160894 lotn summer 2016

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I am the Light of the World Pastoral letter from Bishop Hugh Gilbert Page 4

Ordination of Peter Macdonald at St Mary’s Cathedral Page 9

North Is s u e 32, S u m m er, 2016 “Ten things you didn’t know about Scalan” Prue King Page20

Free Catholic Prayer App for your smart phone Page 10

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Diocesan Pilgrimage to Pluscarden

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he annual Aberdeen Diocesan Pilgrimage to Pluscarden Abbey took place on Sunday 26th June.

It was a splendid occasion even though the pilgrims had to brave some inclement weather. Mass was celebrated at 3.30pm in the Abbey, beginning with the entrance procession accompanied by the singing of the opening hymn to Our Lady of Aberdeen.

The Introit and Responsorial Psalm were sung by the Diocesan Choir while the congregation joined in with the Gloria. The beautifully moving homily was given by Father Ghassan Sahoui SJ from Syria. The Credo in Latin was led by the monks of Pluscarden and during the presentation of the gifts, the African choir sang a tribal hymn from the Niger Delta Mike Jiru (We praise you) as well as Bofi Da Zesu (Body of Jesus) during distribution of Communion.

The Litany of Loreto was led by Br Michael de Klerk after which Bishop Hugh said a prayer to Our Blessed Lady. Abbot Anselm led the congregation in a decade of the Rosary and

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Bishop Hugh pronounced the final blessing and in conclusion the Salve Regina was sung.

Unfortunately, the weather did take its toll and sadly the beautiful day deteriorated with heavy rain which meant that the traditional procession to St Benedict’s Garden had to be cancelled.

However, after Mass the African Choir entertained the pilgrims in the Abbey with some wonderfully joyous music which had many, including the Pluscarden monks, led by Fr Giles Conacher, ‘dancing in the aisles’. A truly wonderful occasion!

Claire Kellock, a parishioner from the Parish of Our Lady Star of the Sea and St Drostan in Fraserburgh, recalled the liturgy of the Mass for the Light of the North Photographs courtesy of Michal Wachucik

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contents diocese 2 liturgy 15 educationandformation 16 faithandculture 19 humour 34 crossword 35

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Fleaing from our conditioning

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omeone may want to correct me but, as far as I know, there isn’t an Olympic Games for animals but, if there were, would fleas be allowed to compete in the high jump?

Amazingly, fleas are able to jump up to two feet in order to land on a new “host” to feed and breed. When you consider their body size, that would be equivalent to a human jumping about 100 yards!

Until recently I hadn’t known that fleas can be trained but it seems that it’s possible, even though the end result might not be a gold medal!

The flea trainer places his fleas in a jar with the lid on. He then shakes the jar to get the fleas stirred up. The stimulus causes them to jump, using the energy stored in a springy pad above their hind legs, to catapult themselves into the air. Of course they hit the lid of the jar at full tilt which, as they do this over and over again in their efforts to escape, tends to give them rather a headache! After a while a special flea hormone called Excedrin 1738 kicks in and forces them to stop jumping as high as the lid. But the interesting thing happens when the flea trainer now removes the lid of the jar. The fleas can’t spring out because they have conditioned themselves to jump short of the lid.

Ironically, like the flea, it sometimes seems that the greatest limits to our freedom often come not from outside of us, but from within us. It’s probably fair to say that most of us are, to some extent, prisoners of own perceived limitations. Like the flea, we have developed a mindset which doesn’t allow us to jump quite as high as we should. We need to remind ourselves of Christ’s promise in the first sermon he ever preached, that He has come to open the prison door, to release the captives and to proclaim freedom in every corner of our lives.

But now to this issue of the magazine: despite all the political turmoil we have witnessed these last few weeks, and please do read Bishop Hugh’s pastoral letter on page four, there’s also lots of encouraging news for the Diocese, including the ordination of Peter Macdonald, the ordination of Andrew Niski as Deacon (his final step towards priestly ordination) and the acceptance as candidates for holy orders, two of our seminarians, Emmet O’Dowd and Rafał Szweda.

Have a great summer.

Cowan

up front

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he cover of our summer issue shows a detail from a strikingly contemporary looking stained glass window which can be found in the south-east wall of the transept of St. James’ Church, Glenbeigh, County Kerry, Ireland. The window depicts the Queen of Heaven with a Rosary and is signed, Earley Studios, Dublin, 1954.

Pope Pius XII established the Feast of the Queenship of Mary in 1954 and it is now celebrated on the 22nd August. The feast has its roots in Scripture and is also celebrated in the 5th Glorious Mystery of the Rosary. At the Annunciation the Archangel Gabriel declared that Mary’s Son would receive the throne of David and rule forever. At the Visitation her cousin Elizabeth calls Mary “Mother of my Lord.” As in all the mysteries of Mary’s life, she is closely associated with Jesus: her queenship is a share in His kingship.

We don’t know the artist responsible for the window but it dates back to the days of the Earley & Co Studios, which were established in Dublin in 1852. The architect Augustus Welby Pugin, famous for his Gothic Revival style and his work on the Palace of Westminster, trained the two founding brothers, Thomas and John Earley who made their names as church decorators including stained-glass-window design.

The studios closed in 1975 after being run by the Earley family for more than a century. In their heydey they had 100 employees and were considered to be one of the largest and most prestigious ecclesiastical decorators both in Ireland and the U.K. Artists who worked at the Earley Studios included the father of Easter Rising leader Padraig Pearse who worked as a sculptor for the studios and writer Brendan Behan who worked there as a painter.

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A Letter from Bishop Hugh Gilbert O.S.B.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The recent Referendum has thrown us into uncertainty. Some of this, please God, will be of short duration, but other elements will be with us for longer. We are not used to this. The whole world, indeed, seems particularly volatile and tormented at present. Pope Francis’ call for a Year of Mercy seems increasingly timely.

It’s not the role of a bishop to offer political opinions, but surely we can ask ourselves, as Catholic Christians, how to respond to the present situation. What might our faith, hope and love urge us to offer?

Prayer, first of all. ‘First of all, says St Paul, there should be prayers offered for everyone…and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet’ (1 Tim 2:1). The liturgical form this takes is the Prayer of the Faithful at Mass – something not to be undervalued, something to come from the heart.

Secondly, we will need an array of social virtues to meet the challenges ahead: wisdom and courage, a sense of solidarity and the common good, the overcoming of selfish interests. Civility seems especially needed. In matters of free political debate, it is better, as St Ignatius of Loyola says, ‘to put a good interpretation on another’s statement than to condemn it as false’ (Spiritual Exercises §22). One of our parishes has been recently offering study and discussion on Catholic Social Teaching. This too would be timely.

There is something else though. In times of transition, things usually hidden can surface. They can be dark. Our political leaders have already spoken out against recent expressions of xenophobia (hatred of foreigners) directed at people from elsewhere living in our country. There has been a rash of them. They are deplorable. As people who believe that all men and women are created in the image and likeness of God and who have received the grace of belonging to a Church called Catholic, we should be especially sensitive here.

More so still in our diocese, where we have welcomed so many fellow-believers from other countries, not least those of the EU. Our governments will, we hope, offer those from abroad the practical

reassurances they deserve. But beyond that and in the context of our parishes and communities, we must reaffirm our love of them as our brothers and sisters in Christ and show our gratitude for their presence, their faith and a fervour that often puts us to shame. The New Testament describes Gentile, non-Jewish Christians as ‘aliens’ and ‘foreigners’ who, by God’s grace, have been given a place in the Temple of God which is the Church (cf. Eph 2:11-22). What we have received, we should give. Other passages describe Christians as nomads, migrants, refugees, displaced persons, pilgrims making their way through this world to heaven (e.g. 1 Pt 1:1; 2:11; Hebrews ch. 11). ‘For there is no eternal city for us in this life, but we look for one in the life to come’ (Heb 13:14). In our own society, trying to be a consistent Catholic Christian will, anyway, place us at the margins. We will feel inwardly estranged from much going on around us. We can’t always join in the party. All this should make us sensitive to those who are refugees or migrants or marginal in the more obvious social senses. We should recognise ourselves in them – and recognise Christ. ‘I was a stranger and you made me welcome’ – or did not – he will say (Mt 25: 35, 43). ‘While we have the opportunity, then, says St Paul, let us do good to all, and especially to our brothers and sisters in the faith’ (Gal 6:10).

In the name of the diocese, therefore, I would like to reassure all those in our congregations from elsewhere, and especially from the EU, that they are a welcome and cherished presence. We are grateful for the riches you bring. We would be poorer without you.

We wish you to keep your own forms of Catholic culture and at the same time take an ever fuller part in our Catholic life here. We don’t want you to leave. We want to make our common pilgrimage of faith with you, in the communion of the one Church of Christ, turned to ‘the one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all’ (Eph 4:6).

Beyond all politics, ‘leaving’ and ‘remaining’ are the two sides of life and history. We live change and stability, stability and change.

One grace of a time of transition is that it compels us towards what is firm and lasting. We are stripped of the secondary and can rediscover the essential. ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’, said Jesus as he was about to leave his disciples for the Cross. ‘Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty…Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love’ (Jn 15:5, 9-10).

One of those commandments is to love the stranger in our midst.

May we do so.

Devotedly in Christ, + Hugh OSB Sent as a Pastoral Letter, 3 July 2016.

Monastic Experience Weekend at Pluscarden Abbey Friday 19th to Monday 22nd August 2016

Interested in taking part?

Contact Fr Benedict Hardy OSB via: email – novicemaster@pluscardenabbey.org write to – Pluscarden Abbey, Elgin, IV30 8UA or call – 01343 890257 Page 4

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Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia at Greyfriars

An example of mercy to inspire the entire Church

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Sr Anna Christi

ucked away deep in the south of the Netherlands, in the picturesque town of Echt, is a tiny convent of Carmelite nuns who daily lift their voices in prayer and petition for the entire world. Their cloisters are hallowed by decades of penance and prayer and by the witness of one of their famous sisters, St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as St. Edith Stein. For it was here that she spent her last days, offering her life for her people, eventually being arrested at the very cloister door by the Gestapo. Her feast day is celebrated on 9 August and in this Jubilee Year of Mercy she serves as an example of mercy to inspire the entire Church. St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross’s tortuous path to Echt had well prepared her for her destiny.

Edith Stein, the daughter of a devout Jewish couple, was born on the highest Jewish holy day, the Day of Atonement, in 1891. On the Day of Atonement, the Jews pray, fast, and repent of their sins, invoke the mercy of God and those they have offended, and extend charity to their neighbours. This holy day well symbolizes the kind of life Edith was ultimately called to live.

Edith’s father died while she was still a child and her capable and resourceful mother was left to raise their eleven children and manage a thriving family timber business. Edith was exceptionally bright and, supported by her family, forged a brilliant academic path, ultimately obtaining her doctorate in philosophy and a teaching position at the University of Fribourg. Her studies were interrupted for a time by the First World War, to which Edith contributed by working as a trained nurse in a disease-outbreak prevention ward. Back at the university, Edith studied under the renowned phenomenologist, Edmund Husserl, seeking to observe and explain objective reality through

Edith Stein, also known as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

personal experience rather than through pre-conceived philosophical categories, as that school of philosophy proposes. She had a special interest in the topic of empathy, observing and articulating the experience of feeling another’s pain as one’s own. During this time, Edith enjoyed many good friendships and contributed significantly to her academic and social milieu.

While Edith was on holiday with Catholic friends in 1921, she chanced upon a book in their library which she devoured in one night. Looking up from The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, Edith declared, “This is truth,” and immediately pursued instruction in the Faith and was baptized in the Catholic Church a few months later. Though she desired to enter religious life, her spiritual director dissuaded her and hence she began a nine-year career as a secondary school teacher in a Dominican nuns’ boarding school in Speyer, Germany. During her time there, her spiritual life deepened, she wrote beautifully about the education of women, and she continued to be engaged in the academic world of phenomenology. She obtained a post as a lecturer in 1932 at the Institute for Scientific Pedagogy, but was forced to step down due to Nazi anti-Semitic policies in 1933.

Edith was not daunted, but used this as an opportunity to pursue the calling she had long heard in her heart. She became a Carmelite nun in Cologne in 1933, receiving the religious name Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Those who lived with her noted her genuine, humble bearing, her cheerfulness and thoughtfulness towards those in community, her exactness in following the Carmelite rule, and her deep contemplative spirit. During her time in Carmel, she completed a philosophical treatise which sought to synthesize the phenomenological and Thomistic schools of philosophy and a spiritual work focusing on the primacy of love and the Cross in the Christian life.

As the threat of arrest for all people of Jewish origin became more severe in Germany, Sr. Teresa Benedicta and her biological sister Rosa, who had also become Catholic, were sent to Echt, Netherlands in 1939. There, she was given permission by her superiors to offer her life in atonement to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary for peace in the world. She was convinced that her destiny lay with her people and indeed, she was arrested from the Carmelite convent in Echt on 2 August 1942 for the simple crime of being a Jew. Her prayerful, peaceful demeanour impressed all those around her, as she sought to lighten the sorrow and discomfort of her fellow prisoners. She died, most likely on 9 August 1942, in a mass gas chamber.

Edith Stein embodied throughout her life as a student, nurse, teacher, friend, and nun the empathy of which she had so eloquently written. Her act of self-offering in atonement for the sins of her people and nation was united to that of Christ, our true atonement for sin. In this year of Mercy, as we seek to become instruments of mercy ourselves, let us ask St. Edith Stein to intercede for these graces for us.

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Holy Family Sisters of the Needy warmly welcomed to Aberdeen

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ive 'Holy Family Sisters of the Needy' congregation were officially welcomed by Bishop Hugh at the 11.15 Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen on Sunday 24 April.

Three of the Nigerian congregation will remain to work at the Cathedral and in the Aberdeen Deanery.

In his address Bishop Hugh said: "I welcome most warmly to the Cathedral and the Diocese the Holy Family Sisters of the Needy.

They are beginning with us their first Scottish mission and I am confident the Holy Spirit and the Catholics of Aberdeen will help them pray and work among us to good effect.”

“This Congregation of consecrated women is one of the many signs of life in the Church in Nigeria which are becoming gifts to the Universal Church. Founded in 1983 as a response to the dark legacy of the Nigerian Civil War, they have now spread not only to other countries in Africa, but to Italy, France, the USA, England and now Scotland.”

