WATCH: Dana & Friends at Cathedral preview

The Archdiocese is set to welcome three women whose faith in Christ has transformed their lives.

Martina Purdy was a BBC TV political correspondent and Elaine Kelly was a leading Belfast barrister who both made headlines in 2014 when they gave everything up to enter a convent as Sisters of Adoration.

Joining with the Irish singer Dana, whose life has also been shaped by her Catholic faith, the three women are on a mission to light the flame of faith, hope, and love, inspired by St Patrick.

Ahead of their event at St Mary's Cathedral on Friday 17 October, Martina and Elaine tell us more about their fascinating story and Friday's concert.

Join Martina, Elaine, and Dana on Friday 17 October for Dana and Friends: Stories of Faith, Hope, and Love. Doors 7:00pm. Register here. This article (abridged) first appeared in Crux, the magazine of the Friends of St Mary's Cathedral.

EVENT: Stories of Faith, Love & Hope

The Archdiocese is set to welcome three women whose faith in Christ has transformed their lives.

Joining with the Irish singer Dana, whose life has also been shaped by her Catholic faith, the three women are on a mission to light the flame of faith, hope, and love, inspired by St Patrick.

Ahead of their event at St Mary's Cathedral on Friday 17 October, Martina shares their remarkable story.

***

It’s been twenty years since I last visited Scotland.

I was then the political correspondent for BBC Northern Ireland, and the Prime Minister Tony Blair was camped at the Scottish seaside with our politicians trying to break the political stalemate at Stormont.

To the surprise of many, the St Andrews Agreement was forged - paving the way for an amazing conversion: power-sharing at Stormont between sworn enemies, Ian Paisley, the DUP firebrand, and Martin McGuinness, the IRA leader.

As for me, I was heading for my own transformation.

Like the Northern Ireland peace process, it is a long story. But on Friday October 10, 2014, it was reported that I had left the BBC to join a convent in Belfast.

Although I had spent 20 years building a career as a journalist in Belfast, reporting the bad news, I had fallen in love with the Lord and “the Good News!”

It was a big surprise, for me as well as everyone else! But then we have a God of surprises!

Supernatural

I had covered the multi-party talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement, published a book about the machinations at Stormont, and travelled to Downing Street and the White House to cover the peace process.

It was a privilege to have a ringside seat as history unfolded, but I had found something better than being on television talking about politics: being at the feet of Jesus in silent adoration every day.

*Sr Martina & Sr Elaine outside St Peter's Cathedral in Belfast (image: Ann McManus).*

And so I left everything - and became a Sister of Adoration on the Falls Road Belfast, two doors down from where I used to wait to interview Martin McGuinness and the Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams. And I was not the only newcomer in the convent.

Two other women had joined a few months ahead of me, one of them, Elaine Kelly, a barrister in Belfast.

She had just quit the courtroom for the convent, after a supernatural encounter with Christ on 9 March 2014. She had felt a strong touch on her heart, during adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and she heard the words: “You will be a sister of adoration.”

Power of God's call

If you had told me at St Andrews that I would one day walk away from the BBC to become a nun on the Falls Road, I would have laughed in your face.

But I have come to know the power of God’s call and the words of an angel to Mary in the darkness of impossibility: “For God, nothing is impossible.”

Convent life was very simple, a call to silent adoration of Jesus’s real presence in the Blessed Sacrament.

Our Congregation Adoration Réparatrice was founded in Paris in 1848 by Théodelindé Dubouche who is known now as Venerable Marie Thérèse. She was an accomplished portrait artist, painting the rich and famous in post-revolutionary France - until she realised their lives were vacuous and went deeper into her faith.

She painted a vision of the Holy Face of Christ in his passion - and also was given a divine mission in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.

She saw, not a monstrance, but Jesus on his throne, with a golden stream from his heart to hers and she heard the words: “I want souls before me always to receive my life and communicate my life to others.”

Elaine and I marvelled that the Lord had called a journalist and a barrister, a writer and a woman of reason to communicate his life. Only God could call two professional talkers to a life of silence!

Our joy was palpable, as we made our first vows of poverty, chastity and obedience on September 23, 2017, the Feast of St Pio, at St Peter’s Catholic Church. There remains a wonderful picture of Elaine and I outside the Cathedral, ready for mission.

'Be amazed'

At the time, we were not aware that rules were being introduced by the Vatican, rules which would prevent us from finishing our nine-year formation to final vows.

The new rules effectively forced small congregations like ours to merge with other orders.

There was some sense in what the Vatican was doing: many congregations like ours had fewer and fewer sisters capable of governing. Our fully professed sisters, some frail and elderly, felt compelled under obedience to Rome to release us. It was the beginning of the end of the congregation.

