Light of the North Issue 21

DON’T BE LEFT IN THE DARK Page 1

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I am the Light of the World D ioc esan Diocesan san P ilg rimage mage tto o Pilgrimage LLourdes our d es D eac on o John Deacon Wi re Wire P age 4 Page

I s s ue 21, Aut umn, 2012

Finding God Finding God as a long -t erm -term carer carer

Gallus G R obertson, the Robertson, ““Merry Merry M onk” Monk”

Sarah Akehurst Akehurst Sarah Page 11 Page

SShelagh No den Noden Page 27 P

Fish dish Fish fr om the Sea Sea from of G alilee Galilee Ma rgaret Margaret Br radley Bradley P age 28 Page

TH 2013 I A er F b OF ovem

AR - N E Y 12

20 r be o t Oc

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A quarterly magazine produced and published by the Diocese of Aberdeen R.C. Diocese of Aberdeen Charitable Trust, a registered Scottish Charity no. SC005122

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Light of the North

he nativity scene on this issue’s front cover is the work of the leading Netherlandish painter of his day, Geertgen tot Sint Jans who came from the Northern Netherlands. The painting, which is now in the National Gallery in London, was executed some time between 1480 and 1490 and measures just 34 x 25.3cm which would suggest that it was probably intended to be used for private devotion.

It is considered by many critics to be one of the most engaging and convincing early treatments of the Nativity as a night scene. The brilliant light in the foreground comes from the Christ Child in the crib. It illuminates the figure of the Virgin, who bends forward, hands joined in prayer, Saint Joseph in the background, and the figures of the delighted small angels to the left.

Its effects are calculated to stress the contrast between the real and the supernatural – between the ordinary light which emanates from the candle, carefully screened by the shadowy figure of Saint Joseph (the candle has been lost in cleaning) and the distant firelight which casts a reddish glow, like firelight in real life as compared to the divine light that radiates from the glowing Christ child and the flying angel.

Geertgen almost certainly based his picture on the mystic visions of the Nativity claimed by various popular saints of the period in particular the 14th century mystic, St Bridget of Sweden. Shortly before her death she

up front

Nashville nuns visit Blairs

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ix Dominican nuns from Nashville, Tennessee, who are visiting the Diocese paid a visit to Blairs museum on the 8th October.

The sisters were given a guided tour of the musum by manager, Ian Forbes and Volunteer Assistant, Prue King. The visit was rounded off with tea and biscuits and the sisters were initiated into the finer points of Tunnock’s tea cakes and caramel wafers – a new experience for the sisters!

described a vision of the infant Jesus: “I saw the child in her womb move and suddenly in a moment she gave birth to her son, from whom radiated such an ineffable light and splendour, that the sun was not comparable to it, nor did the candle that St. Joseph had put there, give any light at all, the divine light totally annihilating the material light of the candle....”

Geertgen might also have been influenced by the 14th century German theologian, Ludolf of Saxony whose principal work, “Vita Christi” may explain the large, friendly faces of the ox and the ass pressed right up to the crib. In Ludolf ’s description of the Nativity, the animals “put their mouths to the crib, breathing through their noses on to the child, because they knew that at that cold time he needed to be heated up in that manner”.

At one time it was claimed that this painting was the earliest known night scene and it received much critical attention but we now know that the painting was in reality Geertgen’s version of an earlier work by the Flemish painter, Hugo van der Goes (c. 1440 – 1482/1483). Van der Goes’ painting is now lost but is known from several versions made by other artists. While Geertgen may not have been a pioneer of night painting, he was nevertheless a very gifted artist. His figure of the Virgin who gazes at her child with such intense love and devotion immediately engages our attention; her fragility and vulnerability and that of her child emphasised by the darkness from which they emerge.

Cowan Watson

Light of the North

contents

diocese 4 witness 12 faithinaction 13 liturgy 14 educationandformation 16 faithandculture 20 humour 33 crossword 34 Westminster 35

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Choosing the ‘better part’ this Advent

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ost folk will know the story about Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42) and how, when Jesus turns up at their house in Bethany, Martha bustles about feverishly trying to get everything ready for dinner while Mary sits down at the Lord’s feet to listen to his words.

And then, when Martha, fed up that she’s not getting any help from her sister, complains to Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the serving,� Jesus replies, “Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken away from her.�

I always feel rather sorry for Martha. Maybe if Jesus, Mary and the disciples had moved into the kitchen and given a hand then there would have been an opportunity for everyone to listen to what Jesus had to say!

I do wonder though how Martha would have coped with Advent. I imagine that she would be the one who would do most of the shopping.

She would be the one who would know when the last posting date to New Zealand was so that Great Auntie Flo would get the woollen bed Light of the North socks she’d knitted for her and how to squeeze a 50lb turkey into a standard sized oven. You can bet she would have bought her Christmas cards in the winter sales. Yes, Martha would make sure that everyone had Managing Editor a good Christmas even if it killed her!