“Their focus is on imparting the Catholic faith and a healthy moral lifestyle to the young, on building a culture of life and on reaching out in partnership with other agencies especially to vulnerable girls and young women. Their style is a professionalism imbued with Christian compassion. Their inspiration, the dedication of St Paul

TheSisters with Bishop Hugh Gilbert, Cathedral Administrator Fr Keith Herrera and Deacon Tony Schmitz (Michal Wachucik) and the simple trust in God of St Therese of Lisieux. May their coming be a grace for us all."

Blessing of new convent in Aberdeen’s Huntly Street

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Fr Stuart Chalmers, members of the St Andrew Community, Fr Keith Herrera, the Holy Family Sisters of the Needy, Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB and Fr Tomasz klin (Michal Wachucik)

n Wednesday 25th May the Holy Family Sisters of the Needy Convent at 23 Huntly Street, Aberdeen was officially opened and blessed by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB. Sr Mary Joseph HFSN commented: “It is a hugely significant day for us when our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ came to be reposed in the Blessed Sacrament for the first time in our new convent.”

Quoting from the Psalms, Sr Mary Joseph added, “ This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.”

St Mary's Beauly Pilgrimage to Pluscarden

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s part of parish Jubilee of Mercy events, Father Maximilian Nwosu CCE and Father James Anyaegbu CCE, led a group of pilgrims, mainly from Saint Mary's, Beauly and Our Lady & Saint Bean, Marydale, Cannich on a day pilgrimage to Pluscarden Abbey. Father Martin greeted the group then handed over to Father Giles who later in the day gave two talks on the theme of Christ's Mercy. The pilgrims entered through the Holy Door of Pluscarden Abbey and then there were opportunities for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, reflection, group discussion and Mass in the Abbey Church concelebrated by Fr Maximilian and Father Giles. Everyone agreed it was a marvellous day and all left spiritually renewed and looking forward to another Parish Pilgrimage.

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Fr Maximilian, Fr Giles, Father James with the Pluscarden pilgrims

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Are you a retired journalist or just media savvy?

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re you able to write up short pieces for events and publicity in your church and parish? If so, your Diocesan Communications Officer needs you!

Glen Reynolds is searching for volunteers who can organise press coverage so that text and photographs are quickly submitted to him before an onward journey to the religious and secular press throughout the Diocese, in Scotland and beyond. The regional and national press has both indicated and demonstrated an openness to covering many more articles from our parishes than was previously the case, and we must seize this opportunity.

In January, the Holy Father emphasised the role of effective communication within this Year of Mercy. He said "The Holy Year of Mercy invites all of us to reflect on the relationship between communication and mercy. The Church, in union with Christ, the living incarnation of the Father of Mercies, is called to practise mercy as the distinctive trait of all that she is and does. What we say and how we say it, our every word and gesture, ought to express God's compassion, tenderness and forgiveness for all...Communication has the power to build bridges, to enable encounter and inclusion, and thus to enrich society."

Pope Francis went on to comment upon how emails, text messages, social networks and chats can also be fully human forms of communication. He said, "It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal. Social networks can facilitate relationships and promote the good of society, but they can also lead to further polarization and division between

Dr Glen Reynolds, Communications and Evangelisation Officer for the BIshop and Diocese. individuals and groups. The digital world is a public square, a meetingplace where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks. I pray that this Jubilee Year, lived in mercy, "may open us to even more fervent dialogue so that we might know and understand one another better; and that it may eliminate every form of closed-mindedness and disrespect, and drive out every form of violence and discrimination."

There is no doubt that communication in the 21st century, wherever and however it takes place, has opened up broader horizons for many people. The Holy Father has called it a "gift of God which involves a great responsibility." In a broken, fragmented and polarized world, to communicate with mercy means to help create a healthy, free and fraternal closeness between the children of God and all our brothers and sisters in the one human family.

If you would like to offer to help, please email Dr Glen Reynolds at reynoldsglen59@hotmail.co.uk or for a chat call 01346-561364, and be part of communicating the good works of the Diocese, to as many people as possible.

Catenian Grand President’s visit to Aberdeen

Grand President of the Catenians David Rowley and his wife Eileen were guests at a Catenian Meeting in Bishop’s House, Aberdeen on Saturday 5th June. Also attending was the director of Province 22, Eddie O’Donnell and his wife Catherine (centre left), along with Provincial President John McLean (centre right) and visitors from Dundee. The meeting was followed by dinner and musical entertainment provided by Peter Helms. To round- off the evening everyone joined in singing ‘The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen’.

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Aberdeen candidates for Holy Orders

Emmanuel, Rafał and Emmet with Bishop Brian Farrell, Scots College staff and Deacons Paul Denney (L) and Jonathon Whitworth (R) On Thursday 12th May, two seminarians from Aberdeen Diocese, Emmet O'Dowd and Rafał Szweda, were admitted to Candidacy along with Emmanuel Alagbaoso from Argyll and the Isles (i.e. recognised as candidates for later ordination). The Candidacy Mass took place in the Main Chapel of the Scots College and the celebrant was Bishop Farrell.

Emmet and Rafał share with us their thoughts at this seminal moment in their lives: Emmet O'Dowd I have just been admitted as a candidate for Holy Orders. That means that, all going well, in two years time I will be ordained as a Catholic Priest for the Diocese of Aberdeen. Some people may think that to become a Priest all that you do is think about it, pray about it, go to the seminary, and seven years later you come back as a Priest.

Of course you do all that too!

It may not sound like it, but up to this point, my first five years, it has been 'unofficial'. That is because a seminary is not only a place where you become a priest, but also a place where you try and figure out what God wants you to do with your life. Several of the friends I've made along the way have left, realising that God was asking them to do something else. It's been as right for them to go as it has been for me to stay. But you can't discern forever, somewhere along the way you have to 'stand up and be counted' and that's what candidacy is like.

For us in the Scots College, we receive candidacy in our fifth year.

Quite literally we stand up in front of a Bishop, our families, our friends and fellow seminarians during Mass, and publicly ask to be considered for ordination as Priests.

We resolve to get ready to become Priests to the best of our abilities, and we resolve to get ready to serve the people in our parishes as best we can. The Bishop, on behalf of whole Church, then publicly and officially accepts our request for candidacy. We then begin the final leg of our preparations. There are still two more years before we become priests, and there is still no guarantee either from us or from the Church that this will happen. Either one of us could back out if we felt it was the right thing to do. Now however, we've asked publicly to be ordained and the Church has publicly accepted us candidates for ordination.

There are two questions and a prayer during Mass on our resolve and desire to prepare to be Priests and to serve the people in the Diocese, to which we were asked to respond, 'I am', 'I am', 'Amen' respectively - they were were my responses on Thursday night.

In those responses, I freely and happily said yes to the next stage

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of my journey. But as I think back, it's not necessarily the answer I would have given even five or ten years ago, while I was still working, or even when I had just entered the seminary. I don't think I would have been ready.

There has been no particular formula to it getting this far, I hadn't it all mapped out. I was happily working in Inverness and around the northeast of Scotland. Having studied pharmacy at RGU I had no intention of leaving that and entering the seminary. There was no booming voice, no compulsion to become a Priest. Only slowly, as I worked in Inverness and got involved in my parish, did the idea of becoming a priest come to me. It stayed with me and grew and developed over time.

I'm convinced that God calls each of us to something, I look at my married friends from RGU and I am so happy that they have found each other, but I believe that God is calling me to the Priesthood instead. I gave an initial yes to that idea when I entered the seminary, and last Thursday night was the right time for me to say yes again.

Rafał Szweda It has been almost five years since I joined the Pontifical Scots College in Rome and today is a very special day for me. Together with two other seminarians we have been admitted as candidates for Holy Orders. Admission as a candidate has two aspects: The candidate is publicly declaring that he is committing himself to a program of formation for service to God as an ordained minister.

And the Catholic Church is publicly accepting the aspirant into the ranks of the candidates for Holy Orders.

Today's ceremony was remarkable. I felt very happy and moved.

My heart was filled with joy and peace when I was able to express publicly my desire to serve God. A parallel that comes to my mind would be of the situation when a man and woman publicly announce their engagement. They are not married yet but they have made a public commitment to do so in the near future. If then, we can say that a Priest is, metaphorically speaking, married to the Church and to God, then Admission to Candidacy is like the public announcement of the "engagement" between the candidate and God. For me it is a very important step in my journey towards priesthood. I feel very humbled by the fact that today, Holy Mother Church has honoured me by publicly confirming my vocation to the priesthood. I know that many people are praying for me, and today especially, I feel the power of the prayers of my family, friends and all the members of the community of the Scots College.

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Ordination of Peter Macdonald

The essential rite of the sacrament of ordination, the laying on of hands and prayer of consecration (Michal Wachucik)

Fr Peter Macdonald celebrating his first Mass at St Peter’s, Aberdeen (Michal Wachucik)

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n Monday 13th June, at St Mary’s Cathedral in Aberdeen, the first ordination of a priest in the Diocese for five years took place with a packed congregation in attendance.

Peter Macdonald, a man with strong Aberdeen and Shire roots, was the happy recipient of this gift, vocation and celebration, which follows on from his life as a Deacon. Peter said, “Joachim du Bellay, the 16th Century French poet said: ‘Happy is he who like Ulysses has taken a wondrous journey.’

However, like all journeys what makes it so special are those whom we encounter and who accompany us on the way, in particular my dear, very patient wife, Bernadette who travelled with me on the journey for forty-three years, thirty nine as husband and wife.”

Bishop Hugh Gilbert commented in his address, “ One can only wonder at Peter’s Odyssey. It is a privilege for me as Bishop to be conferring the Sacrament of Holy Orders on such a man. May the diocese be blessed by many years of his priestly ministry.”

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ishop Hugh Gilbert presented Ian Forbes, Manager of Blairs Museum in Aberdeen, with the the Pro Ecclesia Pontifice Award, given by the Pope to those who have rendered distinguished service to the Church and the highest papal award a lay person can receive.

A very surprised Ian said, "I had no idea that I had been nominated and so I was astonished and completely taken aback when, at what I thought was a routine committee meeting, Bishop Hugh announced: ‘Ian, it is on behalf of Pope Francis…’ Having registered that I was receiving a papal award, I felt deeply honoured. As the current custodian of Blairs Museum, I was enormously grateful, privileged, and delighted to accept the award in recognition of the work of all who have contributed to the Museum - staff and volunteers past and present, the Friends of Blairs, and all the Museum’s supporters."

Ian was a student at Blairs College, the Scottish National Junior Seminary, from 1968-1972 and from 1977 he taught at the Seminary until its closure in 1986. In 2009 he was invited to take on the role of manager of the Blairs Museum which is located in the former college sacristy and oratory.

Fr Peter with Fr Gábor Czakó, Parish Priest of St Peter’s Aberdeen (Michal Wachucik)

Museum manager’s papal award

Ian Forbes, Manager of Blairs Museum, receives the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Award from Bishop Hugh Gilbert (Michal Wachucik) Page 9

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Year of Mercy Jubilee for Deacons

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n Friday 27th May, some two thousand deacons from all over the globe participated in the ‘Year of Mercy Jubilee for Deacons’ and Tony Schmitz, Permanent Deacon at St Mary’s Cathedral in Aberdeen, was there to deliver a presentation on “The Deacon as an Image of Mercy in pastoral work”.

Along with Deacon Tony the Scottish deacons were represented by Graham Kelly from Paisley Diocese and Bill McMillan and Tom Gorman from the Diocese of Motherwell.

The three-day event, and the largest gathering of deacons ever held, ended with a magnificent Papal Mass on Sunday morning in St Peter’s Square, after which Pope Francis met each of the speakers and their wives.

“A truly memorable event,” said Deacon Tony, “with a very strong sense of the fraternity between deacons, whether from Mumbai, Natal, Buenos Aires, New York or Aberdeen.”

Deacon Tony Schmitz with Pope Francis

Polish First Communions at St Mary’s Inverness

Parish Priest, Fr. James Bell and Polish Chaplain, Fr. Piotr Rytel together with the First Communicants A group of around 30 Polish school children from Inverness and Ross-shire (Dingwall, Muir of Ord and Alness), recently received their First Holy Communion at St. Mary's Church, Huntly Street, Inverness.

Their Polish Chaplain, Fr. Piotr Rytel helped prepare them for receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion. He thanked their teachers, parents and catechists for preparing them for their special day of receiving their First Holy Communion.

The Primary four and Primary five pupils are pictured holding an individual loaf of bread. This is an old Polish custom which continues today in certain regions across Europe.

Fr. Piotr Rytel explained, "The bread was baked by hand, in the traditional way, by a Polish parishioner, who shares my enthusiasm to continue the custom of using the small traditional loaf of bread as a symbol of the Holy Eucharist."

Free Prayer App for readers of the Light of the North If you have an Android phone you can download our free Catholic prayer app from our website at www.lightofthenorth.org The app includes Mass prayers and responses, Marian prayers, Marian antiphons, the Rosary, prayers of the Saints, Litanies, Stations of the Cross and a useful facility for recording prayer intentions.

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New Director of Music for Diocesan Choir

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s one of the founder members of the Aberdeen Diocesan Choir and having contributed to its development since its establishment in 2001, I was very pleased to be invited by Bishop Hugh Gilbert to accept the post of Director of Music in January 2016.

The Aberdeen Diocesan Choir serves the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen by enhancing a number of its liturgies.

The Choir was founded by David Meiklejohn who directed the choir until taking up a lecturing post at Maryvale Institute in Birmingham in September 2009. It was then that Bishop Peter Moran appointed Dr Roger Williams to the post of Director of Music and the choir continued to improve and expand its repertoire under his direction until he resigned in October 2015.

As a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music with many years’ experience of successfully training choirs, I am delighted to apply this experience in supporting such an enthusiastic and committed group of singers who generously give so much time serving the Diocese in such an important ministry. With the support and encouragement of the Bishop, clergy and parishioners, the choir continues to be a vital force within the life of the Diocese. We have a wide repertoire of sacred choral music and sing at major diocesan and other key parish events.