All three of our convents, in Belfast, Wexford and Paris, are now closed.

We were given the news on the eve of Ash Wednesday 2019. Elaine and I say our lives flipped on Pancake Tuesday.

All of us were sent into the chapel to pray. I was in a state of shock, but Elaine was more open to God’s will than I was. And in the silence of her heart, she heard two words: “Be amazed!”

I thought this meant we were going to get a miracle and be allowed to stay on.

Instead we got a miracle in another form: Elaine and I were offered a house in Downpatrick, and conscious that the Lord sent them out in pairs, we decided to accept and begin again.

That was the autumn of 2019 and almost immediately a new man came into my life in a big way! St Patrick!

This great saint had begun his mission in Downpatrick in 432AD - a mission that inspired countless saints, including St Colmcille who would set up a famous monastery in Iona.

Our mission with St Patrick began like most missions - with prayer. I did not want a job - I wanted a mission so at Mass I begged St Patrick to find me one. And after Mass, a man from The Saint Patrick Centre in Downpatrick offered me a job writing press releases and promoting the centre. I was amazed.

I began to research St Patrick and read his Confessio online, his life in his own words. And he described how the Lord found him in the muck and the mire and raised him up and put him on a high wall and he adds: “So be amazed all you people great and small!”

I shouted for Elaine. “St Patrick used the words you heard in the chapel!” We saw it as a sign that we were on the right path. Elaine and I then, together with the centre, developed a new camino St Patrick’s Way, a walk to seven holy sites in Downpatrick. We have led hundreds of pilgrims along ancient pilgrim routes!

The Lord has since led us back to the parish of St Michael the Archangel where we are part of the leadership team. And our mission has expanded. I now write a weekly column for The Irish Catholic and Elaine is a prison chaplain for our diocese.

And through St Patrick we now work with Dana Rosemary Scallon, who won Eurovision, as a teenager in 1970 with the song All Kinds of Everything, and her husband, Damien, both committed Catholics.

*Dana is a million-selling artist and well known Catholic.*

Dana remains a popular singer-songwriter and was inspired by her late brother-in-law Fr Kevin Scallon to write a new song for St Patrick, called Light the Fire. It was launched on St Patrick’s Day 2023 and Dana and her husband subsequently founded the Light The Fire ministry, with our support.

She has also debuted the song in St Patrick's Cathedral New York.

One of our first missions was at Slane in August, 2023, when more than 4,000 people gathered on the Irish hillside where St Patrick had lit the first Easter fire in 433AD in defiance of the High King of Tara. The Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, St Patrick’s successor, lit a symbolic flame and there was mass, rosary, praise and worship and a healing service with Sr Briege McKenna.

"Light the Fire is being called an ‘anthem for today’ and it has led to a movement," said Dana. “My hope is that this song and the movement it inspired, continues to light fires of faith, hope, and love in a world that needs it so badly."

Dana, together with her husband also wrote the famous Irish hymn, as well as Totus Tuus (Totally Yours) which she memorably performed for Pope John Paul II in front of 48,000 in New Orleans in 1987.

*Martina Purdy, Dana, and Elaine Kelly.*

Come what may, we are on mission to rekindle that flame of faith, hope and love and, if you want to celebrate our faith, hear inspiring stories and song, and journey with joy in this Jubilee Year of Hope, join Dana, Damien, Elaine and I and many others at St Mary’s Catholic in Edinburgh on Friday 17 October.

The Holy Year of Hope (Young Adults' event)

The Young Adults' Group of St Mary's Cathedral meets on Tuesday 14 January for a new series of talks on the Jubilee Year 2025.

Join us Fr Jeremy Milne speaks about The Holy Year of Hope.’ All those aged 18+ are welcome to the weekly meetings.

Meet at the Cathedral House, 63 York Place, Edinburgh, at 7:00pm for teas/coffees with the talk beginning at 7.30pm, followed by a short group discussion.

Each session concludes with Night Prayer and the chance to meet up at a local pub. Come along!

Special event underway at St Mary's Cathedral

A special series of talks takes place at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh beginning on Monday! Register here.

In this video Mgr Patrick Burke takes a deep dive into the background and aim of the event: to help bring us closer to Jesus, by exploring the Gospel of Mark.

Becoming a Deacon: Paul Henderson's story

The Cathedral is my spiritual home. Without the Cathedral, and its parish community, I might not be a Catholic, never mind training to be a priest.

It was through the Cathedral’s RCIA group that I was introduced fully to the faith and, on Easter Sunday at the Cathedral in 2016, received into the Catholic Church.

