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DUNKELD NEWSDiocesan Newsletter of the Bishop of Dunkeld No.4 April 2015
©2015 DIOCESE OF DUNKELD - SCOTTISH CHARITY NO. SC001810
Dear Brothers and Sisters,We have just completed our Lenten pen-
ance and celebrated with great solemnity the Paschal Mystery of the Lord during Holy Week. The Lord is Risen! May I wish all of you a very Happy Easter!
We have a special reason for this to be a wonderful Easter Season. Easter is all about Peace, Liberation and Reconciliation for all of us. In baptism we are all God’s children. We are, of course, created in God’s Im-age and Likeness, but we are also bearers, through Baptism, of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that ‘Sanctifying Grace’ as the Catechism calls it which St Paul reminds us ‘enables us to call God our Father’. In other words we are God’s sons and daughters. What ever we do; however we go astray; however far we wander from God’s friend-ship, he never gives up on us.
We know the old saying: ‘Once a Catho-lic always a Catholic’. No one can take our baptismal bonds of union with God away from us. Baptism makes us ‘conformed to Christ’; Christ through baptism changes us at the deepest levels of our being. We cannot be unbaptised; however far we wander, the door is never closed. We are never wiped out from Christ’s memory or his Mercy. Of course we can stray, we can decide that Christ doesn’t matter to us; we can want to ‘hide’ or remove ourselves from God’s presence. But we can never do it to-tally, because God doesn’t give up on us. It is sentiments like these that has persuaded our Holy Father Pope Francis to summon all the Catholic Faithful to celebrate a Holy Year, an Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy.
In the past there have been extraordinary Holy Years. Some may remember the Year of Redemption 1933, the Holy Year of Re-demption in 1983, called by Saint John Paul II. And this Special Holy Year of 2015-2016 is in a similar mould.
Mercy is a profoundly Biblical notion. It is God’s Mercy that refuses to give up on us. It is God’s mercy that knows no bounds since nothing we do is beyond it. Mercy means that we likewise cannot give up on our fellow Catholics who have given up on us, or who are estranged in some way from Christ and his Church. The parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son in the Gospels remind us that we are precious, unique, created by God, redeemed by God, forgiven by God and sought out by God. How can he give up on us? His Mercy constantly reaches out to us. Are we all so perfect that we don’t need his love and mercy? Are we such good exam-ples as Catholics that we never scandalise others whose faith perhaps is weaker?
I believe that the Holy Father has been inspired deeply by the Holy Spirit in call-ing this Holy Year. Never before has the world needed God’s mercy more than now. Day by day man’s inhumanity to man gets stronger, deeper and more shocking. The
God’s mercy knows no boundsWE ARE SUMMONDED TO CELEBRATE A HOLY YEAR OF MERCY
Church and her children are experiencing persecutions and martyrdom at a rate not seen for many centuries. We know that as the early Fathers of the Church have taught us: ‘the Blood of the Martyrs is the seed of Christians’. But this Holy year will teach is above all that we are Agents of God’s Mercy: we can almost say Angels of God’s Mercy.
How many Catholics, in your fam-ily, in every family, are alienated from the Church? How many are scandalised by the actions of other Catholics? How many have lost their faith, or rather think they have? How many fight with God and try to escape God’s mercy? How many are simply lazy or caught up in a world of conflicting values or are enslaved by one form of addictive behavior or other? How many seek the constant assistance of one form or another of ‘pain killers’, anything to make an awful existence bearable?
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: News, views and coming events from around the diocese
continued on Page 2
Pope Francis’ full text - http://www.catholicherald.co.uk
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Continued from Page 1
The Holy Year of Mercy gives us a chance to reach all of these brothers and sisters.
And the good news is that they are in our families, among our friends, parts of our social circle. We reach them every day. How often do we feel failures that they are lost? So many people tell me of the guilt they feel that their son or daughter or grandchild no longer practices their Faith. How can we put the alienation they feel right so that once again they can feel part of the family of the Catholic Faith? Maybe they have never left us but they feel unwor-thy or angry or alienated in one form or an-other from the rest of us.