New members are always welcome, especially tenors and basses! Rehearsals are on Tuesday evenings at 7.30pm in the

Liz Meiklejohn, the new Director of Music with the Aberdeen Diocesan Choir Upper Hall at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Previous choir experience is helpful but not essential. If you enjoy singing and would like to join us please contact our secretary, Paula Silvester, for further information at paulasilvester@hotmail.com Liz Meiklejohn

Deacon Paul Lippok retiring from active duty

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n Thusday 12 May Deacon Paul Lippok received gifts from Bishop Hugh Gilbert and Deacon Tony Schmitz to mark his service as a deacon at Tain for the past 19 years. Paul, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, is now retiring from active duty.

The much-loved deacon, a German World War ll veteran and prisoner of war, who decided to stay in Ross-shire instead of returning to his homeland, has set down his compelling story in a fascinating new book, My Story, My Journey (from Silesia to Scotland).

You can read a review of Paul’s book on page 31

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB ordained Andrew Niski as Deacon, the final step before ordination to the priesthood.

He is pictured above with three of the Aberdeen Diocese seminarians, Dominic Nwaigwe, Emmet O'Dowd and Malachy Eze. Also present are Fr.James Bell and Fr. Domenico Zanrè from Inverness.

The Ordination took place on Saturday 2nd July at St. John's Seminary in Wonersh, near Guildford in Surrey.

Deacon Andrew has been assigned by Bishop Hugh to serve at St Mary's, Inverness during his period as a Deacon.

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diocese

Fort Augustus Confirmations

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n Sunday the 19th of June Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB visited St. Peter and St. Benedict’s Parish, Fort Augustus to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to Christina (Bona of Pisa) Stephenson, Mungo (Francis) Blakey and Ronan(Patrick) Blakey.

After the Confirmation Mass there was a celebratory supper which was attended

by Bishop Hugh, the Parish Priest, Fr. Andrew Harden SJ and parishioners.

Scalan’s 300th anniversary Mass

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congregation of around 260 pilgrims gathered for the Annual Mass at the Secret Seminary of Scalan, in the Braes of Glenlivet, near Tomintoul in Moray.

This year marks the 300th anniversary of the foundation of the seminary which was responsible for the training of at least 64 priests.

Every year a Mass is held on the first Sunday in July at 4 pm to commemorate its history and as an inspiration for the future of the Catholic Church in hard times.

Archbishop Leo Cushley was the main celebrant but also in attendance were the Bishop of Galloway, William Nolan; the Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia; the Archbishop of Detroit USA, Allen Vigneron and Archbishop Emeritus of Glasgow, Mario Conti.

Confirmations and First Communions at St Columba’s

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to five candidates at St. Columba’s Church, Culloden, Inverness while seven children received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. In two joyful celebrations the chuch was packed with family and friends who continued the celebrations with a splendid outdoor tea party in the summer sunshine.

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diocese

The Power of Grace Retreat 2016

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oung people from across the Diocese came together for a day of fellowship, catechesis, and prayer on Saturday 11th June. The event, which was truly enjoyed by everyone who attended, was organised by the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia in Greyfriars Convent, Elgin.

Here’s How to ...........

Pass the family home down a generation

A se r look ies whi c s prac at som h t and ical iss e ue co eve ncerns s ryda y life of .

Chiara Tancredi

T

he introduction of the new residential nil rate band (RNRB) by the government has had a considerable impact on estate planning and you may wish to review your current Will or seek advice on setting up a Will in light of the changes. The key for testators is to ensure that their main residence is dealt with correctly under their Will in order to secure the new relief.

Present law At present, the law provides that each person has a ‘nil rate band’ of £325,000 below which inheritance tax (IHT) is not chargeable. IHT is charged at the rate of 40 percent on the value of an estate in excess of £325,000. The nil rate band is transferable between spouses so there is the potential for a married couple to have a total allowance of £650,000 free of IHT. There has previously never been a specific exemption for residences passing to children or grandchildren but the new law has changed this.

The changes From 6th April 2017 changes to the Inheritance Tax Act mean that estates will benefit from an additional tax exemption, the RNRB, if the deceased’s interest in a residential property is left upon death to one or more direct descendants (ie children, grandchildren or great grandchildren). The RNRB will be £100,000 initially, increasing to £175,000 by 2021. This means that for an individual the total nil rate band will increase to up to £500,000, and for a married couple to up to £1,000,000, if

a qualifying property is left to direct descendants. The aim of the government is that the new law will reduce the burden of IHT for many families by making it easier to pass the family home down a generation without an IHT charge.

Application of the new law There are a number of conditions to be satisfied before the new relief applies. Firstly, there must be a ‘qualifying residential interest’. This means that the deceased must own a property which either is, or has been, his residence. There is no requirement for the property to ever have been the deceased’s main residence and it is not necessary for the deceased to have been living in the residence at the date of death. If the deceased had more than one qualifying residence an election can be made for any of the residences to be treated as the qualifying residence.

Secondly, the residence must be ‘closely inherited’, which means that it must be transferred (generally on death, by Will or intestate succession) to ‘lineal descendants’ of the deceased.

Interestingly, the legislation provides that the group of ‘lineal Page 13

diocese descendants’ not only includes children and grandchildren of the deceased but also step-children, adopted children and foster children, together with minors for whom the deceased was a legal guardian. It also includes spouses or civil partners of a lineal descendant, provided that the spouse or civil partner has not remarried at the time of the death.

Careful planning is required for estates valued in excess of £2 million If a person has an estate valued in excess of £2 million, the RNRB begins to reduce, with the effect that if their estate is valued in excess of £2.2 million the relief is lost altogether.

Aggregation of estates on the death of the first spouse can therefore result in the loss of the RNRB on the second death if the estate of the survivor increases so much in value (due to inheritance from the first spouse’s estate) that it is then valued in excess of £2 million. It is therefore important that careful consideration is given in such circumstances, and in some cases there may good reason not to pass everything to the surviving spouse upon the first death. It may now be more tax efficient to instead pass the house (or the deceased’s share of the house) to the children upon first death in order to utilise the relief.

Special provisions to cover downsizing Special rules have also been introduced to protect those who downsize, as there was concern that the new legislation would act as a disincentive for elderly people living in large expensive homes to move to smaller properties. The new rules allow people who have owned valuable homes to defer the RNRB until death even if they have not lived in the property

Page 14

for quite some time. The RNRB also applies to the proceeds of sale of a larger property, provided that the deceased left the smaller residence (or assets of equivalent value) to direct descendants.

Who loses out?

Unfortunately those who have no offspring cannot claim the RNRB and neither can those who choose to invest in nonproperty assets. As mentioned above, the wealthy who have estates in excess of £2.2 million cannot claim the RNRB, unless some lifetime planning is undertaken. Careful consideration must also be given to assets left to trusts as the relief does not apply to discretionary trusts. Some Wills written prior to November 2007 contain what is known as a ‘nil rate band trust’ and the use of this type of trust has the potential to cause the RNRB to be lost since the transfer of the assets upon death would be to the trust and not to direct descendants.

What next?

The changes have introduced a very complex new part of IHT legislation with the result that the need for expert professional advice with regard to Will drafting and estate administration is more important than ever. It is essential that testators plan ahead according to their own circumstances in order to utilise the new RNRB, which in many cases will result in a significant tax saving for the family.

Chiara Tancredi is a Solicitor with Raeburn Christie Clark & Wallace and advises private clients on a wide range of matters including Wills, executry administration, Powers of Attorney, and estate and tax planning.

liturgy

MY F A V O U R I T E HYM N S Fr Keith Herrera, Administrator of St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, shares his favourite hymns with Dr Roger Williams MBE, former Master of Chapel and Ceremonial Music at the University of Aberdeen.

“The hymns of the St Louis Jesuits have a tremendous appeal, especially those written by Dan L. Schutte [who wrote Here I Am Lord]. The first of his hymns, which has probably been my favourite hymn for a long time, is Blest be the Lord, based on Psalm 91. This has such a joyful melody that, with the descant in the chorus, I find so uplifting. It is a song of praise, blessing God for coming to the rescue of his people (me!).

City of God, based on Isaiah 9 & 40 and 1 John 1, is similar in its joy and the chorus having a descant. It is one of these pieces that has an easy swaying 6/4 rhythm that rises in joyfully into the chorus. The dynamics of the piece lead you from praise to stillness and back up again, all of which makes it a delight to sing and play.”

His hymn, Only This I Want, based on Philippians, starts so gently with an introspective reflection, “Only this I want …” and then rises/moves into the verses which are more of a declaration of intent to live the Christian life, before moving back once more into that place of total self-abandonment. I love praying with this; in fact just speaking about this hymn moves me.

In a more traditional vein, Soul of my Saviour, [with a text translated from ‘Anima Christi’, ascribed to Pope John XXII (1249-1334) and sung to a tune by the 19th century Jesuit W.J. Maher] I find really moves me to tears, when it remains fresh and is not sung too often, which it has sometimes been.”

Father Keith then went on to outline how his tastes have changed over the years and how important the broadening effect of his training as a seminarian was, especially his time in Salamanca. In Spain there was more of an emphasis on traditional music, and while he was there he began to appreciate the use of Latin, especially within the context of an international gathering. He reflected on the changes that the

Fr Keith Hererra, Administrator of St Mary’s cathedral, Aberdeen Church has undergone since the 1970s and 80s in its theology, which, in turn, has affected the use and character of the music used today.

The Sanctus by Bernadette Farrell from the Mass of Hope, which she published in1985, and much of her music, has a strong appeal (she also wrote Christ our light and O God you search me and you know me). There is a lovely dynamic to her Sanctus which has a beautiful piano accompaniment that pushes you along, gradually rising to a climax. I’m afraid my imagination takes over, as every time I hear this piece I imagine the angels dancing with joy in the presence of God. I particularly recall how at St. Peter’s we had a percussionist who through his use of the cymbals leading into the crescendo would launch us in to another plane. It was fantastic!

Of the music from Taizé, one of my favourite chants (and there are many I love) is Veni Sancte Spiritus, tui amoris ignem accende. I love the harmonies and the movement creating a whole dynamic, which draws me in. We don’t sing it because we don’t know it - which is a pity.’ I find that Taizé music has the ability to gradually draw you into prayer, much like descending into a hot bath: once in you don’t want to go anywhere else.

Recently in the Cathedral we have been singing the traditional Marian hymns, or antiphons, at the close of Mass, according to the various seasons of the year [Alma Redemptoris Mater, Ave Regina caelorum, Regina caeli and Salve Regina]. These have been gradually adopted by the congregation and now feel more secure, although some of these are less well known as their season is shorter. The whole question of congregational involvement is a tricky aspect of music, but one which is important to foster through repetition, so that a congregation can get the hang of the tunes and the way the music flows.

‘Finally, I feel that the key to music in the Church today is quality – how it is played and sung. If I have a gripe, it is the acceptance of mediocrity – an attitude of ‘that will do’. I don’t mind whether it’s traditional or modern as long as it is beautiful and well done. What we should be striving for is excellence!

In our next issue the Rev Stuart Chalmers, Vicar General of the Diocese of Aberdeen, shares his favourite hymns with Dr Williams.

In the meantime, if you would like to comment on Fr Keith’s choice or, if there’s a particular hymn which has a special significance for you, why not write to us about it: editor@lightofthenorth.org.

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educationandformation

Calling on the Holy Name

The Holy Name of Jesus refers to the theological and devotional use of the name of Jesus. In the third instalment of this series of articles Eileen Grant reflects on the changes to devotional practises during the development of more organised monastic communities.

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Eileen Grant

s the quest for inner silence continued, St Macarios of Sketis in Egypt became a lasting influence on would-be hesychasts; he insisted on the necessity of withdrawal from worldly concerns and on an interiorised silence, taking as his text the Kingdom of God is within you (Lk 17:21): “The heart is a small vessel, but all things are contained there; God is there, the angels are there, and there also is life and the Kingdom, the heavenly cities and the treasures of grace.” A follower of Macarios relates, “Someone asked Abba Macarios: ‘How should we pray?’ The elder answered: ‘No good is served by getting bogged down in a lot of words. It is quite enough to stretch out your hands and say: Lord, as it please you and in the way you know, have mercy.’” In the West, St Ambrose embraced the tradition of the Holy Name, which he described as having been contained in Israel like a perfume in a closed vessel which had now been opened and now, he said, “there is an outpouring of this name, the perfume spreading everywhere.”

From the 4th century, we find the development of more organised monastic communities where the emphasis was on obedience to a Rule, service to the poor, the welcoming of guests, and evangelical charity. Community was stressed over solitude, the ideal of the recluse giving way in the main to cenobitic monasticism, championed by St Basil in the East and by Sts John Cassian and Benedict in the West; ascetic practice was fostered more than solitary prayer, literally detached from fellows. That the need for solitude and attainment of interiorised peace was still there, however, is borne out by the inclusion within monastic communities of individual hermitages, plus the commissioning of works such as St John Climacus’ Ladder of Divine Ascent to provide practical advice on praying unceasingly and attaining dispassion.

The tradition of solitary prayer was kept alive, especially in Syria and Sinai, and in the seventh century was espoused in a big way

by Climacus, thereby preparing the way for the great Hesychast movement of the Byzantine Middle Ages.

Climacus himself owed much to his predecessors in the desert, in particular St John Chrysostom – “What is meant by ‘those who sing in their heart to the Lord’? It means: Undertake this

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work with attention, for those who are inattentive sing in vain, pronouncing only words, while their heart wanders elsewhere”; and to Evagrios of Pontus, from whom he derived many of his theories on the practice of the virtues and the achievement of hesychia: it is Evagrios’ technical vocabulary that we find throughout the East, although Cassian tended to use alternative words when he took the main tenets of eastern spirituality to the West, probably to make them more acceptable to those who tended to be suspicious of possible taints of pagan philosophy.

Evagrios, a disciple of Sts Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus, had gone to the Egyptian desert to pursue the knowledge and contemplation of God, which he saw as the highest goal of the Christian life. The Christian would proceed to this goal by a spiritual journey made up of several steps: faith and obedience to God are paramount; elimination of the passions inherent in man’s fallen nature, practice of the virtues and obedience to the Commandments, together with unceasing prayer, lead to apatheia, a term he introduced into spiritual language. “Apatheia has a child called agapé who keeps the door to deep knowledge of the created universe.” It can make man resemble the angels; dispassion does not make him insensible to human feelings; rather it purifies him of self-centredness and teaches him love so that “when the intelligence, having set aside the old man, has put on the man of grace, then it will see its own state at the moment of prayer, like the colour of sapphires, or the sky, what the Scriptures call the Place of God which was seen by the Elders on Mount Sinai.” Above all, one should strive to achieve perfect stillness which is full of joy and beauty; its yoke is easy and its burden light.