Being part of the RCIA programme was a profound experience.

*Paul (left) with friend and fellow seminarian Peter Shankland. Both will be ordained in Rome on 14 June 2023.*

I felt the truth of Jesus Christ growing in me, in the depth of my being, and was continually moved by the piety of the volunteers.

They would be there, always smiling, to welcome us enquirers, despite some of them having come straight from work (and surely exhausted) yet still willing to do this Christian service.

I remember how one evening a young priest from Africa explained his clerical garments and their ritual significance, before vesting and saying Mass.

I was struck as much by the beauty of his faith as by anything.

I remember asking him “how long did your training as a priest take?”

When I said this, one of the RCIA volunteers said to me “It’s not too late to get your application in, Paul!”

That really stuck in my mind, even though, at fifty-one, I presumed I must be too old to train to be a priest.

Beauty of the Mass

When I started RCIA, I thought I should acclimatise myself better to the liturgy, so started attending the twelve-noon Mass.

It wasn’t long before my eyes would fill with tears as I sang the Latin Creed joyously with the others: “Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum…!”

*Peter and Paul at the Beda College in Rome where they are studying for the priesthood.*

I was so moved at the aching beauty of the Mass and can honestly say that the Cathedral choir was thus part of my conversion, as was the devotion of the congregation, and whoever was responsible for the incredible flowers that appeared each week.

I remember Masses when Fr Patrick Burke was celebrating without a Deacon.

I can’t quite explain why, but the image of him on those occasions burnt itself in my memory, an isolated Catholic Priest acting in persona Christi.

I loved the multicultural congregation as well, the myriad of Europeans and “ethnic minorities”, so different from the very white Anglican church I was used to.

Confirmation

My eventual Confirmation in 2016 left me feeling so content.

There were drinks with the archbishop, clergy, and others, after that Easter Vigil, for those who had been baptised and confirmed at the cathedral that evening, and I had the strongest feeling that I had come “home”, by joining a truly global Catholic Church.

Just over two months later, on 23 June as it happened: I went to see Fr Patrick with a strong feeling I wished to serve the Church in a deeper way.

I’ll never forget the leap of joy in my heart when he asked if I’d considered the priesthood.

I will not forget the date, partly because it was the day of the Referendum on whether the UK should leave the European Union!

I asked him if there was any possibility I could look into the Permanent Diaconate.

I’ll never forget the leap of joy in my heart when he asked if I’d considered the priesthood.

At the meeting, he continued to say that, at my age, I would probably be sent to the Beda College in Rome. Strange though it is, I immediately knew I was going to this college I’d never heard of in Rome.

Following the call

The next day I called people close to me and told them that I was offering myself as a Catholic priest.

I can honestly say I felt something of the rushing wind of the Holy Spirit pushing me forward.

That said, it took me considerable effort to extricate myself from my career and life in Edinburgh in order to follow the call.

In case this doesn’t sound all too rosy-tinted, I must add that before starting RCIA at this wonderful Cathedral, at the recommendation of a friend, I had approached two Catholic priests asking for advice on becoming a Roman Catholic.

In both cases, I had the strong impression that they were almost bemused at the idea, as if they could not understand why anyone might want to join.

It really was through Fr Patrick that I finally glimpsed the heights and the depth and the incomparable grandeur of the Catholic Church and understood that (as the Magisterium puts it) the Body of Christ ‘subsists’ in the Catholic Church, mystically and physically embodied in the institutional Church we see with our eyes, in our congregations, in its liturgy and its social action around the world.

I was also struck by Fr Patrick’s ability to reveal the depth of the Scriptures in his sermons.

Cathedral community

I’ve had such good connections formed with the Cathedral community that in many ways it has become like a family.

It gives me joy that my sister Rowena followed me, joining a later Cathedral RCIA programme and being confirmed in the Cathedral.

Also, my good friends Diana and her children Catherine-Charlotte and Iain, were likewise confirmed into the Cathedral in 2021.

The Cathedral has as well, for the time being anyway, literally become my home. When I left for the preparatory seminary in Salamanca at the start of 2020, Covid hit, and I had to return to Scotland.

Fr Patrick very kindly let me stay at the Cathedral, as I no longer had a place of my own.

This kind offer has extended to the present and I’ve stayed at the Cathedral during breaks from here at the Pontifical Beda College in southwest Rome.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge that I would never be here if Archbishop Leo had not approved it. I am extremely grateful for all the support he has given me.

Indeed, I am indebted to the whole Cathedral community who have been so supportive of my journey. Thank you.

