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