Although there remains a question-mark over the Christian character of some of his ideas on mysticism, Evagrios was a strong influence on the development of the inner spiritual life. St John Cassian took his ideas to the West, adapting the terminology, talking of tranquillity of mind rather than hesychia. He adopted as his own short prayer of invocation the first lines of Psalm 70: O God, come to my aid; O Lord, make haste to help me, the prayer formula used to this day to introduce each office of the Divine Office – before we pray, we must first ask God to help us to pray.

Cassian further states, “We are praying in our inner room when we withdraw our heart completely from the clamour of our thoughts and preoccupations, and in a kind of secret dialogue, as between intimate friends, we lay bare our desires before the Lord.”

St Augustine was suspicious of the concept of dispassion, mainly because the Pelagians used dispassion to denote sinlessness, but he too urged “Enter into yourself; it is in the interior man that Truth is found”; and “Enter into the chamber of your heart where God dwells and say to Him: ‘O adorable Master, enlighten my poor heart that I may know how to find you and live always in your presence.’” St Jerome was far more critically outspoken, condemning dispassion as a pagan concept, akin to the quietism nearer our own time.

Such accusations, however, arise from misunderstanding, for the hesychast tradition requires constant vigilance, guarding the mind and soul like spiritual athletes. It is, above all, a response to God’s invitation to grow in Christ’s likeness.

‘One who is making a joyful noise does not utter words. No words are needed to make this joy heard. It is the song of a soul overflowing with joy, expressing its feelings as it may, above the level of discourse … If you want some idea of who He is, you must draw nearer to Him. It is the spirit that perceives Him and the heart that sees Him. What sort of heart? Blessed are the pure in heart; they shall see God. You must draw nearer to Him by becoming like Him. You will feel His presence to the extent that love grows in you, because God is Love’ (St Augustine, On Psalm 99).

educationandformation

Achieving pregnancy naturally

M

Lucille McQuade

ore and more couples are embarking on intrusive, expensive and stressful assisted reproductive procedures to achieve a much-wanted baby.

Fertility Care Scotland invite women and couples having difficulty conceiving, to attend one of their clinics throughout Scotland to learn about their fertility and optimise their chances of achieving pregnancy naturally.

The Billings Ovulation Method® is a scientific method of fertility management that has been successfully used by millions of women around the world, in over 100 countries. Early development began in Australia in the 1950s and international research around the method continues worldwide today.

•

The Billings Ovulation Method® is completely natural, it has none of the unpleasant or harmful side effects commonly associated with many methods of contraception.

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The Billings Ovulation Method® is applicable in all circumstances and at all stages of reproductive life, and is particularly useful if the woman is breastfeeding, has irregular cycles, or is approaching the menopause.

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The Billings Ovulation Method® is based on a woman's natural signals of fertility and infertility.

Optimise your chances of achieving or postponing pregnancy naturally This service is provided free-of-charge by trained medical and other volunteer tutors.

Why not train to become a Billings Teacher. Our next Training Course will be held in Dundee from 29th Sep – 2nd October 2016. Visit our website for full details and application form.

Fertility Care Scotland 1/4 page

Fertility Care Scotland is a Scottish Charity, No SC022875, core-funded by the Scottish Government For Aberdeen contact Mrs Margaret Hammond on 07891 358114 For Shetland contact Mrs Marie Sandison on 07762 017828 For Keith contact Mrs Jane Green on 01542 870641 For other areas contact Fertility Care Scotland on 0141 352 7930 Or email us at info@fertilitycare.org.uk www.fertilitycare.org.uk

WOOMB Directors Conference (World Organisation/Ovulation Method Billings) Every woman ought to have knowledge of her body to understand her own individual patterns of fertility and infertility.

When she knows what is normal for her she will also be alerted to any abnormality. This knowledge could lead to the early diagnosis of a treatable condition.

Biologically, the best time for a woman to get pregnant is in her twenties. But age has become a major factor in the fertility of women. In the United Kingdom, one in seven couples are believed to be affected by infertility, with 25% described as, “unexplained infertility.”1 An Australian audit of that country’s BOM clinics showed a 65% success rate for couples classified as “subfertile” by the definition of the study.

The client profile at Fertility Care Scotland has undergone a significant change in recent years, with increasing numbers of women interested in learning the Billings Ovulation Method® to help achieve pregnancy. Having said that, more than half of the couples who attend Fertility Care Scotland's centres wish to use the method to space their family, which is testament to the confidence clients place in the method for both achieving and avoiding pregnancy.

Any woman having difficulty getting pregnant should first make sure she understands how to recognise the natural signs of fertility so that she uses the optimum time for intercourse – not necessarily day 14!

Fertility Care Scotland run centres mostly in the evenings, in a variety of hospitals, NHS Health Centres and local centres.

This service is provided free-of-charge however, donations are welcome.

Our Billings Teachers re-accredit every three years. Our next Teacher Training Course will be held in the St Ninian Pastoral Institute in Dundee from 29th September to 2nd October 2016 inclusive, for those interested in learning to teach the method.

Email or phone us for more information. Tel 0141 352 7930 or email info@fertilitycare.org.uk Lucille McQuade is Development Officer for Fertility Care Scotland

1 https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg156/ifp/chapter/ Fertility-problems Page 17

educationandformation

Merciful as the Father: the Church’s Best Kept Secret

In the second of two articles on the Church’s social teaching Clare Benedict discusses the profound impact of Pope Leo XIII’s revolutionary encyclical, “Rerum Novarum”.

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Clare Benedict

he Church has always concerned herself with the poor and marginalised in society, just as Christ himself did.

We heard from the Early Church Fathers last time and now jump to modern Catholic Social Teaching, acknowledged as beginning in 1891 with Rerum Novarum from Pope Leo XIII. Since then there have been regular Papal documents, as well as many from Bishops’ conferences.

When it was first issued, Rerum Novarum seemed staggeringly revolutionary, coming as it did after Karl Marx’s writings on social conditions. Having read Marx, I recall being amazed at how much more ‘revolutionary’ Pope Leo’s courageous encyclical was!

Subtitled ‘On the Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour’, it addressed the themes of industrialisation and urbanisation, and the associated poverty of working people, calling urgently for a remedy for ‘the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class’. Well aware of that wretched state of the 19th century urban poor, he insisted that the State’s role is to promote social justice through the protection of rights, while the Church has a duty to speak out on social issues in order to teach ethical social principles.

‘Let the working man and the employer make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice’ (45).

On the 40th anniversary, in 1931, Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, ‘The Reconstruction of the Social Order’, moving on from the conditions of workers to address Page 18

ethical considerations of the social order. He was particularly concerned with the Great Depression of the time and the rise of communism and fascist dictatorships. He spoke of the rights and responsibilities pertaining to private property and reiterated his predecessor’s call for ‘a fair wage’: ‘The worker must be paid a wage sufficient to support him and his family…the rest of the family should also contribute to the common support, according to the capacity of each … But to abuse the years of childhood and the limited strength of women is grossly wrong’ (71).

He also urged, as a guide to intervention from government, the principle of ‘subsidiarity’, i.e. that ‘a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good’ (Centesimus Annus 48, 4). The theme of ‘the common good’ is picked up again and again, including by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in 1996 and 2010.

Pope Leo’s encyclical had far-reaching influences: on its 80th anniversary in 1971, Pope Paul VI issued Octogesima adveniens in which he expressed concern for the growing marginalisation of many people due to increasing urbanisation: ‘After long centuries, agrarian civilization is weakening. Is sufficient attention being devoted to the arrangement and improvement of the life of the country people, whose inferior and at times miserable economic situation provokes the flight to the unhappy crowded conditions of the city outskirts, where neither employment nor housing awaits them?’ (8) He called for lay Catholics and local parishes to take action against social injustice, at home and abroad, for ‘Flagrant inequalities exist in the economic, cultural and political development of the nations: while some regions are heavily industrialized, others are still at the agricultural stage; while some countries enjoy prosperity, others are struggling against starvation; while some peoples have a high standard of culture, others are still engaged in eliminating illiteracy’ (2).

faithandculture This call was to be repeated by John Paul II in Centesimus Annus in 1991, on the hundredth anniversary of Rerum Novarum. He reiterated Leo’s concerns, addressing in particular the dignity and rights of workers; the right to establish professional associations of employers and workers; the right to private property; the right to freedom of religion; the right to a just wage; solidarity, the common pursuit of the common good; subsidiarity (see earlier); and calling on all to defend and promote the dignity and rights of human beings regardless of personal beliefs. Writing in the last days of the Cold War, he also examined the implications of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, rejecting the ideologies and condemning the evils perpetrated by Communist dictatorships throughout the world. He also, however, condemned reactionary

regimes that persecuted their people.

Jesus came not to abolish the Law (the Ten Commandments) but to fulfil it; and ever since the Sermon on the Mount the Church’s Social Teaching has been rooted in Jesus’ ‘law of love’: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself ’ – which ratifies those Commandments which deal with responsibilities to one’s fellow human beings.

‘The Lord prescribed love towards God and taught justice towards neighbour, so that man would be neither unjust, nor unworthy of God. Thus, through the Decalogue, God prepared man to become his friend and to live in harmony with his neighbour… The words of the Decalogue remain likewise for us Christians. Far from being abolished, they have received amplification and development from the fact of the coming of the Lord in the flesh’ (St Irenaeus).

William of Perth and the ‘Cockermay Doucri’

I

Tina Harris

t is not uncommon for me to find myself dabbling in pilgrimage. My own planned quests are usually about people and places relevant to my life and its spiritual milestones and pathways. I was painting scallop shells with my great-grandson, and a pot of blue paint. I painted a Saltire. Whilst the paint dried, the child slept and I ‘Googled’.

What came up was scallop shell symbolism, pilgrimage and the coat of arms of the Bishop of Rochester.

I believe we are guided through life with a meticulous divine plan, individual to our needs and aspirations. Pieces of our personal jigsaw fall into place at the most unlikely times to enrich, sustain and remind us. Sometimes a story emerges which invites us to join up a few more dots.

And so, in medieval Rochester, evolves a story with a Scottish connection. Our main souce for the events which follow come from the Sanctilogium Angliae Walliae Scotiae et Hiberniae, compiled by John of Tynemouth, a medieval English chronicler writing in the mid-14th century. The manuscript includes the lives of 156 English saints, not least of these being St William of Perth.

William was born in Perth around 1180 and spent a comfortable early life there, wildly participating in all the waywardness of youth whilst apprenticed as a baker. However, as he grew older he underwent a conversion, no doubt fuelled by guilt following the outrageous lifestyle of his youth. ‘He set aside every tenth loaf for the poor out of charity that he might be worthy to eat the bread of angels among the heavenly company’. He attended daily Mass, although there is no record as to the location. It may have been the Augustinian priory, (Scone Palace) which became an Abbey in 1163, and was also one of the chief residences of the Scottish kings.

The orders of White Friars (Carmelites), Carthusians, Franciscans and Dominicans had yet to establish settlements in Perth.

Perth was the epicentre of power and government at that time.

On the Papal throne was Alexander IV, and wearing the crown of Scotland was King William I, the Lion. Perth provided the contextual background in which a conversion such as William’s appears credible. Such piety was popular; an emphasis on charity and the impulse to go on pilgrimage were two characteristic aspects of the self-made man’s religion at this time.

One morning, before it was light, William discovers on the threshold of the church an abandoned child. He adopts the child

William of Perth depicted in stained glass in Rochester Cathedral whom he cherishes and brings up as his son, teaching him his trade.

The child is named David, sometimes referred to as “Cockermay Doucri”, which is said to be Scots for “David the Foundling”.

The pious baker takes a vow to go on pilgrimage to visit the Holy Places and, after receiving the consecrated wallet and staff, sets out with his adopted son as his sole companion.

William decides to aim, in the first instance, for Canterbury, where the shrine of Thomas a Becket, murdered in 1190, was a popular and holy site for pilgrims. He would then be able to cross the English Channel and continue his onward journey to Rome and then Jerusalem. When he set off for Canterbury in 1201 he would have been 21, assuming his date of birth is correct and the young David may have been no older than seven.

To travel from Perth to Jerusalem was no mean feat. Medieval unrest was not so far removed from that of the twenty-first century.

There were anti-Semitic riots in East Anglia and much upheaval in Europe and the Middle East as a result of the third Crusade.

The pair reach the town of Rochester where they are given food and shelter by the Rochester monks. They stay there for three days and propose to proceed the next day to Canterbury. As they leave the city, however, the apprentice lured his master into a remote spot Page 19

faithandculture – now near St William’s Hospital, on the road to Maidstone – fells him with a blow to the head and then slits his throat, presumably for William’s few possessions.

William’s corpse is discovered by a mad woman who roams about the country half-naked. Having garlanded the body with honeysuckle, she is reportedly cured of her lunacy. She then transferrs the wreath to her own head and gives notice of the crime in Rochester. John of Tynemouth makes much of the treacherous foster-child. The alliteration accompanying the villain’s exit is magnificent, both in the Latin and the translation, ‘the foul wretch fled in the face of his felony, fled as a fugitive, fit not for refuge, but for death by the rope’.

William is honourably buried in the Cathedral, and stories of further miracles began to circulate.

The Bishopric of Rochester was, after Canterbury, the second oldest in England. The Cathedral was seriously short of money but as the cult began to develop around William of Perth’s tomb his shrine was to become the second most frequented in the country, after that of St Thomas at Canterbury. After William’s death the offerings left by pilgrims became so great that it was possible to add the eastern transept and to reconstruct the choir of the Cathedral.

In 1256 the Bishop of Rochester obtained some kind of papal approval of the cult. Although there is no record of any official canonisation, St William was certainly well-recognised in England.

Sadly, his shrine was destroyed on Henry VIII‘s orders in 1538.

In 1883, however, a 13th-century wall-painting of William was discovered in Frindsbury church near Rochester with William depicted as a young pilgrim.

By virtue of his martyrdom, William is seen to be much more than a baker from Perth who turned to God. He saw fit at a young age to reform his lifestyle and, in the words of Psalm 67, he became

A sketch of the 13th-century wall-painting of William in Findsbury Church near Rochester a ‘father to orphans and a protector of widows’. Like Abraham, he left behind kin and livelihood, that, as the New Testament promises, ‘he might be enriched an hundredfold’ (Matt 19).