Deacon Tony Schmitz Unfortunately, and I know this to my own cost, there is a way of dutifully and frantically working which can leave you feeling empty and even a Editor touch resentful. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that, “Jesus is peace and Cowan Watson the person who does not attend to him in peace does not receive him�

(Catholic Pastoral Edition of the New Community Bible).

Editorial Advisor While there’s nothing wrong with pre-Christmas preparations it’s still Canon Bill Anderson important that we try to balance the sacred part of the Advent season with all of the other things that are going on at this time of year. If you Advertising don’t make some time for quiet reflection and prayer then it’s likely that Sandra Townsley you’ll find yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted by 01463 831 133 Christmas Day. Martha’s Christmas celebration would probably look Sedstown@aol.com pretty near perfect on the surface but, as likely as not, it would be as spiritually dry as a glutton free mince pie.

And now, on to this issue of the Light of the North in which columnists Light of the North Bishop Hugh Gilbert, Clare Benedict and Eileen Grant continue to help us Ogilvie Centre celebrate the Year of Faith with some inspirational writing. Deacon John 16 Huntly Street Wire reports on this year’s pilgrimage to Lourdes and Sarah Akehurst ABERDEEN AB10 1SH describes how one is able to find God, notwithstanding the pressures of being a long-term carer. Shelagh Noden, in her Musical Memories, tells 01224 638675 the tale of Gallus Robertson, the “Merry Monk� who had the temerity to lightofthenorthmagazine@gmail.com stand up to the redoubtable Bishop Hay and don’t miss Canon Bill www.lightofthenorth.org Anderson’s reflection on one of Shakespeare’s finest sonnets.

Happy Advent Cowan

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Light of the North

Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes

Deacon John Wire

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he first Aberdeen Diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes to be led by Bishop Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B took place from 4th to 11th July this year. A group of forty-eight pilgrims from across the Diocese met at Edinburgh airport in the early morning of Wednesday 4th July for the flight to Toulouse and then on by coach to the Hotel St Louis de France in Lourdes which was arranged by Mancunia Travel Ltd in Manchester.

There were pilgrims from every corner of the Diocese, from Shetland, Orkney, Inverness, Aberdeen, Elgin, Nairn, Fochabers and Stonehaven. We were also joined

by Pat and her mother Kathleen from Dunoon in the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles. For some, their pilgrimage had started two or three days earlier, particularly those from Shetland and Orkney. The Inverness contingent had travelled down during the day on Tuesday either by car or the “Megabus� and then stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn near the airport. For twelve of us from Aberdeen, including Bishop Hugh, it was a very early morning departure by minibus from St Mary's Cathedral in Huntly Street, just after 4.00am, to get us to Edinburgh airport

for a 7.30am check-in! It was quite a foggy morning that Wednesday and at one point the fog was so thick while passing Kinross on the M90 that some of us were anxious that if the conditions were similar at Edinburgh airport, would we be able to take off?

Fortunately the weather was better at Edinburgh and the airfield and runway were quite clear. Everyone passed through the usual security screening without mishap and the flight to Toulouse was smooth and uneventful allowing some of us from Aberdeen to take a quick nap to recover from the early morning departure. For one of the Aberdeen pilgrims it was his first flight and it couldn't have been better. Arriving in Toulouse there was quite a delay in getting the four pilgrims in wheel chairs and their helpers off the plane and through immigration, but finally we departed Toulouse for the two hour coach ride to Lourdes.

When we finally arrived at the Hotel Saint Louis de France there was just enough time to check in and deposit our cases in our rooms before going across the road to the lower chapel of the Accueil St Frai for our first Mass in Lourdes. As well as Bishop Hugh, the other members of the clergy representing the Diocese were Fr Stuart Chalmers (St Ninian's, Inverness), Deacon Patrick Darbyshire (St Mary's, Inverness) and Deacon John Wire

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The pilgrimage candle carried by Mario Pagliari and Norman McDonald followed by the Diocesan banner with Kieran McLernan in Scottish national dress and Bishop Hugh leading the procession (St Mary's Cathedral, Aberdeen). After Mass it was time for a well earned supper in the hotel: because of the almost continual travelling some had hardly eaten anything since the early morning so a hot meal in the hotel was most welcome.

The next day dawned wet and overcast, so much so that we decided that our procession with Diocesan banner and candle would have to be postponed to the following day at the earliest. So, after Morning Prayer we made our way to the Domain (Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes) for our official opening Mass of the pilgrimage in the chapel of St John Vianney near to the Crowned Virgin statue at the end of the Esplanade during which Bishop Hugh gave the homily. The rest of that first day was free for sightseeing, visiting the baths or going to the Blessed Sacrament procession, until Evening Prayer before supper at 7.00pm. After supper the hardier pilgrims made for the torchlight procession in the Domain, whilst an early night beckoned for those still tired from the previous day’s travelling.