These are not irretrievably lost sheep, not absolutely lost sons and daughters. They are our brothers and sisters. They belong to us and we are not complete without them. True their journey back to the Church may be long or tortuous or maybe it will be straightforward, but this Holy Year of Faith will give us the spiritual energy we need to make these things happen. God’s Mercy is beyond no one, however they feel they have strayed. Nothing is impossible to God and His Mercy.
Much more will be forthcoming from the Holy Father about this wonderful op-portunity in the months which lie ahead. He will teach us to allow God to love others through us, so that we may be the Agents or the Angels of His Mercy that our Baptism calls us to. Let us pray for each other. Let us give up on no one.
May the Lord bless you all
+ Stephen
The Diocese of Dunkeld has made an of-fer to purchase St Joseph’s Wellburn from the Little Sisters of the Poor, an offer that has been verbally accepted. Over the com-ing months there will be a gradual transfer of powers and care from the Little Sisters to ourselves. The Little Sisters expect to leave the Diocese of Dunkeld about the month of July.
In the meantime we have been involved in several streams of action to keep Well-burn the Centre of care and love that it has always been.
We have been involved with the Lo-cal Authorities and the Care Commis-sion to make sure that the transfer will go smoothly. We have also begun the process of a long-term development to build a new Wellburn on the site of the old. This will mean much activity to plan and build a new facility alongside running the old one, a work which will probably take a couple of years – if we can raise the finance. The dio-cese had to borrow the money to purchase the present Wellburn and the Clergy of the Diocese were very generous in allowing us to make a loan from their ‘Friendly Society’ the purchase sum for Wellburn over a pe-
Wellburn’s future plans revealed
riod of five years. I am extremely grateful to them for this. Financing a new home is the quest now. But the old Wellburn requires much work to bring it up to standard. Dur-ing the interim period we shall have to keep the environment for our wonderful elderly residents as stable and comfortable as pos-sible. After all our Care facilities at Moni-fieth and Wellburn are non-profit making for us, but must be able to ‘wash their faces’ so that we have sufficient capital return to be able to maintain them in the way our dear elderly and their families deserve.
Our primary purpose is to give love and comfortable care to our beloved elderly and sick in their declining years. As Catholic people, we value and love our elderly, as Pope Francis constantly reminds us. They are the reservoir of our memory and the continuity with our past. They remind us of the fundamental human right to life. But reminds us more importantly of our Catholic Faith which reminds us of the ab-solute dignity of human life from concep-tion to natural death. For each of us is in possession of an immortal soul redeemed by Christ, and our lives are not complete until our union with God in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Drama Marks 400th Anniversary of St John Ogilvie CARITAS AWARDS
These will take place in the Glasgow Au-ditorium on Wednesday 3rd June 2015 from 4-6pm. This year will also see the presenta-tion of the first Pope Francis Faith Awards for P6 pupils.
EDUCATION MASSThe Annual Education Mass will take place
in St Andrew’s Cathedral at 7pm on Thursday, 4th June 2015. We shall be led this year by the Young People of St Paul’s Academy, Dundee.
CORPUS CHRISTI The Annual Corpus Christi Procession
will he held this year in the grounds of the Diocesan Centre on Sunday, 7th June 2015 at 3pm. Children will be invited to come in First Communion suits/kilts/dresses and help with the Procession.AGAP players perform in Dundee as part of LENTFEST
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Due to the requests made for the celebra-tion of the TLM in Dunkeld Diocese a cel-ebration was organised for 15th March in St Joseph’s Convent, at Lawside.
Fr John Emerson FSSP from Edinburgh celebrated the Mass. Over 130 people at-tended. At the meeting afterwards the great majority of those present asked for a regu-lar celebration.
Accordingly, for the foreseeable future – at least until Christmas – Father John Em-erson will celebrate a TLM at 4pm on the THIRD SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH in St Joseph’s Convent chapel, Lawside.