In Rochester Cathedral, ‘where the things of earth are brought to touch the things of heaven’ there is a stained glass window depicting St William of Perth, the patron saint of adopted children.

St William’s official feast day is May 23.

The author would like to express her thanks to Lynne Bax and team at Rochester Cathedral and archaeologist, Derek Hall.

News from Blairs Museum Ten things you didn’t know about Scalan

T

Prue King

he hard facts and figures about life at Scalan can be found in John Watts’ book Scalan, The Forbidden College and in the Scalan News. To celebrate the three hundred years since Scalan’s foundation staff at Blairs Museum took a little time to delve into two account books dating between 1762 and 1788, one kept by Bishop Hay and the other by Bishop Geddes.

Bishop Hay, a trained physician but disbarred from practising by his religion, never travelled without his medical chest, and on his pastoral journeys he would also serve the health needs of local people. In the eighteenth century people were obsessed by the workings of the digestive system.

So what appears in the accounts?

1.

Manna: the sap from Fraxinus ornus, which was used as a laxative and also as a tonic.

Doses of salts, and Glaubers salts: Laxatives again. The Glaubers salts were a comparatively modern discovery and cost 7d. (old pence) for 6 drams.

Rhubarb: another laxative and also a digestive tonic. It would Page 20

have come in the form of a tincture and two doses cost 6d.

Black liquorice: it had many medical uses but again, it was a laxative and two ounces cost 2d. It might also have been used if the housekeeper was brewing small ale and it was sometimes dissolved in water as a forerunner of Cola and Irn Bru. Balm of Gilead: this posed a question: was it terebinthe or balsam? If terebinthe, it was used for dental caries and the treatment of colds; if oil of balsam, it was an ingredient of the Chrism Oil. 2. Not strictly a medicine but perhaps for medicinal purposes, a chopin (about 1½ pints) of aquavit, perhaps whisky, appears in Bishop Hay's accounts costing 1/1d. In Bishop Geddes' accounts, the bill for "Mr. Cruickshank's funeral" lists three bottles of whisky costing 3/- and two bottles of brandy for 3/4d, while the accounts to Mr. William Douglas list: 4 doz. wines for the house £4/11/-; 1/2 doz. for Mr. Cruickshank 9/6d.; 1/2 doz. for self 9/6d.; 5 doz. sherry for Bishop Hay at £1/1/- with box packaging total £5/10/-.

3.

Foodstuffs bought in include tea (1/4 lb. cost 1/6 – much the same as a bottle of sherry!); coffee; flour - perhaps to make the hosts for communion, a little sugar and walnuts and Spanish nuts costing 1/8d. Bishop Hay was known to give nuts

faithandculture

Bishop Hay’s snuff box with a scene of a race meeting as prizes for the game of cuckoos - an old Italian card game he probably learnt from student days in Rome. You can perhaps imagine the boy who won it trying to crack the nut to save the shell as a novelty.

4.

Then there was snuff. It did have some medicinal uses, often with liquorice, but 4ozs. seems to have been purchased fortnightly so it was likely used for social and recreational purposes too. Also in the accounts there is an entry "To putting a silver ring about the mouth of a snuff horn - 2/6d." The Museum has a box of Bishop Hay's which may have been used for snuff and which can be dated to the latter part of the eighteenth century; it is decorated with the scene of a race meeting.

5.

The fortnightly accounts for snuff and liquorice, none of them for more than pennies, seem to show that these might have been brought to the glen by a chapman (or pedlar) who would have travelled from house to house selling small items.

A change in handwriting (probably the housekeeper’s) shows: "Ribbons for my Stays, A Paper of Pins, Threid, Worsit for Garters” - the chapman would have had them in his pack too.

6.

There is an interesting entry for 1773 during the period of the Diskilting Act when the wearing of the kilt and tartan were forbidden. It reads "Tartan - 10 yards at 6d. per yard - 5/-" and a few days later "Nightgown with lining - to tailor 2/1d." Is this the famous tartan dressing gown worn by Bishop Hay? The long arm of the law did not seem to have reached the glen on this occasion.

7.

Bishop Hay was known for his love of music - a violin said to have been his is treasured at Blairs, and in 1768 there is an entry "To Mr. Strain for tuning and mending the virginals - 2/9d" The virginals were an early keyboard instrument sometimes quite small, some with legs and usually highly decorated. Did he play them too?

8.

Bishop Hay's watch is another of the treasures in the Museum and made by Delorme of London, it is a small round watch known as an "oignon" or onion. The Delorme watchmakers came from France originally and this was one of their early models. It must have had an eventful life: 1764 "To Mr. Dickie for mending my watch - 2/6d.

1766 "To new mainspring for my watch, to Mr. Robertson, watchmaker - 5/-" "To chaining my watch - 1/6d" 9.

In case it might seem as though life at Scalan was a little spartan (and it often was) there were some elegant items:

Bishop Hay’s watch, one of the treasures of the museum 1762 "To Robert Cruickshanks, Gold Smith, for Tea Kettle and Stand and his account - £23/11/11d whereof paid him by old plate £17/11/11. Balance paid by discharge £6 1767 "To Coffee Pot 7/"To six silver teaspoons 16/10.

The old Jacobite sympathies seem to have remained dear: "To painting two little pictures of the King and the Duke of York in two gilt leather boxes £10/10/-" "To setting the above pictures in gold and round with garnets £6/6/-" "To making little sage green case for miniature 2/-" Do these miniatures still exist and, if so, where are they now?

The extracts from the accounts help to enrich and enliven the picture of Scalan, the little College nestling deep in the Banffshire h ills s o l ong a go. I t w as n ot s o i solated a nd o ut o f touch and the boys who left to go on to the Scots Colleges on the Continent were not as "teuchter" as might have been supposed. Other items show how they were equipped for their journeys, but they must remain for another edition.

Prue King is a member of the Blairs Museum Committee and a volunteer.

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faithandculture

Utrecht, the Dutch Pope and an unfinished Gothic Cathedral

T

Ron Smith

he Netherlands today is a very secular society.

According to a survey by the University of Nijmegen in 2007, just 1.2% of the population go to Mass, and it will be even less today. It was not always like this!

The current centre of Catholicism is Utrecht, and it was here that Adriaan Floriszoon Boeyens was born on the 2nd of March 1459, who went on to become Pope Adrian Vl. Utrecht has always been an important place, standing at the junction of two rivers. The Romans had a large fort here. Christianity really developed here when Willibrord, an Anglo-Saxon missionary, came here with his team in 690, and set about converting the people.

In 695 the Pope ordained him “Archbishop of the Frisians”. He built a church, St. Saviour’s near the site of the old Roman fort. Then in 777 Utrecht was established as a Diocese and St. Martin’s Church was built, becoming the Cathedral church.

The two churches were served by one chapter. Then came the Viking raids in the second half of the 9th century. Later, in the time of Bishop Baldric the churches were repaired and rebuilt, and in 1023, in the presence of twelve bishops and Henry ll, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Germany, Bishop Adelbold consecrated a new Cathedral, St. Martin’s. The old St. Martin’s was renamed Holy Cross and continued until demolition in 1828. So for centuries there were three churches on the one site!

This situation continued until 1253, when the Cathedral was damaged by a fire. It was decided to start again and build a huge new Gothic Cathedral. However, there was not the money available.

The Cathedral was not a pilgrimage church, which always brought an income, so special collections, sales of indulgences, the circulation of relics, everything was tried to raise money. Because of the lack of income, the Cathedral has never really been completed!

At that time Utrecht came under the Archbishopric of Cologne, and the architect of that magnificent Cathedral was employed to build a similar one here, which he designed but with just the one tower. Construction continued in fits and starts right through to around 1521. The high tower - the highest in the Netherlands at 112 metres, with 465 steps to the top if you are brave and fit – was not connected to the main building. This was because they had to maintain a passage through to one of the other churches, so a bridge was built connecting the tower to the church for the Bishop to cross.

It was at this time of intermittant construction that Adriaan was born. His father, Florens Boeyens, was a carpenter, believed to be a shipwright, who died when Adriaan was only ten. The house where they lived, on the corner of Brandsteeg and Oude Gracht is still shown as his birthplace today. His mother, Geertruid, found the money to have Adriaan educated. He gained a scholarship to go to the University of Leuven in 1476 to study philosophy, theology and Canon Law. He became a Doctor of Theology in 1491, Vice Chancellor of the University in 1493 and Dean in 1498.

The Netherlands were part of the Habsburg Empire at that time and in 1506 Adriaan was appointed advisor to Margaret of Austria, and in 1507 tutor to the grandson of Emperor Maximilian l. The

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The high tower of Utrecht Cathedral grandson was Charles who would become Emperor Charles V in 1519.

In 1515 Charles had sent Adriaan to Spain, where he rose to be Bishop of Tortosa, Inquisitor General of Aragon, and in 1517 the Pope made him a Cardinal as Cardinal Priest of the Basilica of Saints John and Paul. In 1520 he was Regent of Spain on behalf of Charles.

It would seem that Adriaan had the intention of returning to his home town one day. In 1517 he had a grand house built just round the corner from the Utrecht Cathedral. It is in the Gothic style, with alternate layers of red brick and stone. This magnificent building is still there today, used by the King’s Commissioner, and can be visited every Sunday when there are guided tours. Unfortunately, he never did return to Utrecht and never saw his magnificent house.

Meanwhile, in Rome, Pope Leo X had died. Spanish and French cardinals were fiercely divided over who should be the next Pope. It was decided that Adriaan, an outsider and neutral, would be elected.

On the 9th of January 1522 he was duly elected Pope by a very large majority. This was a surprise to Adriaan, who was fully occupied in Spain. He had never been to Rome and had no idea of what to expect. He had to leave Spain at once to take up his new role. It is said that he sent a message ahead asking if they could find him some suitable lodgings! He reached Rome on the 29th of August and was

faithandculture crowned in St. Peter’s Basilica on the 31st of August 1522. He was 63, and decided to set about reforming Rome.

Adriaan had an impossible task ahead of him. The sale of indulgences and matrimonial dispensations brought in huge wealth to the Cardinals who would not let it go, nor would they agree to other reforms that threatened the comfortable life of the court. The Turks were threatening Hungary and Sultan Suleiman l was gaining domination of the Mediterranean; wars and uprisings and unrest at the shortcomings of the Church were on the horizon across Europe, especially in Germany. Martin Luther had written his Ninety-Five Theses (supposedly nailed to the church door at Wittenburg Castle on the 31st of October in 1517) and in 1521 at Worms, Emperor Charles V’s “Diet” condemned Luther as a heretic. By 1522 Protestantism was spreading like wildfire in both Germany and the Netherlands.

It is believed that the pressure of the work, the Rome climate, and maybe illness, caused the death of Adriaan on the 14th of September 1523, aged just 64. If he had been able to stamp out the abuses of the church and reform it, maybe the Protestant revolution would not have happened – but maybe it was already too late. Adriaan is buried in Rome in the church of Santa Maria dell’ Anima.

Utrecht was not immune from the Protestant movement. In 1528 Bishop Henry ll of Bavaria was forced to hand over all his secular powers to Emperor Charles V. The Calvinists attacked the Cathedral in 1566, and again on the 7th of March 1580. In 1795 pro-French patriots forced their way into the Cathedral and did more damage.

As if all this was not enough, on the 1st of August 1674 there was a tornado over Utrecht. This violent storm caused huge damage to the Cathedral – part of it blew down! The tower survived. The nave had never been completed, and had only short buttresses, and this was flattened by the wind. The Cathedral has never been connected to the tower since!

Unbelievably, the ruins lay where they were for over a century. It was not until 1826 that the mountain of rubble and the remaining walls were cleared away. In 1803 the old Bishop’s Palace was demolished, and in 1826 the old Holy Cross church was cleared away. In 1847

The cloisters and herb garden one of the three south side aisle chapels was demolished. This has left the odd shaped Cathedral that we have today.

Starting in 1850, various efforts have been made to restore the venerable buildings. The present exterior was defined in 1938 when more work was carried out. Then in 1979 through to 1988 a great deal of restoration was achieved. In 1996 huge bronze doors were installed, and you enter through here.

Today it is a very interesting Cathedral to visit. The space between the tower and the remains of the church is an open space. Inside, traces of the iconoclasts are still evident. On the 15th century sacristy door, St. Martin’s head has been chopped off, and the faces of the prophets desecrated.

Services are still held daily at the Cathedral. There is a good shop and excellent café. To one side there is a herb garden surrounded by cloisters, and the old chapter house which today is part of the University, which grew up around the Cathedral. Utrecht has many attractions for the visitor, and is well worth a visit. There is, of course, a Catholic Cathedral there too, St. Catharina – but that is another story!

You can discover more about Utrecht at: www.visit-utrecht.com.

Catholic Life in Glenlivet Alasdair Roberts and Ann Dean

A

rticles on Tombae and Chapeltown in Glenlivet merit a third this summer when the Scalan Mass on 3 July will have celebrated three hundred years since the seminary opened. Boys went on from it for study and ordination in Scots colleges abroad. Most returned as priests to serve what is now the Aberdeen diocese. The Rev. James Glennie had nine hundred parishioners at Chapeltown in Victorian times. Mass was cramped even after the priest added sixty seats to the three hundred in Abbé Paul’s chapel.

He was active in other ways. A couplet (after one about General Wade) celebrated the district being opened up to wheeled transport: If you’d seen these roads before there were any, You’d hold up your hands and bless Mr Glennie

Time for Mass at Chapeltown (Ann Dean) Few people live in Glenlivet today. In the part of it served by Tombae falling slates, brought at such trouble from Foudland, have recently caused the Gothic revival church to close. What follows, however, is about a time when Catholic life was vibrant: “I’ve been told that the wooden seats and pews are really Page 23

faithandculture good quality at Chapeltown, but I also remember them being most uncomfortable for children. It was so crowded at the main Sunday Mass that the boys and young men stood around at the back. . . Every family had their own place and paid seat rent.

Sometimes people only had half a seat in the pew because there were not enough seats for all the houses. Some people would go to the early Mass at nine o’ clock. Comelybank shared with Tomnareave – the McGillivrays, before they went into the farm at Auchnascraw.”

