still something worth celebrating and building on.

Do I expect the Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland to be perfectly aligned? Well, maybe not before teatime…  But, by acknowledging together all that we hold in common, we can walk and pray together as friends and be a more authentic Christian witness in the land. The rest will come in God’s good time.

Read the St Margaret Declaration here.

WATCH: Eucharistic Adoration in South Queensferry

The 40 Hours' Devotion began today (Sunday 5 June) at St Margaret's Church in South Queensferry and continues until Tuesday. Spend time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

 

Want to find out more about Eucharistic Adoration? Watch our prep videos at bit.ly/40HoursPlaylist

WATCH: Archbishop's message to Caritas Award recipients

Archbishop Leo has posted a video message to congratulate senior pupils across the Archdiocese who have achieved their Pope Benedict XVI Caritas Award.

The award programme encourages and promotes the faith of young people by asking them to contribute to their church and community as examples of God's call of love.

Archbishop Leo said: "A total of two hundred and twenty two of you have participated in activities and demonstrated your faith to help others, such as reading at Mass, assisting at foodbanks, helping at children's liturgy or beijing involved in environmental projects in your local communities.

"I hope you build on this to bring your light and faith to the Church and your community. Congratulations, well done and God bless." (Video and picture gallery below.)

Gallery

St Modan's, Stirling.
St Andrew's, Kirkcaldy.
St David's, Dalkeith.
St Kentigern's Academy, Blackburn.
St Mungo's, Falkirk (and following five pics).

St Augustine's, Edinburgh.
St Kentigern's Academy, Blackburn.

Day for Life: caring for the older person

Day for Life is the day in the Church’s year dedicated to raising awareness about the meaning and value of human life at every stage and in every condition.

The Church teaches that life is to be nurtured from conception to natural death. This year’s Day for Life is celebrated on 5 June in our Archdiocese.

Caring for the Older Person

The focus of the Day for Life this year is to support and protect people at the end of life.

“We invite people to think again about the value and worth of older persons in families, in society, and to make practical choices to build bridges between the generations.” - Rt Revd John Sherrington, UK Bishop for Life Issues

Pope’s Catechesis

Pope Francis has recently offered a very different and more positive perspective. In his Catechesis on Old Age, he writes:

“The alliance between generations, which restores all ages of life to the human, is our lost gift and we have to get it back. It must be found, in this throwaway culture and in the culture of productivity.”

Providing accessible palliative care

We invite people to think again about the value and worth of older persons in families, in society, and to make practical choices to build bridges between the generations. We call for people and parishes to devote quality time, energy and creativity in caring for the older persons in our communities.

We invite engagement in political debate on providing adequately resourced care of the older person so that no-one feels like a burden in our society.

We challenge our politicians and healthcare system to provide accessible palliative care for all the dying.

We encourage people to learn from a closer accompaniment of the elderly that there is a real richness in the journey through old age, which offers a deeper meaning and a new rhythm to the whole of life; something which can be celebrated and lived with hope in eternal life.

St. Joachim and St Anne, grandparents of Jesus, pray for us.

A special Day for Life collection will be taken in parishes on 5 June or donate direct:  https://bit.ly/archdayforlife

Find out the work of the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office from Paul Atkin:  prolife@staned.org.uk or 0131 623 8917. The above article is an abridged version of this Day for Life article.

GALLERY: Confirmations & First Holy Communions

Archbishop Cushley continues visiting parishes all over the Archdiocese to celebrate the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Holy Communion. More confirmation pics here.

Gallery

St Joseph's Primary, Linithgow

St Joseph's Parish, Peebles

St Ninian's Primary, Edinburgh

Confirmations for Polish community at St Andrew's, Livingston

St Mary's Primary, Bannockburn

St John the Baptist Primary, Fauldhouse

St Catherine's Primary, Edinburgh

St Andrew's Primary, Falkirk

Sacred Heart Primary, Grangemouth

Our Lady's Primary, Stoneyburn

Holy Name Primary, Oakley

 

Synod: Feedback from deanery meetings

We're sharing the summary documents from the five synod deanery meetings that were held earlier this year (below).

This feedback will help inform the official synthesis (report) that the Archdiocese will submit to the Bishops' Conference of Scotland next month. 

The below summaries were compiled by lay people (thanks Agatha, Shelley, Derek, Sarah and Martin!) and we share them to give you a sense of the themes and topics discussed during spiritual conversations among participants.

Deanery meeting summaries

The Synod 2021-2023 was launched by Pope Francis in October 2021.

Its themes are communion, participation and mission. It is seen as "an opportunity for the entire people of God to discern together how to move forward on the path towards being a more synodal church" (watch our five min synod basics vid below or here).

It began with a diocesan phase. In our Archdiocese meetings were led by Sr Anna Marie McGuan RSM, the Diocesan Synod Delegate, assisted by Fr John Deighan of St Machan's in  Lennoxtown.

To help attendees at deanery meetings prepare for the prayerful nature of the meetings a holy hour took place.

Info vids were also posted on the Archdiocesan YouTube page (see our Synod playlist here).

The diocesan phase of the Synod 2021-2023 allowed the diocese and parishes "to live out the synodal journey together".

To do that effectively, parishes were encouraged to host meetings so that spiritual conversations could take place. The Archdiocese compiled a parish meeting guide to help them do that.

View the official Synod 2021-2023 website at www.synod.va

Children's Liturgy for Sunday - The Most Holy Trinity

This Sunday the Church celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Here is the link to the Children's Liturgy Resource:

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