The dates are on the diocesan website and are as follows: April 19th; May 17th; June 21st; July 19th; August, 16th; September 20th; October 18th; November 15th and December 20th. The Mass will normally be celebrated by Father John Emerson FSSP to whom we are grateful for his pastoral care.
Latin Mass to become a regular event
Mass attendance is double the expected numbers
Fr John Emerson FSSP
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MARIANPROCESSION
AND DEVOTIONSFamily Marian Procession with Rosary and Devotions
in the grounds of St Joseph’s Chapel at the Diocesan Centre, Lawside.
Sunday May 10th 2015
Devotions will begin at 2pm and the procession and
Benediction at 3pm.
Should the weather be inclement we shall retire to the Convent Chapel.
Lower Third girls at Kilgraston School, Bridge of Earn, celebrated Easter by making and decorating Easter bonnets. Using stencils, crepe paper and Easter messages, and adorned with ribbon, the bonnets marked a very happy end to a successful Easter term!
SERRA CLUB MASS
There will be a Vocations Mass and Prayers for Vocations cel-ebrated in St Joseph’s Convent Chapel, Lawside on Saturday morning, 21st March at 10am to which all are invited.
Dunkeld Diocesan 2015 Pilgrimage
Lourdes10–17th July
2015Any Sick or Disabled Pilgrims
interested in going should contact
Mrs. C. Van Der Boon
Final few places remaining
01382 281 5292
[email protected] for further information
Hospital AdmissionsMost of the priests already do this, but would you please ask your family members
who are admitted to hospital – and remind them often – to let their parish priest and the admissions team who admit them to hospital whether for elective or emergency/acute care, that they are Catholic Christians and would be happy to receive a visit from the Catholic chaplain.
Too often the Chaplains do not actually know that our Catholic people are in hospital as the Data Protection Act does not allow us as priests to access the religious affiliation or the names of patients. Many of our people are disappointed when they don’t receive a visit from the priest-chaplain who may simply not know they have been in hospital. Shortly there will be leaflets available with a tear-off slip to complete and present to the admissions team when you are admitted to hospital.
ARE YOU GOING TO BE IN HOSPITAL? DO YOU KNOW OF SOMEONE WHO IS IN HOSPITAL?
Name _________________________ Hospital ___________________Ward _____
Please complete/ tear off and return with your collection - or hand to your priest after Mass
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE SICK
Kilgraston’s Easter Bonnets
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Bishop of Dunkeld:The Right Reverend Stephen [email protected]
Diocesan CentreChancellor:
Mr Malcolm Veal [email protected]
Human Resources ManagerMs. Fiona Burnett, [email protected]
Finance AdministratorMiss Melissa Walton, [email protected]
Finance Administrator AssistantMiss Lily [email protected]
Vicars General:Very Rev. Mgr. Aldo Canon AngelosantoSt Mary’s, Lochee, Dundee. DD2 3AP.Tel 01382 611282
Very Rev. Martin Canon DrysdaleSt Fillan’s, Ford Road, Crieff. PH7 3HN.Tel 01764 653269
Episcopal Vicars:Very Rev. Dr. Thomas Shields PhB, STL, PhD(Faith Formation of Young People)St John the Baptist’s, 20 Melville Street, Perth, PH1 5PY Tel 01738 622241
Very Rev. Mgr. Basil Canon O’Sullivan JCL (Clergy)St Clare’s, Claredon Place, Dunblane. FK15 9HB Tel 01786 822146
Rt. Rev. Mgr. Kenneth Canon McCaffrey (Education)29 Byron Street, Dundee. DD3 6QN Tel 01382 825067
Very Rev. Ronald McAinsh CSsR (Religious)St Mary’s, Hatton Road, Kinnoull, Perth. PH2 7BP Tel 01738 624075
Very Rev. Steven Mulholland (Ecumenism and Interfaith Relationships)St Mary’s Rectory, 22 Powrie Place, Dundee. DD1 2PQ Tel 01382 226384
Very Rev. Kevin Canon Golden (Adult Faith Formation)The Presbytery, 56 Dishlandtown Street, Arbroath. DD11 1QU Tel 01241 873013
Very Rev. James High (Laity and Lay Organisations)23 Market Street, Montrose. DD10 8NB Tel 01674 672208
Fr Thomas Rogi with staff and pupils launching Pope Francis Faith Award in St Clements RC Primary School, Dundee
Fr Gregory Umunna at the start of St Stephen’s Primary’s ‘Mini Vinnies’ in Blairgowrie
The St Joseph’s ‘Mini Vinnies’, Dundee, recently organised a collection of previously loved toys that pupils at the school no longer needed or used. This collection was sorted and
distributed between - Barnardo’s, Capability Scotland, Oxfam and Shelter Scotland.