Isobel Grant spent her first t e n y e ars a t C o melybank, c l ose to school and chapel, before moving to the Bochel farm when her mother married again. Like many others she left in search of work, but late in life her letters from London led to Tales of the Braes of Glenlivet. Recently reprinted, it can be obtained for £9.50 through Isobel’s niece maryhogg@hotmail.co.uk. Readers of this magazine will be glad to learn that the book is delightfully illustrated by Ann Dean. In the introduction I explained that it was “not about church history” but “about people who went to church”. Wartime did not stop them: “They got it done – every window blacked out. Word got round that they could have Midnight Mass after all – news travels fast in the Braes. The other two churches had not blacked out theirs, so more people came.” The Chapeltown focus continued in peacetime: “Father MacWilliam wasn’t expecting many at Christmas 1946. It had been snowing and then a thaw came with the rain. It was raining buckets and he thought no one would come, but he didn’t know us hardy folk.

The brae down from the Bochel was like a river. We put on wellingtons and waterproofs and set off through the fields, then changed into dry stockings and shoes in the porch. The church was packed. Towards the end Father MacWilliam ran out of communion bread and about ten.

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Ann Dean’s picturesque map of Chapeltown people had to turn back.”

With typical tales humour Isobel describes the clergyman’s home visit to one of of them at Broombank the next day, thwarted by the visiting son-in-law’s non-appearance because his only trousers were drying in front of the fire. Her memories went back to an earlier priest: “Father Shaw was at Chapeltown when I was a girl. He was a great gardener and never had a weed in the avenue. There was a grand vegetable garden at the back, beside the graveyard. . .

One Sunday Father Shaw announced that he didn’t like the girls coming to church in V-necks and flesh-coloured stockings, which was the fashion in the 1920s – he should have seen the fashions now! The following Sunday they were all in black stockings or else dark brown. He started the Children of Mary, and also persuaded every house in the Braes to buy a Sacred Heart picture. . . I saw one above the mantelpiece at Culantuim when I walked up from Calier recently. The house was full of old furniture and the floorboards were rotting away, but the picture still hung there.”

Another extract fits the second illustration: “Before people had cars the bell was rung half an hour before 11 o’clock Sunday Mass to let them know to leave in good time. . . Most people have cars nowadays and give lifts to those who don’t, but Sandy Matheson still comes down on his bike through ruts and puddles from Scalan.” Sandy was the last. Her wonderful book apart, the life of Isobel Grant is celebrated in Scalan News www.scalan.co.org.

December 1995 has a likeness of her in the Braes Hall cutting an eightieth-birthday cake.

faithandculture

Are we a flock of sparrows?

T

Sr Janet Fearns FMDM

he story is told of a traveller who found a sparrow on the road, lying on its back with its feet up in the air.

“Why are you lying like this?” he asked. The sparrow looked at him. “I have heard that the sky is about to fall and I am doing what I can to hold it up.”

Human beings are more than statistics. A journalist recently pointed out that, in the media coverage of the migrant crisis in Europe, most of the images and reports portray distressed women and children. They fail to highlight that the majority, whether refugees or economic migrants, are actually unaccompanied young men. Women and children touch more audience heartstrings than does a dishevelled bearded youth, however deserving he might be.

Journalists who interview the men tend to focus on fathers who carry the smallest of their children and speak of their desperate search for security for their families – and if they weep, so much the better.

Many young men speaking into a microphone in Greece, Turkey, Calais or wherever declare that their purpose in travelling to Europe is because they want to finish their education. Are all those who claim to be doctors, engineers and Internet technicians genuine or repeating a formula which they hope will be successful? Some admit that they have travelled in search of work and a decent salary. A few try a bit of emotional blackmail: “if I do not get through into Europe, I will commit suicide”. True – the fighting in Syria has dashed the hopes of tens of thousands of would-be students. True - in any conflict situation, those who escape tend to be the ones with enough marketable skills and money to pay fares, traffickers and so on: the poor and unskilled are left behind with no alternative to enduring unspeakable horrors. True – perhaps those who have endured the hardships and perils of their journey might feel driven to despair

if they must retrace their steps and face their former precarious existence.

Our difficulty is that most of us are like the sparrow, lying on its back and trying to make the difference in a situation which is vastly bigger than a single individual. Each of us can only do what we can and very few have the personal power to bring about the necessary change. We can all see something of the truth and something of the exaggeration in our day-to-day encounters with the media.

Undoubtedly the children are the greatest victims, robbed of their childhood and likely to be affected for the rest of their lives.

We saw, for instance, secret video footage of small children playing at executions, including beheadings. On another occasion, a media headline simply declared, “Children wait to die”. The accompanying article explained that many Syrian children believe that it is only a matter of time before they join the small mutilated bodies which they have seen in the vicinity of what is left of their homes. For sure, some of the news teams will have been deeply affected by their experiences and will genuinely long to bring peace into tragic situations – but there will also be some who will be in search of the next “good story”.

(I can personally never forget hearing a renowned BBC reporter lying in her television report from Kenya. Anybody with any experience of Africa would have known that her “armed warriors and war drums” were drunken young men, hauled out of a beer parlour and instructed to look fierce for the camera. My attempts to correct her story fell on deaf ears.)

There is a difference between presenting facts as a means of awakening people to urgent situations of which they would otherwise be unaware and using that same information as an argument to further one’s own purposes. Michael Buerk’s harrowing coverage of the famine in Ethiopia in 1985 led to Bob Geldof’s Band Aid initiative, the song “Do they know it’s Christmas?”, the Live Aid concert and the raising of £145 million in famine relief. Without Buerk’s inspiration, expertise and genuine shock at what he had found, many thousands more men, women and children would have starved to death At the end of Pope Francis’ recent visit to Mexico a mistranslation into English of his words in Italian led to an outcry in the United States, where the Presidential election campaign is in full swing. It seemed as if the Pope had personally and directly questioned Donald Trump’s Christian identity. Unsurprisingly, Trump retaliated, although he subsequently withdrew his remarks after receiving an accurate translation of Francis’ words. Yet, interestingly, the Pope’s words had not fallen on deaf ears: within a few days, Hillary Clinton worked them into her own campaign speech (not revealing their source) and spoke of “building bridges, not walls”.

Does Pope Francis sometimes feel like the sparrow lying in the road, trying to hold up the sky with his tiny feet, doing what he can to prevent its collapse? As the fourth year of his pontificate begins, he has done so much for so many people, bringing hope where previously it had been in short supply. His clarion call for mercy and compassion in today’s world reaches beyond the confines of the Catholic Church, touching countless hearts. But if he is the sparrow, what about those of us who are unlikely to make much of an impact on our world? Are we a flock of sparrows with Francis in our midst, each trying to do the only thing that we can?

Sr Janet Fearns is a Book Editor with Redemptorist Publications and a regular contributor to the Catholic Press Page 25

faithandculture

Hermann the Lame: Patron of the Disabled

Peter Hammond

T

he 2015 Diocesan pilgrimage to Baden-Wurtenburg in Southern Germany was memorable for a host of different reasons; the stunning Baroque architecture apart, joining with the community of Franciscan nuns at Seissen to sing Vespers and the trip to majestic Ulm Cathedral were particular highlights.

But it is the people we met, both living and historical, which remain longest in the memory. For this pilgrim, one such person was Hermann the Lame, or Hermann Contractus, (10131054). He was born at Althausen Castle, a short train ride from Aulendorf, where we were based at the Schonstatt –Zentrum.

It was here that Hermann, the son of Count Wolverad II of Althausen, entered the world. But who could have predicted the legacy he would eventually leave the world when, afflicted from birth with deformities of such severity that, at the age of seven, his parents handed him over to the care of the monks at Reichenau Abbey, situated on an island in Lake Constance, another of the destinations on our itinerary.

Many theories exist as to the exact nature of his illness, but it seems most likely that he suffered from a form of spina bifida, or cerebral palsy. Certainly, he had a cleft palate, making communication very difficult. He also had only limited movement and so was carried around in a specially constructed chair. However, under the care and guidance of the monks at Reichenau, he flourished spiritually as well as intellectually. He made his monastic vows at the age of thirty in 1043, and five years later became abbot of the monastery.

A prolific scholar, polymath, theologian, historian, a chronicler of world events from the time of Christ, astrologer and musician, Hermann also devised the methodology behind the Lunar Calendar system. A keen scientist, Hermann produced two important publications on the astrolabe, a primitive form of astronomical computer, and developed a portable sundial.

Much of what we know today of Hermann’s life is due to the writings of his fellow monk and disciple, Berthold. In later life, as his eyesight failed, he composed hymns and is credited as the author of the well-loved Marian antiphons, the Salve Regina and the Alma Redemptoris Mater.

Despite his afflictions and constant pain, he was renowned for his gentle humour and patience. Little wonder, then, that his monastic contemporaries hailed him as the ‘Wonder of the Century’. Hermann died in 1043 and was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1863. His relics, along with an exhibition on his life, are housed at Althausen.

Sometimes referred to as the ‘Cradle of Western Culture’ the Monastery Island of Reichenau in Lake Constance, where Hermann lived out the remainder of his life, is the largest of all the islands on the Lake. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2000, its inclusion testimony to the religious and

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cultural role of the monastery in the Middle Ages.

The Abbey church, named in honour of Mary and St Mark, was founded by the itinerant Bishop Pirmin in 724. Reichenau held a key role in education and training, particularly between the eighth and twelfth centuries a period often heralded as its ‘Golden Age’.

Artistic endeavours, book illumination, and poetry all thrived here in the libraries and scriptorium. The school of painting produced some of most important illuminated manuscripts of the age.

Three Romanesque churches survive on the island, noted for both their architectural style and interior art work. In the Church of St George, eight wall paintings, dating back to the end of the 10th century, depict the miracles of Christ. Among the many precious treasures and relics preserved at Reichenau is the pitcher used at the Wedding Feast at Cana.

Over the centuries, there was a gradual but steady decline in the monastery’s fortunes. By the early 15th century, only two monks remained on the island and by 1757 the priory was closed altogether after the Bishop of Konstanz banished the remaining monks on account of their ‘stubbornness’. Then followed the secularization of 1803. Manuscripts and archives were transferred to the city of Karlsruhe.

Today, as befitting any Benedictine establishment, it is a place of peace. The surrounding landscape is covered in greenhouses, lush vegetable fields and wineries. Since 2001, a small community of monks have made their home there, providing once more a warm welcome to tourists and pilgrims alike.

Blessed Hermann the Lame credited with the authorship of the well-loved Marian antiphons, the Salve Regina and the Alma Redemptoris Mater

faithandculture This passage from St Matthew is quoted in the Apostolic Constitutions of the Early Church, in relation to the ordination of bishops and is still used in the Roman Pontifical for the ordination of priests. Poussin’s painting obviously supports the Church’s claim to temporal authority and was a response to Protestant challenges regarding the legitimacy of the doctrine of Apostolic succession, setting out to establish the historical authority of the primacy of the Church on firm foundations.

Poussin took for his artistic inspiration an image found on many early Christian sarcophagi, with which he would have become familiar in the pages of Roma sotterranea and also from drawings in dal Pozzo’s Museo Cartaceo. The images he used depicted Christ handing Peter a scroll, thus bestowing upon Peter his authority. This scene was known as the Traditio legis, the handing over of the Law, illustrating the symbolic fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecies. Christ was usually depicted with the Apostles, Paul on his right and Peter on his left, receiving the In this, the last in our series on Nicolas Poussin’s 2nd set of scroll inscribed Dominus legem dat, ‘the Lord gives the law’. paintings on the Sacraments, we look at the inspiration behind Poussin’s preparatory drawing shows Christ handing Peter a the artist’s portrayal of the Sacrament of Ordination. scroll, rather than the keys. These images were important in that they pointed to the centrality of Rome, the primacy of Peter and also the Apostolic status of Paul, although, of course, Paul would A. Philokalos not have been present at the historical event.

The figures are again modelled on the images in these carvings, inally we arrive at the Sacrament of Ordination, with their robes falling in marble-like folds. Note again the close particularly significant to the claims of the Catholic attention to archaeological detail: the figures are clothed, not in church in post-Reformation Europe. This painting is togas, but in the pallium which, according to Tertullian, was the based on a scene from St Matthew’s Gospel: 16:16special cloak of Christians and what they are shown wearing in 19 – Christ handing Peter the keys of the Kingdom, after most engravings on tombs.

Peter, inspired by God, has recognised Jesus’ divine Sonship.

From his study of Marcantonio Raimondi’s engravings, Poussin Jesus asked his disciples, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ would have been familiar with one that followed a design by Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living Raphael for the Massacre of the Innocents. Some of the details God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon BarPoussin copied in his painting.

There is careful depiction of the Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my town, once understandably believed to be Caesarea Philippi Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on where, according to St Matthew, the event actually took place. this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall We know now that the town is, in fact, Rome, with buildings not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom conforming to a description of the Vatican in ancient times. of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth, shall be bound We have, therefore, a symbolic, rather than a purely historical, in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in setting.

According to Bosio, there was a triumphal gateway into heaven.’” the Vatican entered by crossing ‘a bridge called the Ponte Trionfale to a hill upon which there were, among other buildings, two famous temples.’ In the same area was ‘the sepulchre of Scipio Africanus, which was in the form of a pyramid, and which some say was the same pyramid that used to be visible not far distant from the Mole Adriana.’ Most of these buildings would have been ruined by Poussin’s time but he could easily have discovered the original form. There are also tombs like it outside Jerusalem: for example, the “tomb” of Absalom is very similar. Poussin would have known them from engravings in books on recent pilgrimages. We see then, behind Christ, the bridge crossing the river to a hill, on which we can see two temples and a villa on Poussin’s interpretation of the scene in Matthew’s Gospel records the moment when Christ hands the top; just below is a circular Peter the keys of the kingdom (Matt 16:16-19)

The Seven Sacraments of Poussin

The Sacrament of Ordination

F

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faithandculture building, the Castel Sant’Angelo, depicted as an imperial tomb as it was in ancient times. On the other side of the bridge is the pyramidal tomb of Scipio as described by Bosio.

We could say that Caesarea Philippi has been symbolically superimposed upon Rome in this painting. Physically, rather than geographically, the scene is set on the exact spot where Physically, rather than geographically, the scene is set on the exact spot where Peter’s temporal apostolic authority was to be established.