Friday's weather was much the same as Thursday and on the advice of our Mancunia courier, Michael, we postponed the procession and group photograph again until the following day. Michael said that the weather forecast indicated that the weather would improve during our stay. Morning and Evening prayer became the hinges of our daily routine and after Morning Prayer we set off again, this time for the Crypt of the Rosary Basilica for our Mass at 10.00am. During the Mass Bishop Hugh and Fr Stuart anointed those pilgrims seriously ill or aged which was quite moving for all there. In the afternoon we had a service of reconciliation in the Chapel of St Maximilian Kolbe led by Fr Stuart after which Bishop Hugh and Fr Stuart heard individual confessions. During the service Paula Sylvester played her guitar to accompany the singing of hymns and her flute whilst the individual

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confessions were taking place. By now we were settling into our daily routine and after evening prayers and supper a number of pilgrims headed off to the torchlight procession, which became a regular after supper event.

On Saturday we were up bright and early for our Mass at the Grotto at 7.30am. The weather had improved greatly and it was a bright and sunny morning, sunhats and sunglasses were finally out of the luggage! We were joined by three English speaking priests who concelebrated with Bishop Hugh and Fr Stuart. Our two youngest pilgrims, Taylor and Reece McDonald, who were our regular altar servers, served at the Mass and Paula provided music for the liturgy with her guitar. After Mass we headed back to the hotel for a later than usual breakfast.

At 10am we assembled outside the hotel with our pilgrimage candle which was carried by Mario Pagliari and Norman McDonald followed by the Diocesan banner and processed to the Domain with Kieran McLernan in Scottish National dress and Bishop Hugh leading the procession. Our first stop was at the Crowned Virgin for the group photo. We then continued our procession passing the Grotto to the area where the large candles are placed. Bishop Hugh offered a prayer for the intentions of the Diocese and the candle was lit. Finally we arrived at the statue of St Margaret of Scotland and more prayers were offered for the country and people of Scotland.

Margaret Kessack from Elgin and Wilma Laurenson from Shetland placed flowers at the gate of the shrine.

After lunch a number of pilgrims went on an afternoon

The torchlight procession excursion to the village of Gavarnie, high in the Pyrenees where one can see the waterfall which feeds the river Gave. Apparently it is the highest free-flowing waterfall in Europe. The river Gave is the river which winds its way through Lourdes and passes right by the Grotto. It was a lovely afternoon and the scenery and views were spectacular. During supper that evening the weather changed dramatically and storm clouds engulfed Lourdes.

There was thunder and lightning with hail stones the size of golf balls falling from the sky followed by torrential

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Mass in the Grotto rain. Some intrepid pilgrims decided that they would risk going to the torchlight procession after what appeared to be the end of the storm. Unfortunately they were all caught in a second torrential downpour whilst at the Domain including Bishop Hugh and Fr Stuart. Everyone returned to the hotel soaked to the skin!

On Sunday we took part as a group in the International Mass in the underground basilica of St Pius X with our Diocesan banner prominent in the procession. In the evening it was our turn to process as a pilgrimage in the torchlight procession. The weather stayed dry for the duration of the procession which ended on the esplanade in front of the Basilica. Monday saw us in the Mater Dolorosa Chapel celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of

Prayers were offered for the country and people of Scotland at the statue of St Margaret

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Aberdeen; a joyous Mass during which Bishop Hugh spoke of the vocation of marriage and the choosing of one’s spouse for life. The Mass concluded by all singing the hymn to Our Lady of Aberdeen. In the afternoon Deacon Patrick, Kieran and Mario volunteered to help out in the baths and consequently spent several hours helping pilgrims in and out of the bath. They all remarked that it had been a spiritually uplifting experience. In the evening there was some light entertainment with a quiznight organised by Deacon Patrick. There were some exclamations of ‘fix’ when the winning team included Bishop Hugh!

Tuesday was our final full day and our Mass was in the Chapel of St Joan of Arc. The words “sardines” and “sauna” come to mind! It was a tiny side chapel on the edge of the Basilica, the forty-eight of us just managed to squeeze in and the overcast and humid weather made it even more uncomfortable. A point to note for our pilgrimage director in the future: Make sure the chapel is big enough to accommodate all pilgrims comfortably!

The afternoon was in some ways the highlight of our pilgrimage as we took part as a group in the Blessed Sacrament procession. Because of the weather it was confined to the underground Basilica. However, for a small pilgrimage we “punched above our weight” as one pilgrim commented. Norman McDonald led the whole procession carrying the Banner of the Virgin Mary with our Diocesan banner carried by Alex McAllister and Mario Pagliari immediately behind. Bishop Hugh was one of three bishops taking part in the procession as did Fr Stuart and Deacon Patrick and Deacon John. Taylor and Reece McDonald also took part in the procession looking distinctive in their red cassocks and white cottas and Deacon John read the Gospel in English during the service. After supper there was one final opportunity to take part in the torchlight procession.

Mass on Wednesday morning, our last Mass in Lourdes, was at 7.30am in the upper chapel of the Accueil St Frai where we celebrated the Feast of St Benedict. Bishop Hugh’s homily on various aspects of the life and rule of St Benedict was interesting and uplifting as usual. After a hurried breakfast we left Lourdes on route for Toulouse and home to Scotland. One of our pilgrims, a lady from Elgin who, I am reliably informed, is an inveterate pilgrim, commented that it was the best pilgrimage she had ever been on. Thanks be to God!