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In life we all keep treasures and trinkets. One need only think of those who try to buy at auction items of clothing of a favourite pop-star, or perhaps when we watch a rally of a charismatic politician, where people will stretch
out just to reach them and for a few fleeting moments touch their arm as they go by. On a more personal, and perhaps less fanatical level, one only need think of parents keeping their children’s baby teeth, or a lock of hair. Or, perhaps we can look at it from the opposite perspective. Consider the person who keeps a deceased parent’s walking stick or favourite chair, as a fond reminder of their loved one.
in all things but sin, while contradicting none of his glory as God, becomes as one of us, and thus becomes one we can relate to. Reminding ourselves earlier of the impor-tance of our bodies and senses in our, so to speak, ‘being human’, it would seem logical, then, that Christ, after his ascension, would continue to relate to us, we being material beings, in this manner; relating to us in a manner which is truly human.
Let us turn now, specifically, to relics. They are, in some fashion, the remains or physical memories of a saint or, indeed, Our Lord Himself in the latter case. Either bod-ily (or those relating to Christ’s Passion), known as first class relics, or those things either used in their daily life, or even just touched by the person, and has thus been sanctified through them, Second and Third class relics, respectively. Why would com-mon men and women, though be able to sanctify something? Because the saints are truly those who can speak from the Word of God and say ‘I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me’. But does it not seem supersti-tious to hang on to old bits of clothes and bones and teeth of a dead person? This is indeed how much of secular society would see it, with some irony seeing as it was only recently the bones of a long dead English King were being paraded and marked with the upmost respect, the firing of cannon, and religious ritual. If we turn to the Bi-ble the answer is assuredly no. Think of this scene from the Gospel of St Matthew:
“And behold a woman who was troubled with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself: If I shall touch only his garment, I shall be healed. But Jesus turning and seeing her, said: Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.”
But is this not only from Christ Him-self? The Bible tells us it also applies to the
Saints. “And God wrought by the hand of Paul more than common miracles. So that even there were brought from his body to the sick, handkerchiefs and aprons: and the diseases departed from them: and the wick-ed spirits went out of them”. Outwith the Bible, we know of other situations of Chris-tians collecting things ‘related’ in some way to a Saint. In the mid Second Century, we hear of the bones of St Polycarp, a disciple of St John the Evangelist, being collected and described as ‘more valuable that pre-cious stones and finer than pure gold’.
What, however, is the point of venerating relics of men who are dead? We do well to remember well here the words of Our Lord: “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living”. Through the grace of Baptism and their intimate union with Christ while on earth, the Saints are for us, indeed in reality, very much alive. As said earlier, the saints are those who can truly say that it is Christ that lives in them. And thus, quoting St Je-rome, that great Father and doctor of the Church, “we honour the martyrs’ relics, so that thereby we give honour to Him Whose [witness] they are: we honour the servants, that the honour shown to them may reflect on their Master”. Indeed, it is most telling that in St Thomas Aquinas’ examination of relics in his masterful Summa Theologica, he places them within the context of Ques-tion 25; the section dedicated to the adora-tion of Christ.