Paul Henderson will be ordained a Deacon by Archbishop Leo Cushley at the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome on Wednesday 14 June 2023. He will be ordained alongside Peter Shankland, who is also a parishioner of the Cathedral. Read his story here. This article first appeared in Crux, the magazine of the Friends of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, Spring 2023 edition.

Becoming a Deacon: Peter Shankland's story

Despite being brought up as a Catholic, when I came to Edinburgh to study in 1992, I was more attracted by the bright lights of the city than by going to Mass!

In 2000 however, having by then settled in Edinburgh, I decided to start attending church again.

I went first to the Vigil Mass at St Mary's Cathedral, where the late Monsignor David Gemmel welcomed me back with open arms.

He told me that he hoped I was doing this for myself and not for my family.

I think he was making an important point.

Soon he encouraged me to become more involved in the life of the Cathedral parish, first as a passkeeper and then as a reader.

While I was training to work as a teacher, he offered me the chance to help with the children’s liturgy.

More than a building

Msgr David’s untimely death was a shock to all of us, and this was the moment I realised that I really belonged to a community in this Cathedral.

It was far more than just a building.

*Peter (left) with friend and fellow seminarian Paul Henderson. Both will be ordained in Rome on 14 June 2023.*

I became an Extraordinary Eucharistic minister at the invitation of Msgr Mike Reagan, another very wise priest from whom I would learn a lot.

Others who had an influence on me were Msgr Patrick Burke and Fr.Nick Welsh.

For me, they were both shepherds at a time when I could have become lost.

In 2018, I went on pilgrimage to Rome for the Diaconate Ordination of Fr Patrick Harrigan who attended the Beda College (where I currently study) and who is also an ex-parishioner of the Cathedral.

I was very moved by this ceremony, and it was the following day that I realised how much it had touched me.

While visiting the Vatican Museum, one of the great thunderstorms - for which Rome is famous - blew up. Once it had passed, I went for a walk in the gardens.

It was then that I dared to think that God might be calling me to be a priest. It is a moment I recall every time I read the story of Elijah’s encounter with the still small voice of God.

Happy memories

Many memories and impressions of the Cathedral stay with me as happy memories.

I think of the ark at the front of the sanctuary, and the times in front of the blessed sacrament when I felt as though I was raising my heart and mind to heaven when I looked across at it.

I think of being involved in the Chrism Mass and the Easter Triduum and the occasion when, in my nervousness at the former, I nearly dropped the processional cross.

I remember vividly assisting with the veneration of the cross on Good Friday, and how moving I found the solemnity on each face that came forward.

The people’s participation at the Vigil Mass was also achingly beautiful, and I felt I was a part of a giant family as we moved together into the body of the Church.

When I revealed to people that I had been accepted to study for the priesthood, I was overwhelmed by expressions of love and joy.

One parishioner said she had made a list of people she thought would answer God’s call, and I had been one of them.

Taking action

The movement from thought to action had come about one Saturday morning in the Cathedral, after confession with Fr Binhu, when he asked me to wait and speak to him outside the confessional.

He sensed I was torn about something. That was when I told him that I thought I had a vocation, and he was very encouraging and helpful.

I then met with Msgr. Burke, who said he thought I would make a good candidate, and with Fr Jamie McMorrin, the new curate, who was also supportive.

Fr Jamie encouraged me to attend his ‘young’ adult group for some pastoral and personal experience.

This gave me more confidence in talking about and understanding my faith.

Although I was receiving a lot of support from the clergy, I didn’t at first tell anyone in the parish that I was applying for the Priesthood.

That said I always found my conversations with parishioners encouraging during this time of waiting.

I would encourage anyone who feels they have a vocation to consider it carefully.

Even though they did not know my plans, I felt we were part of the same praying community, and that they were praying for me (as I was for them) regardless of what I was doing.

I found the Cathedral was a place of unparalleled calm that allowed me to spend time in silence.

As, God willing, I approach ordination as a Deacon this month, I haven’t for a moment regretted the resolution that was formed in that silence, and I feel every day that the Lord is affirming that He has called me into this wonderful vocation.

I would encourage anyone who feels they have a vocation to consider it carefully.

Rome has of course been a special place to study, but the Cathedral will always be the place where I came back to practising my faith and I will always be so grateful for the love, support, and prayers I received there.

In fact, and in a way I can’t express, I shall always be grateful to the Cathedral community.

Peter Shankland will be ordained a Deacon by Archbishop Leo Cushley at the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome on Wednesday 14 June 2023. He will be ordained alongside Paul Henerson, who is also a parishioner of the Cathedral. Read his story here. This article first appeared in Crux, the magazine of the Friends of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, Spring 2023 edition.