If you know somebody who is unable to get to church to pick up a copy of the Light of the North please let them know that for just £10.00 they can be put on our subscribers’ mailing list, and we will send them a year’s issues of the magazine by post.

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Same-sex marriage and religious freedom “Speak now or forever hold your peace” John Deighan

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he Scottish Government is aiming to publish a draft bill for redefining marriage at the start of November. The draft bill will be open for consultation for a 12 week period to allow people to comment on any concerns about how a change in marriage may impact on society.

The previous consultation on the principle of changing the law to permit same-sex couples to marry resulted in the biggest ever response of any government consultation and 67% of them being opposed to a redefinition. The response was more than three times that obtained on the government’s flagship policy of an independence referendum. It gives an indication of the concern that people in Scotland have that such a change should be made. For many they are taken aback that this has continually been made a political priority at a time when there are huge concerns about unemployment, an ailing economy, the future of Europe, wars around the world, concerning levels of inequality and family breakdown, pressures on public services and a strain on further education resources.

The legal changes in relation to family law have been dramatic over the last decade. It started with the repeal of ‘Section 28’ which prohibited the promotion of homosexuality, it moved on to creating civil partnerships as a relationships akin to marriage, it then moved on to permitting same-sex couples to adopt followed very quickly by outlawing agencies which were unwilling to follow this practice. These have arisen with a strong political campaign by lobby groups intent on changing society’s understanding of family life. Sadly the efforts have included measures to polarise opinion against those who wish to uphold traditional marriage.

The homosexual campaign group, Stonewall have made considerable efforts to vilify people who disagree with them and are about to hold a glamorous celebrity award ceremony where they have nominated Cardinal O’Brien and Archbishop Tartaglia for their ‘Bigot of the Year Award’.

At the start of the month I attended a meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels where politicians and other people from around Europe spoke of the phenomenon of hostility and discrimination levelled at Christians and how several pretexts are used to justify this anti-Christian sentiment. The militant architects of such campaigns are sadly making use of the debate around human sexuality to foster this animosity and part of that

tactic involves shrilly attacking any public manifestation of Catholic teaching on marriage and the family. This then conditions public opinion which then thinks that the Church is somehow the source of the aggression when in fact it is typically the target.

The marriage campaign is therefore set in a much wider context which should be considered seriously by the Catholic community. We have already seen that those who wanted to uphold the importance of marriage in the area of adoption have suffered. The legal changes which have been brought in supposedly to protect equality have actually been shown to be very intolerant and it will become even more difficult for the Church and Christians to speak openly of their beliefs on marriage if the law is used to redefine it.

In particular, public sector workers will be in a precarious position because recent equality laws place a duty on local authorities to promote the legal understanding of equality.

If the law states that marriage between two men is equal to real marriage then people will be bound by that. The Equality and Human Rights Commission have been promoting the idea that the existence of people who think that sex between people of the same sex is wrong is a social problem to be addressed. That really means that they wish to eradicate the Christian understanding of marriage from our society; they want to demand that everyone condone all forms of relationships which ties in with the warning of Cardinal Ratzinger before becoming pope that we are facing a ‘dictatorship of relativism’.

There is therefore a great deal at stake in defending marriage and a need for people to hold politicians accountable for their actions. A message from the Brussels meeting was that our greatest danger as Christians was in not responding to the growing intolerance. Some are properly concerned that somehow defending marriage is seen as an attack on people who have same sex attraction.

There is an important need to give proper pastoral support but that cannot paralyze us and prevent us from offering the truth about human sexuality and family life to the whole of society. We need to do that and at the same time ensure we live in a society which is just and which permits religious freedom. If we do not take the opportunity to act now we face the prospect of considerable restriction on our rights to religious freedom. In terms of being able to defend marriage it may well be that you must speak now or forever hold your peace.

John Deighan is the Catholic Parliamentary Officer at the Scottish Parliament.

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Light of the North

Mary Becci centenary

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ary Becci (née Zanré) was born in Dundee of Italian parents on 6th September 1912. At 3 months old she went with her parents to Borgotaro in Italy and lived there until age 11 when she returned to Scotland.

In 1937 she married Luigi Becci with whom she had 3 children, Albert, Luigi and Lidia. In 1939 she and her husband moved to Aberdeen. During the Second World War her husband was interned in Australia after surviving the sinking of the Arandora Star. Left alone with a small child, Mary Becci, accompanied by daughter Lidia, gets ready to blow out the she opened a fish-and-chip shop in Crown birthday candles Street and established a thriving business. On communion at home. her husband’s return they ran the business until 1970 when Mary was 100 on the 6th September 2012 and received they sold the shop and retired. Her husband died in 1980. her greetings card from the Queen. She continues to live Mary has been a faithful parishioner of St Mary’s independently at home with the support of her family, Cathedral until unable to travel, but continues to receive good friends and neighbours.