Peter’s temporal apostolic authority was to be established. The strange structure immediately behind the left-hand group of Apostles has a large letter E carved on it; there have been various theories put forward as to its meaning, the most popular theory at one time being that it stands for Ecclesia, the Greek word for ‘assembly’, which came to mean ‘assembly of Christian believers’ or ‘church’. Another plausibly argued explanation is that it was motivated by Roman historian Plutarch’s essay on the meaning of the letter ‘E’ inscribed on the gateway of the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, site of the famous oracle, the Vatican occupying an ancient site of soothsayers. Poussin would have known Plutarch’s writings and was attracted by Stoic philosophy but even the classical Greeks had no real idea as to what it signified. Plutarch had suggested that it signified the 5th letter of the Greek alphabet – Epsilon, one of whose meanings is ‘thou art’ and that as soon as one uttered ‘thou art’ on entering the sanctuary the god himself became present. So in the Greek NT we read in Mt 16:16, , ‘Thou art the Christ...’ The connection with God’s words to Moses in Exodus – I AM WHO I AM – had already been much discussed by early Christian commentators

and we know that the Early Church appropriated and adapted many pagan symbols and expressions and Christianised them, ‘sacrament’ itself being a prime example. We shouldn’t underestimate the knowledge and deep interest in theological truths that these artists possessed alongside their interest in comparing the ancient mysteries with the Christian sacraments and Poussin was always scrupulous in trying to get things as accurate as he could. In fact, whatever was meant, the tower marks the site of Peter’s tomb, the spot on which Christ’s Church was to be built. This painting, like the others in the series, is rich in symbolism; so we have an additional sign of Peter’s divinely bestowed authority in the little rock immediately in front of him.

Christ is shown with one hand pointing towards heaven and towards his Father, the source of his authority; the other points towards the base of the tower, thus indicating to Peter the earthly share of that authority, the rock of the Church of Peter, Christ’s vicar on earth. Remember the Reformers’ interpretation of Paul’s presiding as bishop in the Confirmation painting? Here, Paul, the later Apostle to the Gentiles, is standing in the background, thus pointing to Peter’s primacy, with every indication of approval. The other Apostles, as one might expect, are looking on and marvelling, pointing to the heavens, asking one another what their Master means by this strange gesture. Whichever one we look at, our eyes are drawn in the direction of his gaze back to the central figures: Peter kneeling to acknowledge the Son of God; and Christ pronouncing the Apostle’s authority as Primate of his Church.

One other tiny symbolic sign, so easy to miss, matches the similar sign in the Baptism – a miniscule flash of white behind Christ, a gleam of light signifying the presence of the Divine.

Society of the Little Flower 1/2 Page

The mission of the Society of the Little Flower is to promote devotion to St.Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Carmelite Nun and Doctor of the Church. Through prayers and donations, friends of St.Thérèse enable Carmelites to continue her “Shower of Roses” in their ministries throughout the world and in their education of young Carmelites.

Carmelite priests, nuns, brothers and sisters serve people in parishes, medical clinics, women’s centres, schools, retreat houses, hospitals, catechetical centres, prisons, housing, job and skills development programmes and sacramental celebrations around the world.

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0345 602 9884 (local rate) ukweb@littleflower.org www.littleflower.eu Charity No. 1123034

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faithandculture

Shelagh Noden’s Musical Memories

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his contribution follows on from a very interesting article in the last issue of Light of the North, by Alasdair Roberts and Ann Dean, about the church of the Incarnation at Tombae. Here we pick up on the story of the long-serving Tombae priest, Rev. James Gordon, who was there from 1812, during which time he was involved with the building of the present church, until his death in 1842. He was, amongst other things, a very keen musician, and has left several documents of great interest to historians of church music, so this article will briefly consider the musical side of his career.

Born on 13th August 1786 in Forfar, James Gordon was a convert to Catholicism from the Episcopalian church. He quickly discerned a vocation to the priesthood, and studied at Aquhorties College from 1803 to 1812, being ordained there on 12th March 1812. At Aquhorties he would have had considerable exposure to church music of varying types, as evidenced by surviving documents from the college. Nevertheless, later in his life he expressed regret that he had never had the opportunity to study at one of the Scots colleges abroad, and therefore had never experienced the worship of the Catholic church ‘in all its glory’. He did his best to recreate this in Scotland.

After ordination he was first sent to Paisley where he was delighted to learn ‘that they have singing … a circumstance which pleases me much’. But alas, the standard was not what he expected, and he wrote to his mother ‘I have been giving lessons to the Glasgow Choir of Singers… There are a few singers here [Paisley] but it would be better [if ] there were no singing at all, they are sometimes so discordant.’ He went on to note that ‘I find plenty of girls but the men seem very indifferent about coming forward’ — a comment with which many modern-day choir directors will sympathise!

Later in 1812 James Gordon moved to Tombae, where at that time Mass was celebrated in a small building not far from the present church. Somehow he managed to found a choir to sing there, but his surviving letters show that it was not easy. We find him in 1817 asking to borrow an old harpsichord from Aquhorties: ‘I hope you will have the charity to assist me in giving me the loan of your harpsicord [sic] … I will furnish it with whatever strings are wanting.’

It looks like he did get this instrument, because a choir was in existence at Tombae that year, even though, as ever, it was composed mainly of women. A set of rules for the choir has survived, with very strict guidelines governing attendance at choir practice several times a week, and even to rules for the everyday behaviour of choir members: no ‘loitering’ or unseemly conversation was permitted.

A particularly interesting document is the list of repertoire known to the choir in 1817 (see box in column two): Here we have a fascinating snapshot of music sung in Scottish Catholic churches in the early nineteenth century. Bishop Alexander Cameron had asked that there should be uniformity in what was sung

across the country, and issued a list of approved music, though this has not survived. Perhaps we have it here, in the music sung at Tombae.

The four main Marian antiphons are there, together with choices for the main feasts of the Church’s year.

Notable is the presence of four items of plainchant, at a time when musical taste, certainly in England, was moving away from this type of music.

Modern church musicians will recognise several of these works, particularly the Regina Caeli by Samuel Webbe, often sung nowadays with far more verve than the composer intended (he marked it andante!). The predominance of music by Webbe is not surprising as his music was popular at Aquhorties, where at least two printed collections were owned by the college. One of the duties of the students was to make copies of Webbe’s Masses and motets to send out to priests; no copyright restrictions in those days!

It is interesting to see a hymn in English topping the list; these were often sung before Mass, but not permitted at that time during the Mass itself. No music for the Ordinary of the Mass is listed, but this must have been sung. Correspondence has survived between James Gordon and John Cameron, one of the professors at the Scots college in Valladolid, in which Cameron promises to send some easy Mass settings to Tombae. He writes: ‘The Masses I have sent you are not the best, but the easiest and simplest I could find.’

Instructions on conducting and general choir direction were also sent, showing that practical knowledge of choir direction seems to have been scanty outside the large cities of Scotland. Cameron advised that: ‘All the singers and players in the Choir direct themselves by the motion of the Master’s hand and hence they all proceed exactly together. I think this, or some similar method of beating time, ought by all means to be adopted in Scotland.’

Presumably it was, as contemporary reports vouch for the excellence of the singing at Tombae under the guidance of James Gordon. In the early 1840s the interior of the church was remodelled

by Bishop Kyle, resulting in an excellent acoustic which earned it the title of ‘The Cathedral of the Glens’. Later a fine organ, the work of the Huddersfield firm of Conacher & Co was installed in the gallery; the author and a friend managed to get it to work (hand cranked) a few years ago, but who knows whether it is still playable. Certainly this beautiful church, built to seat over 700 people, must have heard some remarkable musical performances over the years, thanks to the enthusiasm of Rev. James The Conacher organ at Tombae Gordon and his successors.

Come, Holy Ghost Tantum Ergo Tantum Ergo Adeste Fideles Alma Redemptoris Ave Regina Caelorum Regina Caeli Salve Regina Veni, Sancte Spiritus Veni, Creator Spiritus O Filii et Filiae Haec Dies Tota Pulchra Preface Responses O Rex Gloriae O Salutaris Lauda Sion Sacris Solemniis

?

Webbe Spanish Wade Webbe Webbe Webbe Webbe Chant Chant Chant Webbe Webbe Chant Webbe Webbe Webbe Spanish

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faithandculture

Poetic Licence

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Canon Bill Anderson delves into some of his favourite inspirational verse

he Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown has, according to Seamus Heaney, " added uniquely and steadfastly to the riches of poetry in English. His sense of the world and his way with words are powerfully at one with each other."

Enjoy now this tender elegy in memory of a young local tearaway for whom many mourned with heartfelt sorrow.

My own view is that these lines are of the highest merit in terms of sustained lyric inspiration and emotional insight.

George Mackay Brown and the streets of Stromness (background) where the poet spent the greater part of his life. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the poet’s death.

The Funeral of Ally Flett The Year of the Whale (19 65) Because of his long pilgrimage From pub to alehouse And all the liquor laws he’d flout, Being under age And wringing peatbog spirit from a clout Into a secret kettle, And making every Sabbath a carouse, Mansie brought a twelve-year bottle.

Because his shy foot turned aside From Merran’s door, And Olga’s coat with the red button And lnga’s side Naked as snow or swan or wild bog cotton Made him laugh loud And after, spit with scunner on the floor, Margaret sewed a long chaste shroud.

Because the scythe was in the oats When he lay flat, And Jean Macdonald’s best March ale Cooled the long throats (At noon the reapers drank from the common pail) And Sanders said ‘Corn enough here for every tramp and rat’, Sigrid baked her lightest bread.

Although the fleet from Hamnavoe Drew heavy nets Off Noup Head, in a squall of rain,

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Turning in slow Gull-haunted circles near the three-mile line, And mouthing cod Went iced and salted into slippery crates, Our skipper heard and bowed his head.

Because at Dounby and the fair Twelve tearaways Brought every copper in the islands Round their uproar And this one made a sweet and sudden silence Like that white bird That broke the tempest with a twig of praise, The preacher spoke the holy word.

Because the hour of grass is brief And the red rose Is a bare thorn in the east wind And a strong life Runs out and spends itself like barren sand And the dove dies And every loveliest lilt must have a close, Old Betsy came with bitter cries.

Because his dance was gathered now And parish feet Went blundering their separate roads After the plough And after net and peat and harvest loads, Yet from the cradle Their fated steps with a fixed passion beat, Tammas brought his Swedish fiddle.

faithandculture

My Story: My Journey from Silesia to Scotland Author: Paul Lippok Paperback/Hardback: 558 pages Publisher: Xlibris (13 Oct. 2015) ISBN-10: 1499094094 ISBN-13: 978-1499094091 List Price: £16.00 Paperback, £26.99 Hardback, Kindle £3.99

I

Dr Glen Reynolds

t is not difficult to find yourself humbled by “My Story, My Journey: From Silesia to Scotland” by Paul Lippok (available from Amazon). It is a remarkable, revealing and fascinating, historical and deeply personal account of a child and young man who lived through the darkest hours of humanity in the last century (including the Hitler Youth and military service under the Nazi regime) and found a new life, and love, in Scotland.

Born in 1926 in a town in Silesia, Germany’s south eastern province bordering Poland to the east and Czechoslovakia to the south (and some six months after his 17th birthday, shortly before Christmas 1943), Paul was called up to military service and after training was sent to Italy where, five months later, on Sunday 4th June 1944, he was captured by the U.S. Army just outside Rome. They took him to Norfolk, Virginia from where a train journey transported him and others to a POW camp in Oklahoma, moving soon to Fort Bliss, El Paso. In autumn 1945 he was one of fifty POWs travelling by bus to the Napa Valley

to pick tomatoes, prunes, and work in the vineyards and, after New Year 1946, they went south, to pick cotton. In early March 1946 they received black-dyed U.S. Army uniforms, boarded a troop ship in Oakland and were sent back to Europe via the Panama Canal, to arrive three weeks later in Liverpool, UK. From there Paul travelled by train to the north of Scotland where now, over sixty years later, he continues to live.

Paul’s account explains when and how he went on to find love and marriage, faith and security, as a refugee in the small Highland town of Tain, (situated on the south shore of Dornoch Firth) in north Scotland, where he is now a well loved Deacon.

It is ultimately a tale of a journey made through Catholic faith, over various historical and geographical landscapes and from darkness, into light. Maybe symbolic of Paul’s life and determination, is that such a well written and readable account has been finalised when Paul was in his late eighties.

But this book is far more than a war diary. Neither is it purely a romantic account, although love courses through the second half of its pages. It progresses to a story of a life survived and then lived and treasured for every precious moment gained as if a bonus. It is told with heartfelt honesty and all written by a man who seeks to pass on a story of hope over adversity to all, not least the young and those who, though living in different times may be facing a life with a troubled and uncertain outcome.

But there is no ignoring that it does also contain the story of two young people who fell in love, believing and trusting each other in the Catholic faith they shared. It is a message to us all, to do as Paul and his wife Ehrentraut did, and to be open to the faith that unites, one that overcomes adversity and offers hope. Always the hope that leads to joy.

From being present at the reopening of Pluscarden Abbey in 1948, to Paul witnessing the consecration of a new church in Tain - the first Catholic church in Tain since the Reformation, (with the ruin of the old church still seen near the shore of the firth), this is a life that has truly witnessed transformation and joy out of suffering.

You may well be moved by the closing words of Deacon Paul when he asks that his account “be a tribute to a country with a heart.” He says that when he completed his writing “I wanted to thank God and Scotland for everything they had done for me and the family. I wanted to give back something meaningful to the community so I decided to become a Deacon in the Catholic Church. After three years of study I was ordained in St Joseph’s in Invergordon on 17th April, 1997 by Bishop Mario Conti, surrounded by the family, including my brother Engelbert, sister Ursula, and friends. Even after 18 years and at the age of 89, I continue to serve when needed.”

The next issue of the Light of the North will be published in the Autumn. If you would like to sponsor the next issue or a page of the issue, perhaps in memory of a loved one or to celebrate a special occasion, please contact our advertising manager Jim Skwarek.

Tel: 01233658611 or email: jimskwarek@geeringsprint.co.uk

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faithandculture

On a Wing and a Prayer with Father Peter Barry “The heavens declare the glory of God ...”

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here are seven of us, all keen birdwatchers, travelling around Iran for two weeks, notching up as many bird species as we can see. We totalled 241.

