CAMPAIGN: Reaching out at Easter

We want you to support our postcard campaign to encourage people back to Mass at your parish for Easter Sunday.

Each parish has received a delivery of postcards to fill out with details of Easter Sunday Mass times (as well as Holy Saturday and Good Friday times).

Archbishop Cushley wrote to priests: "The purpose is to share Mass times for Easter Sunday with those who are away from the Church or who haven’t attended in a while.

"In this small, practical way we can reach out and encourage people back to Mass at the most important time in the Liturgical year."

Completed postcards can be completed and popped through letterboxes or left at the back of the Church for people to pick one up to share with someone who may not have been to Mass in a while and who may appreciate an invite to Mass on Easter Sunday.

Guide
Here's a quick guide on how to make the most of the postcards.

Want more postcards?
We have a limited number available for collection from the Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1BB. Please contact matthew.meade@staned.org.uk

To print professionally
Send this file to a local printing firm. Decide how many you want printed and give them these details: Size - 148mm x 105mm, double-sided. Full colour 350gsm uncoated offset.

Questions? Email matthew.meade@staned.org.uk or call 07833 208 211.

Archbishop's Engagements for March

Here is a list of Archbishop Leo Cushley's engagements for March 2023. Also available here.

Wednesday 1 March
Update on Archdiocesan finance and Aged & Infirm Clergy Fund for Falkikr and Stirling Deanery, Gillis Centre, Edinburgh.

Sunday 12 March, 6:00pm
Holy Hour & Eucharistic Adoration, St Margaret’s Chapel, Gillis Centre, Edinburgh (Synod 2023).

Monday 13 March (until Wednesday 16 March)
Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, Schoenstatt Centre, Clachan of Campsie.

Thursday 16 March, 2:00pm
Update on Archdiocesan finance and Aged & Infirm Clergy Fund for West Lothian Deanery, Gillis Centre, Edinburgh.

Thursday 16 March, 7:00pm
Launch of Commonwealth War Graves Foundation, Edinburgh Castle.

Sunday 19 March, 11:00am
Mass for Parish Feast Day, St Joseph’s, Broomhouse.

Tuesday 21 March, 10:00am
Mass for school feast day, St Joseph’s Primary, Linlithgow.

Tuesday 21 March, 2:00pm
Update on Archdiocesan finance and Aged & Infirm Clergy Fund (Fife Deanery), Gillis Centre, Edinburgh.

Wednesday 22 March, 2:00pm
Update on Archdiocesan finance and Aged & Infirm Clergy Fund (Edinburgh Deanery), Gillis Centre, Edinburgh.

Thursday 23 March, 11:00am
Leavers’ Mass for pupils in Edinburgh city. St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh.

Thursday 23 March, 2:00pm
Archbishop’s Council, Gillis Centre, Edinburgh.

Friday 24 March, 4:00pm
Mass at St Albert’s Chaplaincy, University of Edinburgh.

Friday 24 March, 7:00pm
50th anniversary Mass Mgr Gerry Hand. Holy Cross, Edinburgh.

Saturday 25 March (and Sunday 26 March)
Leading EOHS retreat at Schoenstatt Centre, Clachan of Campsie.

Monday 27 March, 7:30pm
Palm Sunday Liturgy Talk (Zoom).

Thursday 30 March, 2:00pm
Update on Archdiocesan finance and Aged & Infirm Clergy Fund (Borders Deanery), Gillis Centre, Edinburgh.

Friday 31 March, 7:25am
BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day.

Friday 31 March, 7:00pm
50th Anniversary Mass Fr Aidan Cannon, Hawick.

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.

Archbishop's schedule

Here's Archbishop Leo Cushley's schedule up until 8 November

October

 

November

Archbishop’s call for action on human trafficking

 Archbishop Leo Cushley has hit out at the "significant number" of human trafficking victims in Scotland.

He believes the problem has now "taken root" in the country and called for better action to tackle it

He said: "We flatter ourselves that it exists in murky, far-away places, or in Netflix box sets about the ancient world.

"But there is a significant number of people in our country - from Africa, Asia and Europe - who are trapped in debt, and exploited by the unscrupulous.

"We should be under no illusion as to this reality, which has quietly taken root in our country."

His comments came during his homily at Mass during St Margaret’s Pilgrimage in Dunfermline on Sunday (main picture) as he compared the work of the saint, herself a refugee, to the actions Catholics must take to help those suffering from modern slavery.

He highlighted how the saint personally raised funds to free prisoners of war, allowing them to return home.

He said: "This is a phenomenon that St Margaret would have condemned and worked to change. She did so in her own lifetime.

"So we would do well to imitate her by informing ourselves about this problem and exploring what needs to be done to address it."

Church Justice and Peace groups across the St Andrews & Edinburgh Archdiocese, are being asked to help raise awareness of the problem and "find means to assist those who find themselves trapped through trafficking".

Archbishop Cushley was one of the senior faith leaders at a conference held by Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland (SOHTIS) in April. They all made a commitment to work together with the Scottish Government to eradicate human trafficking and modern slavery.

Fr Basil Clark, Vicar Episcopal for Caritas, Justice & Peace, has been tasked with raising awareness in the Archdiocese and finding ways to help those trapped through trafficking.

He said: “When you encounter it in a personal way, it really hits home. I had a young man from Vietnam who was brought by social workers to Mass.

“He had apparently escaped from a cannabis farm in East Lothian and ended up in Musselburgh Police Station.

He added: “We have empty church property – could they be used as safe houses? We need to go from raising such questions to actually doing something to raise money and making things happen to tackle the problem.

Human trafficking has been identified as the fastest growing global crime

Last year, 44 women in Scotland identified themselves in as victims of trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation. Seven were girls under the age of 18.*