Pluscarden lectures for the Year of Faith

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ope Benedict XVI says this year is a time to “rediscover and study the content of the faith” and a series of public lectures to be given by Dom Benedict Hardy OSB on “The Documents of Vatican II” at Pluscarden Abbey, Elgin are designed to help us do just that.

The series will begin on Saturday 1st December with three lectures on the text of Lumen Gentium.

There will be brief breaks, including one for lunch.

The day will end at about 3.30 p.m. Light refreshments of tea or coffee will be available, but please bring your own packed lunch. Those attending will wish to bring a copy of Lumen Gentium. It is readily available online as a free down-load at: www.vatican.va. There

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will be no charge for the lectures, and all are welcome to attend. The first lecture will begin at 10.15 a.m. at St Scholastica’s Ladies Retreat House following the Pluscarden daily sung Conventual Mass at 9.00 a.m.

It is important that the Abbey have some idea of the numbers they can expect to attend, so please register either your interest, or your firm intention to attend. You can do that online via the Abbey website, or by writing to Dom Benedict Hardy OSB at Pluscarden Abbey, Elgin, Moray IV30 8UA.

f you have access to the internet why not take a look at the recording of Bishop Hugh Gilbert’s talk on the Year of Faith which he gave to the Newman Association in October and which has now been posted on “You Tube” (Search “Bishop Hugh Gilbert Year of Faith”).

Also on You Tube are videos of the Diocesan Faith Formation Seminars led by Bishop Hugh which are well worth watching (Search “Bishop Hugh Gilbert Faith Formation Seminars”).

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Shining brighta sheer delight!

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egular readers of the Light of the North will remember Rachel Duddin, a parishioner of St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen and a dental hygiene therapist who founded the “Big Smile Uganda Charitable Trust” to help improve dental health and oral hygiene in Uganda.

In June Rachel, accompanied by volunteers Margaret Machonachie, Keith Watson and David Mutch, revisited St Elizabeth’s hospital at Magale in the Archdiocese of Tororo where Big Smile Uganda have been working to expand the fledgling dental service.

The dental unit set up by the charity is proving a great success with improved equipment and sterilisation now allowing patients to have the option of having teeth restored rather than extracted.

While the team were there they treated around eighty patients for pain relief and they now have the services of a local dentist who will continue their work. The task force also spent time teaching school children and older dental patients about oral health with the assistance of 1400 donated toothbrushes. Unfortunately, not all the children

Margaret Machonachie, Keith Watson, David Mutch and Rachel Duddin received a brush due to the high volume of students, around 800 per class!

To assist with the ongoing treatment offered to patients at the unit Jim Murphy, an Aberdeen dentist and a member of St. Francis’ church, has volunteered to visit the project in October.

During the visit Rachel and her co-workers were also able to distribute 500 summer dress uniforms which had been generously donated by Albyn School in Aberdeen to the schools run by the religious sisters with whom the party stayed. The children were overjoyed with their smart new uniforms which normally only a few children can afford.

In addition, the team also brought with them vestments and altar cloths which Father Piotr Zieliński, formerly a

priest in the Diocese of Aberdeen, had been donated by his home parish in Poland.

Next June, Big Smile Uganda, at the request of the hospital matron, plan to visit the hospital again to help improve sterilisation standards and provide further dental equipment and service.

If you would like to assist with this very worthwhile project you can contact Rachel by email at: bigsmileuganda@ hotmail.com or sign into Rachel’s Facebook page at Big Smile Uganda or check out their website at: http://www. bigsmileuganda.org. The team are currently appealing for devotional aids such as rosary beads, prayer cards etc. Even recycled Christmas card pictures are much sought after!

There is also a pressing need for warm knitted clothing and blankets for new born babies and pens, pencils, exercise books and other educational resources including musical instruments for the local blind school and orphanage.

Rachel would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have been supporting the Uganda project with their hard work and donations and would ask you to keep Big Smile Uganda in your prayers.

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Deanery Pilgrimage to Our Lady and St Bean

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n Saturday, 1st September at 12 noon, a warm welcome awaited all those attending St Joseph’s (Highland) Deanery Pilgrimage to Our Lady and St Bean.

This splendid Highland Church nestles within the Parish of Cannich.

The principal celebrant was the Bishop of Aberdeen, Hugh Gilbert OSB, and the Station Mass opened with the Hymn, “I’ll Sing A Hymn To Mary”, followed by a reading from the Book of Isaiah (61:9-11). The second reading came from the Letter of St Paul to the Ephesians (1:3-6. 11-12) while the Gospel reading was taken from Luke (2:41-52 ) on which Bishop Hugh gave an

enlightening homily.

The processional hymn, “Immaculate Mary”, was sung as the congregation, led by the clergy, made their way to a shrine in honour of Our Lady which had been erected outside the Church. At the shrine Bishop Hugh recited the second joyful mystery of the Holy Rosary, “The Visitation”, was read by Bishop Hugh.

Upon completion of the Pilgrimage, refreshments and warm fellowship were enjoyed in the Parish Rooms.