Ali Islam is our local guide, and Dr Simon Papps is the U.K. guide. In our minibus we are continually stopped by gruff men with handlebar moustaches demanding to see our papers, passports, letters of authorisation, etc. When all is in order, and papers have been photographed and scrutinised, an immediate thaw sets into the encounter. What started in a mildly threatening manner now ends in an invitation to meet their families, stay for supper, pose for photographs, exchange emails, etc.

Then more smiles, another round of handshakes, bear hugs, and off we set.

The road ahead was blocked by snow, we were told, so we retreated to lower ground. This trip was the first of its kind and the target species were Iranian endemics: Pleske’s Ground Jay and Sind Woodpecker. The more elusive species respond to tapes: a record of a singing male bird attracted a lovely Sind Woodpecker.

Its crest was raised in aggression, as it imagined some rival male had entered its domain. Little aware that the sound was made by an elderly Priest from Scotland, the furious bird approached to six feet. Then, having secured a sighting, we switched off the tape. When my Binoculars were firmly fixed on this beauty, Ali called out, “ Do you see the bird?” There was only one reply:” I have Sind!”

A very small percentage of Iranians attend the Mosque.

Conversion to other faiths is forbidden, yet 300,000 people have slipped away to be baptised in neighbouring countries. They

A total of 241 bird species were identified in two weeks!

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Beautiful plumage of the Sind Woodpecker now meet secretly in private homes. No one in our group had any religious practice, but were interested in i-phone photos of St Francis Church, and accounts of our charitable work. In particular they seemed impressed by the arrival of Syrian refugees into Aberdeen, greatly helped by local churches.

Although Ali and Simon knew the scientific names for various species, I was the only one who knew what the Latin terms meant.

So Ruff ( philomachus pugnax ) meant the fighting horseman.

Birds compete for mates by charging at each other like heraldic knights. The French name is Le Chevalier Combattant.

Memorable moments: in the desert we search for a rare bird, Upcher’s Warbler. I’ve already misidentified a couple of birds and must regain my reputation. The others are younger than me, with sharper eyes. But this bird is tiny at five inches, muddy brown and skulking. We fan out over a square kilometre, and there, to my disbelief, hiding in an acacia bush, is the little fellow in question.

It has one unmistakeable habit: the tail is waved from side to side, then up and down. It’s as if the bird is making the sign of the cross!

The others are summoned by a whistle, the sighing is confirmed, and at the moment of greatest pride, a few seconds after, I misidentify a passing Sandgrouse! I call out Crowned Sandgrouse, instead of Chestnut-Bellied. Back to square one!

At night I say Mass on my i-phone, with bread and a wine substitute. There’s a psalm which fits beautifully: “ The heavens declare the glory of God…..Birds of the air and fish, which make their way through the waters.”

Fr Peter and fellow bird watchers all in the same boat!

faithandculture

Margaret Bradley’s Food and Faith

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he Feast of the Transfiguration on 6th August commemorates the time when, shortly before going to Jerusalem and entering into his Passion, Jesus withdrew with his disciples, Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain, traditionally believed to be Mount Tabor, to pray and meditate. There, to the amazement of Peter, James, and John, Jesus was covered by a brilliant light. “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light” and he conversed with Moses and Elijah about the things that were to come. A voice from heaven proclaimed, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” The disciples were dumbfounded and didn’t know how to react (Matthew 17:1-6).

The Feast of the Transfiguration has traditionally marked the beginning of the fruit harvest, in particular the fruit of the vine, grapes. A transfiguration takes place as the grapes develop from tiny buds and flowers, to become bunches of ripe fruit.

A further transfiguration takes place when the grapes are then transformed first into juice, then wine and then to the Blood of Christ received in the Eucharist.

There is a tradition in the Eastern Church of blessing and then distributing a variety of fruits after the Liturgy on the Feast of the Transfiguration. In the Roman Church only grapes Grape Flan with a Crème Pâtissière Filling Ingredients.

The pastry base: 7oz plain flour, 4oz butter, 1 ½ oz caster sugar, 1 large egg The crème pâtissière filling: 3 ½ oz caster sugar 2 tablesp. plain flour 2 tablesp. cornflour 1/2 pt milk

egg yolks

Optional ingredients, either: 2 tsp. Grated orange rind and 2 tsp Orange liqueur or 3 tbsp lemon curd or ½ teasp vanilla extract The grape topping About 12oz each of seedless green and red grapes (or enough grapes to cover the top of the flan).

Transfiguration by Russian artist, Alexander Ivanov, 1824 are blessed. At one time there was a tradition of squeezing juice from fresh grapes directly into the Chalice containing the already consecrated Wine of the Eucharist.

Time out for undisturbed prayer and meditation is invaluable, whether on the isolation of a mountain top or just in a quiet spot nearby. A visit to Mount Tabor and to the Church of the Transfiguration, which is run by Franciscans, provides a memorable experience even today.

Directions To make the pastry base: Blend together in a mixer the flour, butter, caster sugar and egg until a dough is formed. Then roll the dough on a lightly floured board to ¼ in thickness and then fit into an 8-10in flan tin to form the pastry base. Chill for 30 minutes. Heat the oven (Gas Mark 5, 190°C, fan 170°C). Line the pastry base with greaseproof paper and baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans, and bake for an extra 5 minutes. Leave to cool.

To make the crème pâtissière filling: Heat the milk but don’t boil. Whisk in a bowl, the egg yolks and caster sugar until pale and thick and then add the flour and cornflour whisking until smooth. Slowly whisk in the hot milk. Pour the mixture into a clean pan and stir over a gentle heat until it begins to thicken. Then simmer, stirring continuously, for 2-3 minutes, until very thick. Remove and let it cool. Add the optional ingredients if required. Pour the mixture into the pastry base and cover. Chill for 4 hours, or until set.

When cool arrange the grapes in a pattern on top of the filling. Finish by sieving a little icing sugar over the grapes.

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humour

Humour from the Vestry “You can defeat fear through humour, through pain, through honesty, bravery, intuition, and through love in the truest sense.” John Cassavetes Pocket Money Teacher: “If you reached in your right pocket and found a twenty pence piece, and you reached in your left pocket and found another one, what would you have?”

Boy: “Somebody else’s trousers” Childline A man speaks frantically into the phone, “My wife is pregnant, and her contractions are only two minutes apart!”

“Is this her first child?” the doctor queries.

“No, you idiot!” the man shouts. “This is her husband!”

Optical Delusion A man goes to the opticians. The receptionist asks him why he is there. The man complains, “I keep seeing spots in front of my eyes.”

The receptionist asks, “Have you ever seen a doctor?” and the man replies, “No, just spots.”

Mummy and Daddy Wee Morag was only three, but she had an enquiring mind. So when she dropped a chocolate biscuit on the ground and her mother told her not to pick it up, she inevitably asked “Why?” Her mother explained that it could have picked up germs that could give her a sore tummy if she ate them. Wee Morag was impressed by this answer and then asked “How do you know all this stuff?” Her mother thought quickly and reckoned she was being clever by replying “It’s in the Mummy test they don’t let you be a Mummy unless you know it all....” Wee Morag pondered this new revelation for a few moments and then beamed up at her Mum. “I get it! If you fail the test you have to be the Daddy.”

Pay Back “You seem to have more than the average share of intelligence for a man of your background,” said the lawyer contemptuously to a witness on the stand. “If I wasn’t under oath, I’d return the compliment,” replied the witness.

Cow Catcher A passenger train is creeping along, slowly. Finally it creaks to a halt. A passenger sees a conductor walking by outside. “What’s going on?” she yells out the window. “Cow on the track!” replies the conductor. Ten minutes later the train resumes its slow pace.

Within five minutes, however, it stops again. The woman sees the same conductor walk again. She leans out the window and yells “What happened? Did we catch up with the cow again?”

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Wha’s Like Us?...

Life Support Morag McMurtrie was getting on in years and she was visiting one of her elderly relatives in Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary. She hadn’t been in a hospital for several years and felt very ignorant about all the new technology. A technician followed her onto the lift, wheeling a large, intimidating looking machine with tubes and wires and dials. Being a typical, friendly, talkative Glaswegian, she remarked to the technician, “I would hate to be hooked up to that thing.” “Aye, so would I,” replied the technician. “It’s a floor-cleaning machine.”

Same But Different Sandy and Geordie were walking home from Sunday school at Auchterwearie in the Western Highlands after hearing a strong sermon on the devil. Sandy eventually said to Geordie, “What do you think about all this Beelzebub stuff?”

Geordie thought for a moment and then said brightly, “Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out. It’s probably just your Dad.” Accents Wee Geordie from Glasgow was four years old and was puzzled by the way his cousins from Aberdeen spoke. He asked his mother why they spoke in such a strange way.

His mother explained that they had an “accent” and that to an Aberdonian, his Glasgow accent would sound strange too. Wee Geordie’s eyes got wider as he understood the implications of this. Then he said: “You mean that they not only speak funny, they hear funny too?”

On the Buses A new bus fare system in Aberdeen required passengers to give their destination when paying their fare. One old age pensioner, unfamiliar with the system, asked for a “14p concession, please.” The conductor demanded, “What’s your destination?” The lady looked puzzled and said she didn’t understand. The driver insisted he needed to know where she was going. “I’m ga’in to my daughter’s for my dinner!” she replied It’s Nae Fair!

It was the boy’s first day at school in rural Aberdeenshire and he came home in a foul mood. His mother asked him how he had got on. “I’m nae gaan’ back” he replied firmly.

“Ah canna read, Ah canna write and the wifie winna let me spik”.

Is It Time?

After ten years of dating Sandy, one beautiful evening on the Isle of Skye Jean thought at last it was time to ask “the question”. “Sandy,” she breathed, “is it not about time we were getting married?” After a heavy silence. Sandy sighed.

“Yes, Jean, indeed it is.” A hopeful gleam spread over Jean’s face, but he went on: “Yes, Jean, it is. But who would have us?”

Hot Answer It was one of those days of soaring temperatures in Scotland (when the thermometer recorded over 21C/70F) and Hamish was feeling the heat. “It’s just too hot to wear clothes today,” he said as he stepped out of the shower and asked his wife “What do you think the neighbours would think if I mowed the lawn like this?”“Probably that I married you for your money,” she replied.

Needing an Upgrade The parents were very disappointed in the grades that their son brought home.

"The only consolation I can find in these awful grades," lamented the father, "is that I know he never cheated during his exams."

crossword

WORD No.32

This issue’s competition winner will receive a copy of James Martin’s “The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life”. Just send your completed entry by the 1st September to: Light of the North, Ogilvie Centre, 16 Huntly Street, Aberdeen AB10 1SH. First correct entry drawn out of the hat is the winner.

the lip, they shake the head, saying” Psalms (5) 7. Scottish expression of surprise. (3) 12. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full --------- of faith” Hebrews (9) 14. “An ------- and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” Catechism(7) 15. “------- unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me

with thy free spirit.” (7) 17. The central administration governing the Roman Catholic Church. (5) 18. The New Testament Greek word for divine love; the common meal of fellowship eaten in gatherings of the early Christians. (5) 21. “--- all the world in every corner sing, My God and King” Hymn (3)

Answers to crossword No. 31 Across 1. Stab 4. Gridiron 8. Pre war 9. Planet 10. Lust 11. Exorcism 13. The Holy Spirit 16. Mystical 19. Vain 20.

Myself 22. Outrun 23. Tartarus 24. Duly Down 2. Throughly 3. Bewitch 4. Gorge 5. Impious 6.

Isaac 7. Owe 12. Spiritual 14. Lucifer 15. Invited 17. Trent 18. Lions 21. Yea

Little Horror Sudoku No. 19 If you prefer sudoku to crosswords then you still have a chance to be a prize winner with our super tough sudoku puzzle.

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Across 1. The nave in a church is derived from the Latin for which English word. (4) 4. To reject as invalid, untrue, or improper. (8) 8. Like a bear. (6) 9. “They have ------, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;” Psalms(6) 10. Was he sitting on a seesaw ? (4) 11. The apostle chosen by lots, by the disciples after Judas’ death. (8) 13. An alternative name for the Pope. (5,2,6) 16. Location of the infamous ‘black hole’ dungeon in India.

(8) 19. “In ---- and certain hope of the Resurrection into eternal life” Prayer book (4) 20. Part of the Mass omitted

in Lent and Advent. (6) 22. “Blessings ------ where’er he reigns” Hymn (6) 23. Type of high jump, before the ‘Fosbury Flop’ became universally accepted. (8) 24. Meaning of the Latin word “semper” (4) Down 2. Site of the first atomic bombing near the end of World War II. (9) 3. Genus of plants that includes primrose, auricula, cowslip and oxlip.(7) 4. Jacob had a famous one here, and name the place Bethel. (5) 5. A descriptive term for several peoples of the Middle East and their descendants, mainly Jews. (7) 6. “All they that see me ----me to scorn: they shoot out

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Congratulations to our last competition winner, Mrs C. Smith from Keith Page 35

Rainbow Glass Studio LTD is a family company, which specialise in the design, manufacture and installation of Ecclesiastical, Public and Residential stained glass. Last year we had the pleasure of installing a scheme of 8 windows in Cumnock Parish Church depicting CREATION.

CREATION - the new windows in Cumnock Parish Church designed by Moira Malcolm and made by Rainbow Glass Studio.

The window was designed by Moira Malcolm of Rainbow Glass. It was a joy to have such a wonderful subject as the creation and the chance to re-glaze 8 full windows. The stained glass windows were made using traditional methods of cut glass, lead and solder. The hand blown glass is bought from France, Germany and England and is of the highest quality. Each process is carefully executed by hand, and the detail is created by a combination of glass painting and acid etching.

Rainbow Glass Studio also specialise in the conservation / restoration of historic stained glass windows. All work carried out will be of the highest standard by skilled craftsperson’s using traditional methods and high quality materials. We do not compromise the quality or finish of our work. All work carried out followed CVMA guidelines, which promotes minimal intervention and maximum retention of original materials.

Our Directors include a PACR accredited conservator and an Accredited artist of the Church of Scotland. Please feel free to contact us if you require any future advice regarding architectural stained glass windows. We cover all areas of Scotland but we would welcome any enquiries from further a field. **ICON ACCREDITED STUDIO

Stained Glass Artists Contemporary windows Conservation of glass Church, Historic, Public