Archbishop’s rallying cry: it’s time to spread the good news!

Archbishop’s rallying cry: it’s time to spread the good news!

By Ronnie Convery

A future built on vibrant, outward-looking parishes, where priests and lay people share the challenge of spreading the good news … that’s the vision outlined by Archbishop Nolan in a powerful pastoral letter which will have a major impact on the faith life of Catholics for years to come.

After a year spent listening and learning, the Archbishop has launched a series of initiatives designed to restore energy and enthusiasm to parishes after the challenges of Covid and prolonged closure, and designed to equip the Archdiocese to face the future.

Among the key points are:

• The establishment of a new £1m fund to support parishes with initiatives to evangelise

• The creation of five new consultative bodies (to be known as ‘deanery councils’) to allow local lay people and priests to recommend how best to organise church life in their local area

• A rallying call for people to live coherent lives which will attract others to the faith.

Later this month a consultation process entitled ‘Looking to the Future’ will be launched with representatives of every parish invited to a meeting at the Archdiocesan Offices. There the new deanery councils made up of one lay person and one priest from each parish will meet and learn what is expected of them.

Archbishop Nolan said it was important that the new consultative bodies should not be seen as mere talking shops but rather as a way of shaping practical proposals for the future.

He said: “It is important that each Deanery Council focuses initially on the vision for the future before turning its attention to how this can be achieved and what practical steps need to be taken within each deanery.

“The Archdiocese will be looking to the Councils to make concrete proposals regarding the use of both personnel and property.”

With the establishment of the five new Deaneries (down from the previous nine) five new Deans have been named to lead the process of consultation. They are: Dunbartonshire West – Fr Aidan Martin, Dunbartonshire East – Fr John Campbell, West – Fr Allan Cameron, North/East – Canon Anthony Gallagher, South – Fr Martin Kane

Archbishop Nolan told Flourish: “The Archdiocese must be outward looking. Any decisions about how to use our resources, including people (whether clergy or lay) and property (whether money or buildings) must be determined by how they can best serve the mission Christ has given the Church.

“We need to remember, of course, that what we are preaching is not the Catholic Church, what we are preaching is Jesus Christ. Our aim is to bring people to Jesus and bring Jesus to the people, so that that encounter will change their lives.

“Sometimes the Church and its members have been a counter sign, discouraging others from coming to Christ. That is why it is so important that we don’t just talk about Jesus but that we put his teachings into practice.”

New catechists are commissioned and ready for action

By Brian Swanson

A new generation of catechists has been commissioned by Archbishop Nolan at a ceremony in the Cathedral and they are now ready, in the words of Pope Francis, to ‘walk with the people of God’ and lead others in understanding their faith.

The commissioning of the eight new catechists and the re- commissioning of 18 others is seen as a hopeful sign for the future.

Once appointed the new catechists serve in parishes working with young people and adults and with those who wish to be received into the Catholic Church under the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) programme.

Archbishop Nolan said: “It was a great joy to commission our catechists and see them head out into parishes with secure formation and real enthusiasm to engage with others.

“It is good to see lay people taking on a role which is rightfully theirs as educators in the faith.”

For the new catechists the commissioning Mass in St Andrew’s Cathedral marked the end of a two-year period during which time they spent one night a week studying for an Award in Catholic Theological Education in a course run in conjunction with the University of Glasgow’s Catholic Education Department.

The Course is overseen by a steering group whose members are Canon Anthony Gallagher, director of religious education for the Archdiocese and Parish Priest at St Catherine Labouré, Balornock, Professor Stephen McKinney, Glasgow University, tutor Ellen McBride, and former catechist student Kathleen Thompson.

Ellen, who has been a parish catechist for more than 30 years and is keen to encourage more candidates to come forward.

She said: “Catechists come from all walks of life and all ages who all have one thing in common and that is a deep faith and a desire to share it with others

“All candidates must have the approval of their parish priest and in a lot of cases the priest will often know of someone in their parish with the right qualities and so he will encourage them to come forward. Speaking to your priest is always a good first step.

“But it does require a commitment. The course is two years long and split into eight different modules and involves attending a study night once a week.

“There are no exams or essays but candidates must give presentations on different topics.

“Those taking part get great encouragement not only during the course but as they continue their journey, for, as Pope Francis said being a catechist is not a job but a vocation.”

To find out more about becoming a catechist and the award in Catholic Theological Education email Christine.Burke@rcag.org.uk

Making memories at St Pat’s

By Ronnie Convery

The parish with – probably! – Scotland’s most viewed church building marked a special anniversary last month as St Patrick’s Anderston celebrated 125 years since the opening of the red sandstone building which is seen by millions of motorists ever year as they cross the Kingston Bridge.

Archbishop Nolan was joined by former Parish Priests and a large congregation of parishioners past and present for an anniversary Mass.

The Anderston Parish has produced many notable public figures over the years including former speaker of the House of Commons, the late Michael Martin, the former head of Europe’s largest education authority, Frank Pignatelli and former Lord Provost Alex Mosson.