It is hoped that Bishop Hugh enjoyed his first visit to the Highlands as Bishop, and we feel sure this will prove to be the first of many.

Bishop Hugh Gilbert gave an inspiring homily Fr Colin Davies, Parish Priest of Our Lady and St Bean, admires the statue of Our Lady which had been erected outside the church

The clergy process into the church

Refreshments and warm Highland fellowship were enjoyed in the Parish Rooms after the Mass

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Broke but not Broken Finding God as a long-term carer Sarah Akehurst

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here are over six million unpaid carers in Britain today; about one in ten people. They care for people who have physical and mental health problems and cannot manage without their help. I am going to reflect on the experience of being a carer and the question of where, as Christians, we find God in this experience. My focus is particularly on those who look after someone with a long term condition, where doing things with and for that person means giving a lot of time, and giving it over years rather than months.

Being an unpaid carer is a role that is rarely chosen and is more often thrust upon people in consequence of the illness, accident or disability of a family member or the birth of a disabled child. Being responsible for another person’s health and wellbeing is more likely to be a positive experience if the relationship with that person is good, if there is informal and professional support and if life remains materially comfortable.

Having the right kind of temperament and having an end in sight both help. In reality carers are often not prepared, equipped or supported to take on the practical and emotional load. There can be a great deal of loss involved as their lives change, sometimes permanently, in ways they had not expected or wished for.

The titles of two recent pieces of research indicate how hard being a carer in the UK can be. A survey in Scotland entitled “Sick, tired and caring” (2011) looked at the impact of unpaid caring on health1. Of the respondents 96% said that caring had impacted negatively on their health, over half had experienced long term illness or disability and 86% suffered from stress, anxiety and depression. A third said they were exhausted and half felt isolated. Research by the Princess Royal Trust for Carers (2010), “Broke and Broken” found that a third of carers do not want to wake up in the morning because of dire financial circumstances, half want to run away from their caring role2. Turning to drugs and alcohol to cope, fearing the future and wanting to harm the person who is cared for, mainly out of frustration, are all reported as significant.

I have been a carer for the past thirteen years, for my mother and for my son. The role was one I had not anticipated nor one to which I am naturally well suited. I enjoyed outdoor activities, especially hill walking, and also study and reading.

1 © Carers Scotland, January 2011 Publication Code S4047 2 If you are one of the 6 million carers in the UK, support, advice and information is available from the Princess Trust for Carers: http://www.carers.org

Christ at Rest, by Hans Holbein the Younger I hoped, as my family grew up, to take an active role in the church. In fact long walks, study and any kind of role outside of home and work have disappeared, and their place has been taken, much to my surprise, by chronic health problems and a very different kind of life.

So why, for a long term carer, is staying well, happy and prosperous so rarely part of the package? Firstly I think it is to do with the huge practical impact on life. Carers may know what they need to do to stay healthy and cheerful but simply not be able to do it because they don’t have the time, opportunity, or money. Secondly there is the impact on emotional wellbeing. The carer is likely to suffer with the person they are looking after, a person who may be in pain, who is experiencing loss, who may be fearful, sad or angry.

Fighting for help and support can be hugely frustrating. Also if the person who is cared for is excluded, for whatever reason, It’s not about gritting your teeth, or about despairing; it’s about being willing to take up this particular cross even if you don’t make a great job of carrying it. from normal social relationships then the person looking after them can easily be excluded too. In a society that applauds success, status and material prosperity, a long term carer may wonder if they have somehow become invisible. It’s like participating in a giant game of snakes and ladders where the ladders go nowhere much and the snakes are everywhere.

Everyday snakes of drabness, loneliness and misunderstanding and snakes that go all the way down, chronic illness, depression, broken relationships, poverty, debt and despair.

So where might God be found in this experience? Not necessarily in churches ; they can be difficult places to take people who are disabled or ill, and it’s hard to be part of a church community if you have no spare time. It’s easy to end up on the margins of the church, or fall off the radar altogether.

When I can I go to Pluscarden Abbey which is near my home.

At Vespers on Sunday the monks sing (in translation) “Let not our soul, weighed down with sin, be an exile from the gift of life”. If “sin” in this context is the mental and physical

Light of the North Page 12 witness Whilst seeking to make prayer part of suffering that afflicts the carer and the everyday life, particular places and ways in which the carer can compound times can help. For me going when I this, inflicting more suffering on can to the monastery means a chance themselves and others, then the to be somewhere where prayer is question is, what is this gift of life, somehow easier. When I leave nothing how do we find it? has materially changed; however to There is a story about one of the echo Laird, whilst fear is still present I desert fathers which is relevant to this. feel less afraid of fear, life will still be A young monk asks him which of hard but I struggle less with that. three servants of God is on the best The gift of life is always about the path to achieve holiness. One has present. If one is not dominated by given away everything he owns and “ ... a giant game of snakes and ladders fear of the future or sadness about the spends his life ministering to the poor. where the ladders go nowhere much and past there is more space to see Christ The second spends all his time in the snakes are everywhere� in everyday life, in those we care for, in prayer and fasting. The third has become the servant of an old man who needs his help. The the help that we receive and in the doorway open into the answer given is the third man as he has relinquished his will world of disability with all the potential that gives for to that of another person. So giving up control over one’s own friendship, understanding and service. It helps us to see that life can be seen, as a path on which the gift of life is to be the fragile ladders and the devouring snakes are not the whole found, a path of humble service. It’s not about gritting your story; the fountain that is this gift of life is always flowing and teeth, or about despairing; it’s about being willing to take up irrigating our lives despite the hardship. It helps us be less this particular cross even if you don’t make a great job of harsh in our judgments of ourselves and others. And ultimately one hopes we may experience some of the joy and carrying it.