To conclude then, the veneration of rel-ics is always, in reality, the veneration of Christ. The saints are those who cooper-ated most perfectly with God’s Grace and thus it is quite possible to think of them as God’s masterpieces, though naturally the outpouring of Love which is the Most Holy Trinity wishes this for all of us. Just as a painter would be grateful were you to gaze upon and admire his greatest piece, so too, we can imagine it gives glory to God when we admire those who lived their life on earth closest to Him. The saints are alive, and are waiting for the resurrection of the body! We honour those bodies, and those things associated with the saints, as parts of God’s living creation which are seen by God Himself as being ‘good’, and in the context of the human person, ‘very good’. We are material beings, and God provides us, in His Goodness, these material things to help us come to know Him and love Him, the end goal of our sojourn in this vale of tears.
Perhaps, these instincts, and they would seem to be instincts, are part of that reli-gious urge within us, seeking in some way to hold onto those people whose earthy tra-vail has come to an end, or at least one we will never likely meet again in this life. And we can speak of these things, or certainly some of them, as being part of a religious urge ever mindful that the Church says: “throughout history down to the present day, men have given expression to their quest for God in their religious beliefs and behaviour: in their prayers, sacrifices, ritu-als, meditations, and so forth”.
What, then, does this have to do with rel-ics? First, let us classify what relics actually are. They are part of a body of things in the Church’s life called ‘sacramentals’, which the Catechism says, “are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the in-tercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy”.
So why do we bother with sacrmanetals? Principally, we use sacramentals because they exist in tandem with the way God made us. As we know, both through our reason and on the assurance of what the Church has said, man is a psychosomatic being; a union of body and soul. The per-son is of one substance with, in technical language, the soul being the forma corpo-ris; the form of the body. This leads us to the logical conclusion, therefore, and this is simply common sense, that, as Aquinas noted, “[n]othing is in the intellect that was not previously in sense”. God Himself recognises this when he becomes Incar-nate, when “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews declares: “For we have not a high priest, who can not have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin”. Christ,
by Adam CoatesAn altar Server at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Dundee
Honouring the servants, so that the honour shown to them may reflect on their Master
RELICS, SAINTS and SIGNS
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Representatives of the 13 Lay Societies of the diocese met with the Very Rever-end Jim High, Episcopal Vicar for the La-ity and Lay Organisations, in Montrose on 7 February 2015. Following Mass, the group talked about how best to publicise the work being done within the Socie-ties throughout the diocese. Fr Jim said: “We’re keen that all the members of every congregation in the diocese should be aware of the various Societies and their work.
While some are already well known, oth-ers are less so and we would really like to rectify this. We are working together to put information out to all parishes and plan to do this via written communications and personal visits”. A number of parish priests have agreed to the personal visits and these are due to begin in May. Individual parish-es will be receiving notification of the spe-cific dates for their visits during April 2015.
In the meantime, the newly formed Scot-tish Catholic Grandparents’ Association representative, Mr Ron Wylie, has, at the invitation of specific parishes, been visiting congregations to talk about the Association and its work.
Bishop Robson said: “We would like the wonderful work being done by members of all existing Societies - and a few others which may be coming on stream in the near future - to be publicised and included on the diocesan website where contact de-tails and a brief summary of the work of each Society will be displayed”.
“Fr Jim is also working, along with repre-sentatives of the Societies, on an informa-tion pack to be distributed to all parishes in the diocese. I shall be encouraging con-gregations to support and, where possible, to contribute to the work of those Societies in which they might have a particular in-terest”.
The Societies are: ACROSS, Handi-capped Children’s Pilgrimage Trust (HCPT), Lourdes Pilgrimage Association, Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC), Union of Catholic Moth-ers (UCM), Scottish Catholic Grandpar-ents’ Association (SCGA), Jericho Houses for the ‘Special Needs’ Homeless, Legion of Mary, St Vincent de Paul, John Paul Prayer Movement, Dundee Secular Carmelite Group, SERRA and the Catenians.
Dunkeld Catholic Marriage Care is in the early stages of formation and will also be included, along with two others yet to be contacted formally by Fr Jim, in the Laity and Lay Organisations forum he is working to establish.
