The path ahead

The path ahead

By Ronnie Convery

A roadmap has been produced to set out the next steps in re-organising the Archdiocese into a more effective model of vibrant and evangelising parishes.

Archbishop Nolan launched the ‘Looking to the Future’ initiative earlier this year and put in place five new ‘Deanery Pastoral Councils’ to look at the situation in their local areas and offer guidance on the way forward.

This month new, smaller, ‘Pastoral Areas’ will be created – these will be clusters of parishes which will look at closer collaboration among themselves and opportunities for reaching out in their local area.

Later this autumn, attention will be focused on resources and how they can best be used.

Each deanery will be asked to form a sub-group including one person from each Pastoral Area to examine the distribution of resources – priests, buildings, and parishes – across the deanery. This group will be made up of equal numbers of priests and lay people.

Among the issues this body will tackle are:

• How many parishes are needed to serve the priority task of evangelisation?

• How should priests be distributed?

• How many buildings are needed to serve the Church’s mission locally?

The results of these discussions are to be submitted by St Andrew’s day this year.

In November Fr Stephen Wang, the Rector of the Venerable English College in Rome and founder of the Sycamore.fm programme will address the priests of the Archdiocese, offering new insights on how to encourage people to evangelise.

Sycamore is an informal course about the Christian faith and its relevance for life today. It gives viewers space to meet other people, share ideas, explore their beliefs, and think about questions that really matter. Each session involves a short film and time for discussion.

Archbishop Nolan said: “It is clear from the first round of consultations of the Deanery Pastoral Councils that people recognise the need for change and the need to become more focused on evangelisation.

“What we really need though is a complete change of mindset.

“As Catholics we have been used to keeping our heads down, focusing our efforts on keeping our own flock safe.

“But the Lord is asking us to do more than that. We are to go out to evangelise new territory, new people …

“That means not just encouraging the lapsed to return, but reaching out to those who have never been to church, who have maybe not thought about the big questions of life, those who are searching …

“It means having the courage and the ingenuity to say to our friends and colleagues, when they ask what we are doing at the weekend, ‘Well on Saturday we are visiting relatives, and then shopping. I’m going to Mass on Sunday…’ Just letting people know that we go to Mass in a natural way is a real form of evangelisation.

“A simple, natural way of reaching out to people to bring them closer to God doesn’t need a degree in theology.

“It needs sincerity, a wee bit of courage and an open mind. With these qualities we can become effective and convincing apostles in our own surroundings.”

Friends cross city to evangelise

By Brian Swanson

As enthusiasm grows in response to Archbishop Nolan’s heartfelt plea to make evangelisation a priority throughout the Archdiocese, Flourish can reveal a remarkable story of faith being shared by two close friends.

For the past 13 years, quietly and without fuss, Bill Whiland, 70, and Tony Buesnel, 76, parishioners of St Ninian’s Knightswood, have been delivering what they describe as a ‘very simple but powerful’ evangelisation project which they believe could act as a stimulus to others.

They decided to make their project public after reading Flourish stories about the Archbishop’s vision as well as being inspired by the Holy Father’s practical advice to keep evangelisation simple.

Bill said: “Our project involves three elements – The Cross, pilgrimage, and a first Saturday devotion.

“After early Mass, on every first Saturday, Tony and I set out on our pilgrim journey from our own parish to St Mungo’s Church, Townhead where we pray at the beautiful statue of our Lady of Sorrows.”

And as they walk, they carry with them a number of small olive wood Holding Crosses, sometimes called Comfort Crosses, carved by a Christian community in Bethlehem.

Unlike conventional crosses they are small with rounded corners and designed to fit in the palm of the hand.

Tony added: “We walk by different routes to St Mungo’s and inevitably we meet people along the way, complete strangers, and if the spirit moves us to do so we would offer them a Holding Cross.

“We must have given away hundreds of crosses, and not just on our pilgrim journeys.

“We carry one or two wherever we go. In various ways the crosses have gone all over the world, to Canada, Germany, Russia, and other places. We were even requested to send some to a woman’s prayer group in a small village in Malawi.”

Bill said: “The simplicity is that the Cross carries its own powerful message …I cannot tell you what happens to the people or the crosses once we give them away.

“But the few reports we do have tell of their power and importance to those who receive them. For example, in the last few weeks, we heard of a lady struggling with cancer, whose tears blessed the cross when she received it. Now she would not be without it.

“I know this power of the Holding Cross from my own direct experience. My wife Edith died at home after suffering a terminal illness. The cross offered comfort and strength to all of us through that whole terrible ordeal.

“She was holding her cross when she died.

“Some years later Tony had the same experience when his wife was admitted to St Margaret’s Hospice.