I see the giving up of one’s will for another person who humility of the saints, finding in the path of being a carer the needs your help as central to finding God in all of this; it easy yoke that Christ speaks of, his hand upon our shoulder. really is a hard thing to do and the emotional impact can be frightening. Martin Laird in his book “Into the Silent Land� describes “afflictive emotions� such as fear, sadness, guilt, anger3. If these emotions dominate our minds they can distort our view of reality and undermine our physical and mental

health. They can prevent us from experiencing life as a kind of gift. For me the way to loosen their grip is mainly through

contemplative prayer and silence, using the Jesus prayer or

something similar4. That is not an easy answer because the

poverty of time is real, and regular time is what is needed. But

I think it is through prayer that the possibility of our

experience being transformed from the inside out is revealed

to us. Martin Laird suggests that it is in our suffering, not in

spite of it that we find Christ. God in Christ has taken into Himself the brokenness of our human condition; hence what ! " # $

seems like a dead end can become a doorway. In silent prayer •

we find that doorway to the gift of life which is the presence • of Christ, a presence more real and substantial than either the •

ladders or the snakes.

Finding time and a place to pray are the challenges here.

Aberdeen Cyrenians 1/4 page

3 Martin Laird, “Into the Silent Land�, Darton,Longman & Todd Ltd, 2006, ISBN-10: 0232526400 4 To discover more about the “Jesus Prayer� see, Lev Gillet, “On the Invocation of the Name of Jesus�, Templegate, U.S. 1985, ISBN-10: 0872431339 and Irma Zaleski “Living the Jesus Prayer�, Canterbury Press, Norwich, 2011, ISBN-10: 1848251017. Both are short books and both very helpful.

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Ikelenge Update Saint Columba’s parishioners in Banchory have been supporting the Sacred Heart Deaf Unit at Ikelenge in Zambia for over eleven years, following their introduction to the school by Fr Max McKeown.

The unit, which is in the far north- west of Zambia near the border with Angola and Congo, is managed

by Sisters Regina, Rajamani, Udhaya and Josephine.

Over the years a number of parishioners have visited and helped out at the unit and this summer Fergus Simpson and Amanda Bouchet, representing St Columba’s parish, travelled to Ikelenge and spent six weeks assisting with the running of the school. Fergus Simpson sent us the following report.

Fergus Simpson

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n June 12th I travelled with Amanda to the Sacred Heart Deaf Unit in Ikelenge, Zambia which our parish has helped to support for many years. We spent six weeks at the school helping the Sisters that manage the unit in any way we could. As Sisters Josephine and Udhaya were in India at the time that we were there, Sisters Regina and Raja were left to run the school. Our presence at the school therefore allowed them some flexibility where they otherwise would have been very busy.

Whilst at the school our routine on weekdays

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generally consisted of teaching the Grade 1 children from 8.00am until lunchtime. This included teaching them the alphabet, both written and in sign language, basic maths and basic sign language. Using your donations we bought several teaching aids, as well as toys to be used with the younger children. These proved to be very successful with teaching the alphabet and simple maths. In the afternoons we taught English grammar to the Grade 7 class and helped them to revise for their national end of year exams in all their subjects. From 5.30pm until 7.00pm we then helped to supervise the children before their meal, and then gave them a hand with their homework.

At weekends we got involved with a variety of different activities. We spent one weekend at a local agricultural show where the children displayed various items they had knitted (There are some examples of their handiwork in the parish centre). We also went to the nearby river on several occasions to bathe and wash clothes.

The school itself receives a small grant from the Zambian government, but largely relies on donations from people such as ourselves. Our continued support, therefore, is necessary to cover day-to-day costs and ensure that the school can keep running effectively.

The Sisters are planning to have toilets built inside the children’s accommodation, which will mean our help is needed more than ever.

The Sisters and the children pass on their thanks to everyone in the parish who has helped to support their work, as do Amanda and I for allowing us to reach Ikelenge and have such fun working with the children.

Amanda and Fergus with some of the children from the Sacred Heart Deaf Unit

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*'#.'& $; (#+6* Hugh Gilbert OSB Bishop of Aberdeen “Almighty ever-living God, increase our faith, hope and charity, and make us love what you command, so that we may merit what you promise” (Collect Week 30).