The constitution for the proposed “Coun-cil of Laity” is currently being drafted and this will comprise a member from every Lay Association from each parish includ-ing the St Ninian Institute.
The Council will be responsible for or-ganising, amongst other things, an annual Mass of the Laity. The draft constitution will be scrutinised before adoption to en-sure it marries with canonical procedures.
Membership boost for layorganisations in the diocese
BISHOP’S DIARY
April-May 2015
Sunday, 12th April 20159am Parish Visit and Confirmations in Auchterarder
Saturday, 18th April 201510am Parish Visit and Confirmations to St Bride’s Monifieth6pm Lectorate to be conferred at Mass on Kris Jablonski, Permanent Diaconate Candidate, St John’s Perth
Sunday, 19th April 201511am Parish Mass to celebrate Canon Kevin Golden’s being made an honorary Canon4pm Holy Mass in the ‘Old Rite’ (Extraordinary Form), St Joseph’s Chapel, Lawside, DD3 6XY
Monday, 20th April 201510-12 Diocesan Centre Strategy Group Meeting, Diocesan Offices6pm Mass with Jericho House Community, Dundee.
Tuesday, 21st April 20159.30am Meeting with Wellburn Development Committee, Diocesan Centre1.30pm Meeting with the Diocesan Vocation Directors, Glasgow University Chaplaincy7pm Meeting with Diocesan LOURDES Committee, Diocesan Centre, Dundee.
Wednesday, 22nd April 201512.15pm Visit to St Bernadette’s Primary School, Tullibody7pm Confirmations, St Mary Magdalene’s, Perth
Thursday 23rd April to Wednesday 29th April 2015 Plenary Meeting of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, Cebu, Philippines in preparation for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu January 2016.
Thursday 30th April to Friday, 1st May 2015 Catholic Head Teachers Conference, Crieff Hydro, Crieff.
Friday, 1st May 20157.30pm Confirmations and Parish Visit, Holy Family, Dunblane
page 8 www.dunkelddiocese.org.uk
Youth Ministry Formation
Programme
If you are a Catholic, if you believe that the future of the Church is worth investing some of your time in, and if you are interested in working with young people, then youth minis-try is definitely for you! These are the only credentials that you need to be a potentially
outstanding youth minister in your parish. With a little training and support, you could be doing ‘valuable work’ for our young people and for the
Church. Youth ministry is rewarding, inspir-ing, challenging, and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, absolutely life giving! DYS (the Dunkeld
Youth Service) believe in local, parish based, youth ministry so much that we are offering a number of training and formation opportunities
to active or potential youth ministers in the diocese.
What is it? 8 practical sessions designed for one purpose: to help you to lead the young Church! They are fun, practical, and very
relevant to modern youth ministry.
Who is invited? Catholics of all ages and backgrounds who think that they can step up
to the challenge! You will require PVG (protec-tion of vulnerable groups) membership, which we can arrange for you. It is also important that any youth ministry undertaken in your
parish is done with the approval and partner-ship of your parish priest. S6 pupils partici-
pating in the Caritas Award, and newly qualified Catholic teachers may also find the sessions
invaluable! What’s next? Please request a registration
form and return it to the diocesan youth office (contact details below) asap.
The first session is on the 18th April.
What does it cost? Nothing! It is absolutely free. We would ask that, if possible, your par-ish make a small donation to the youth service
to help fund our work.
Want more information? Contact Frankie McGuire, Diocesan Youth Officer
[email protected] or call Frankie on: 07706610543.
Dunkeld Youth ServiceDiocesan Office
24 – 28 Lawside RoadDundee, DD3 6XY
Youth Mass at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Dundee
@EpiscopusRobson www.dunkelddiocese.org.uk @DunkeldDiocese
Diocese of Dunkeld, Diocesan Centre, 24-28 Lawside Road, Dundee DD3 6XYPlease send us your news and photos for Dunkeld News and our website - [email protected]