When the current church was consecrated in 1950 by Archbishop Campbell the parish had 16,000 parishioners and six priests and a chapel of ease to help overcome the pressure of numbers!

But the construction of the Kingston Bridge in the late 1960s cut a swathe through the middle of the parish, eliminating huge numbers of houses, and led to the redistribution of St Pat’s people to all corners of the city’s new housing schemes.

Today the Parish has a small but devoted congregation who took great pride in creating an anniversary ‘history wall’ recalling the glory days of the parish.

Archbishop Nolan – who is now St Patrick’s best known parishioner as he lives in the presbytery – joined the congregation for the anniversary Mass and recalled the great heritage of faith that is represented by St Patrick’s but also encouraged the parishioners to look forward with positivity and belief.

Canon Paul Gargaro, Parish Priest at St Patrick’s for the last six years, said: “The anniversary has been a great opportunity to bring people together, to share fond memories and to remember those who have gone before us.

“The celebrations ended with a lusty rendition of ‘Hail glorious St Patrick’ which left us all in good heart and spurred us on to keep the faith as we face the challenges of the future.”

Nuns always on the run!

By Brian Swanson

Once a week Sister Mary, a Daughter of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, gets two buses from the southside of Glasgow to the East End of the city.

The journey is by no means a brief one.

Once there, as she has done for many years, she visits the elderly in their homes, bringing Holy Communion on occasions and the gift of friendship always.

Sister Mary is 89.

Should you want an example of the invisibility of the work our religious communities it is surely that of Sister Mary, who has served faithfully as a Daughter for Charity for – and think of this – 67 years.

Resolutely camera-shy and surprised that anyone would be interested in what she does, she said simply: “I do it because I love doing it and I’ll carry on as long as the Lord lets me.”

Women in religious life tend not to make a fuss about what they do so if her dedication seems remarkable to an outsider, it was mentioned almost as an afterthought at the launching of a new project by the Daughters of Charity called the Listening Heart based in a former undertakers premises at 1369 Gallowgate, opposite St Michael’s Church.

However, the logo outside the newly acquired office and the invitation to “Stop and Blether” means that this is one initiative that will be among the most visible that the Daughters of Charity undertake.

Its opening hours are yet to be arranged but for now there is a simple rule for those who need help: If the lights are on – knock and come in!

There are now just seven active Daughters of Charity in the Archdiocese but after hearing what they do behind the scenes the temptation to call them the Magnificent Seven is quite irresistible.

But before hearing about that, one of the other sisters, Sister Maria, who has been co-ordinating the new project, is keen to explain its background and what it is expected to achieve.

She said: “When we hear of need in an area the first thing we do is identify what exactly that need is.

“Collaboration is the key to what we do in projects like this so for the Listening Heart we started with lots of Googling …

“Then we talked to schools in the area, the churches, Catholic and otherwise, we spoke to doctors’ surgeries, all sorts of health professionals, and as many people and organisations as we could think of to see if we could find exactly what people needed and how we could help.

“It took time, but we wanted to get it right.

“After that research the main thing we found that people had no one to talk to and therefore nowhere to go with their worries and of course Covid made it so much worse because they were stuck – literally – in their houses.

Burdens

“People carry burdens and they have nowhere to take them, the problems fester and then they become a huge issue but a problem shared is a problem halved.

“But we do not think for one minute we will solve people’s problems – people solve their own problems, but we are here to listen.

“So, we call this project the listening heart because we listen with our heart but without judging.

“Basically, we will signpost people where they should go, and we can only do that by working very closely with all the many agencies in the area.

A good collective noun for the sisters might be a ‘blessing’ of nuns or perhaps, given that they are a cheery bunch, a ‘giggle’ of Sisters who were welcoming to this scribe whom they mercilessly teased about his choice of pink socks.

The mood turned more serious when they talk about the troubled souls they help. They stand in solidarity alongside drug addicts, alcoholics, pregnant teenage girls and abused women.

They are there at the foodbanks looking out for the lost and the lonely, the marginalised who have little food and even less hope, giving them practical support regardless of that individual’s faith and never making judgment.

Sister Marie, with more than 50 years of service, is happy to talk about her work as chaplain at The Space in Govanhill, founded by the Daughters of Charity 10 years ago and regarded as one its most successful projects working to improve the lives of disadvantaged families, including the Roma population said to be the largest in Scotland.

Wonderful

Sister Marie said: “It’s been wonderful to see it grow over the years. I’m just a small part of a team – but I assist wherever I can. I help with the English language classes but really I do whatever is needed. Mostly people often just want to talk over a cup of tea and sometimes they’ll tell me their problems and I’m happy to listen because that’s often all they want – a good listener.”

It’s a template that has worked so well for The Space and given the faith and enthusiasm of those behind the Listening Heart there’s every reason to believe that it too will become another very successful sister act.