“The Holding Cross provides a very tangible and practical connection to Our Lord and Saviour, not only in times of crisis but as an everyday reminder of who we are and what we believe.

“I am convinced there is much more that can be done with this kind of evangelisation effort – it is not in anyway about us but I believe that Tony and I are being guided every step of the way so we would strongly encourage others to think about what they can do to spread the Good News.”

Vatican cyclists bring Pope’s concern for vulnerable to the ‘dear green place’

By Ronnie Convery

The Pope’s cyclists received a rousing Glasgow welcome when they visited the Dear Green Place last month to take part in the World Cycling Championships.

And even if gold medal glory eluded them, the Vatican team brought the closeness and message of Pope Francis to an event that made headlines round the globe.

The Vatican’s main rider in the showpiece road race which ended in the city centre was Dutchman Rien Schuurhuis – the husband of the Australian Ambassador to the Holy See. He was allowed to start first and was even in the top group for the first part of the long ride.

The aim and purpose of Vatican participation in the world championships is the promotion of athletic values. Rien said: “We have a different objective from the others involved … We go to promote, and not just in words, important values such as brotherhood and inclusion through cycling.”

The team put the Pope’s message of encounter and engagement into action by taking time out for a visit to the Ozanam Centre in Glasgow. There they learned of the work of the St Vincent de Paul Society in the Archdiocese, and the Centre’s programme of offering clothing to those in need.

Former Archdiocesan President Bernice Brady welcomed the athletes who pronounced themselves ‘moved’ and ‘encouraged’ by the work that is carried out by volunteers throughout the year.

The Glasgow project gave them a small plaque of Our Lady of the Wayside to present to Pope Francis to assure him that his message of ‘going to the peripheries’ was being heard and put into practice in Scotland while the cyclists left a Vatican cycling jersey to the Project in memory of their visit.

Sure enough, a few days later the team presented the plaque to the Holy Father at an audience in Rome!

The Vatican visitors also attended Mass in the Cathedral after a stop off to visit the Italian Cloister Garden and admire the monument there.

The Athletica Vaticana team was supported by Arnold Clark’s hire division which offered a van and a vehicle for their stay. The Archdiocese is deeply grateful to the company for their assistance.

Time to wake up to dangers in new bill on assisted suicide

By Frances Burniston

Assisted suicide and euthanasia are firmly on the political agenda for Scotland in 2023.

Assisted suicide is when a doctor prescribes lethal drugs for someone who asks for it.

Euthanasia is when the doctor gives a lethal injection to someone who asks to die. Both are currently illegal.

Liam McArthur MSP lodged a Bill in Holyrood in 2022 to allow assisted suicide for those who are terminally ill, mentally competent and wish to die. We expect to see the detail of the Bill before Christmas and then it will be debated by MSPs in Parliament likely in 2024. MSPs will have the final vote – it is expected to be a free vote (not by party lines).

This is hugely concerning for all of us. It would undermine the value of life of those who are ill and frail, and disadvantages those who are most vulnerable. Some may feel pressurised to take their own lives to stop being a burden to their friends and family.

Scottish palliative care doctors are very troubled by these plans and do not want to participate. It is difficult for doctors to determine who has capacity and who doesn’t, for such crucial decisions. Sometimes people improve unexpectedly, sometimes there are new treatments. But most importantly, we must care for people who are dying, not help to kill them.

However, many of us are not aware of these plans in the Scottish Parliament. Local parishes can play an important role to inform and educate us all about what is happening to equip local people to speak to their MSP.

We can all speak to our MSPs. We all have our constituency MSP but also seven other regional or List MSPs who also represent us in the Scottish Parliament.

The Public Life Group in St Aloysius’, Garnethill, organised three meetings in June to discuss euthanasia in Scotland. We had representatives from Care not Killing, St Margaret’s Hospice and Our Duty of Care to discuss the current political situation, concerns from palliative care doctors and other clinicians.

We also watched video presentations from countries such as Canada where euthanasia has been legalised. The systematic dismantling of safeguards in Canada has been breathtaking over recent years. Euthanasia is now available for those with chronic disability and approved for mental illness but not yet implemented.

We watched a powerful presentation from Dame Tanni Grey Thompson about her concerns for the disabled community in the UK if this were to be legalised. The Care not Killing Scotland website has these presentations available for anyone to watch at www.carenotkilling.scot

These meetings were well attended with lots of helpful questions and comments from the floor.

We would strongly encourage all local parishes to organise similar meetings to enable local people to speak to their MSPs with their concerns backed up by up-to-date information.

We need to act quickly as the legislation is expected before Christmas.

More info from: Care not Killing Scotland: ceo@carenotkilling.org.uk

Our Duty of Care (for health care professionals): info@ourdutyofcare.org.uk