H

ow are we healed? One answer is, by faith, hope and charity. Being redeemed means, first of all, being cured of the disorder of sin (“ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven” as the hymn says) and, secondly, being lifted up into the life of God, becoming a sharer of the divine nature. It is being freed from slavery, first, and adopted into sonship, second: two sides of one gold coin. And so St Thomas will describe grace – God’s activity within us – as healing and elevating. Jesus Christ came into the world to rescue us from sin and unite us to God. And for the graced human being, this process of redemption is worked out in a personal life shaped by the three theological virtues. “They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being”, says the Catechism (1813). They heal and elevate our intellect, memory and will, or, if you prefer, our thinking, desiring and loving. They are God-given energies that transform us from within, make us new and Christian persons, capable of acting as children of God, in Christ and in the Spirit.

From earliest Christian times, this triad has been known and proclaimed. In Ch1, v. 3 of 1 Thessalonians – often said to be the earliest Christian writing – St Paul remembers “before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”. Turn next to the opening blessing of 1 Peter: “By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead … you, who are guarded through faith “Tell me what you believe and hope and love, and I will tell you what you are.” for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time … without having seen him, you love him” (3:4-5,8). Turn to Hebrews, and lo and behold: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith … let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering … and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (10:22-24; cf 6:10-12). When then, at the

climax of ch 13 of 1 Corinthians, St Paul famously says: “So faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (13:13), he is certainly being memorable, but he’s not inventing. And when our Catechisms make much of these three virtues, they too are simply echoing an apostolic tradition.

If faith, hope and love are so central to the Christian life, and if the Christian life is the perfection of human life (not an alien imposition upon it), then faith, hope and love (of some kind) must surely be the great animators of every human life. I don’t mean the infused theological virtues of faith, hope and charity; I mean a purely natural believing and hoping and loving. St Augustine famously said, “Tell me what you love and I will tell you who you are.” That it’s love which makes every human being tick is not a problematic thesis. So why not take a step further, and say, “Tell me what you believe and hope and love, and I will tell you what you are.” Man is a believing, hoping and loving animal.

Each and every man lives by some kind of faith, some kind of hope, some kind of love. Isn’t the moral and human quality of his life determined by the quality of his believing, hoping and loving? Or, to be more precise, by the objects of his believing, hoping and loving, and then by the intensity with which he devotes himself to those objects.

Take believing. Sometimes people say that it’s “all those dogmas” that stop them becoming Catholics.

But is it really that? Isn’t it rather that the Catholic dogmas conflict with their own dogmas? Everyone, really, holds dogmas. Man is not so much a rational animal as a dogmatic one. Put another way, everyone has a Credo. Everyone is convinced of at least some “things not seen”. One might suggest that anyone and everyone can be asked, “Tell me what you believe and hope and love, and I will tell you who you are.”

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Anyone’s and everyone’s life is a life of believing and hoping and loving: loving essentially, but loving with faith and loving in hope. And the more true and good our believing, hoping and loving, both as regards their object (objectively) and our personal commitment (subjectively), the more life we will have.

“Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself ” (CCC 1814). When we believe, we step out of the circle of ourselves and into the life of The extraordinary and supernatural avenue of divine Revelation, however, comes to the rescue, making available to all the precious stuff of truth out of which they can then fashion the fabric of their lives and happiness.

God. We take our stand on God’s word, which is truth.

The idols fall, especially the idol of our own mind. By faith, we are enabled to know and share in the thoughts of God. We are able to see God Himself, the world, ourselves, human history and our own lives as God sees them – within the measure of His revelation. It is an astonishing “elevation” of our intellects, a participation in the mind of God. And this is inevitably a healing and a deliverance. The mind is a receptacle, but everyone’s mind has a certain shape, a certain cast, conditioned by temperament and chemistry, nature and nurture, virtues and vices. It’s susceptible to some truths and unreceptive of others. It is, of course, the same mind that receives the faith, receiving always less than fully.

But the faith itself is a kind of softening and expanding agency within the mind. At the very least, it has the potential to rescue us from our mental limitations. It

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may on the one hand put a brake on lines of thought which would lead us astray and on the other stimulate our mind to move in fresh directions.

The choice is not between a free mind and a mind cramped by dogma, but between the dogmas of revelation and the dogmas of the age. Faith comes from God and binds us to God, and therefore heals us and lifts us up. “The possession of truth is the most important foundation of our personal life, and this foundational truth must bear the stamp of certitude.

Such truth is difficult to obtain, and in the ordinary course of events would be attained only by a few. The extraordinary and supernatural avenue of divine Revelation, however, comes to the rescue, making available to all the precious stuff of truth out of which they can then fashion the fabric of their lives and happiness. It does indeed matter that we believe, and also what we believe … Such a one can overcome the contrariness of human nature, the interior opposition and disregard all, that tosses many about, because they have no clear and intense light on the true goal of life and are unable to exercise the power of their will in a sustained and consistent way toward a worthwhile and attractive goal” (R. Simon: Hammer and Fire). Yes, “the just man lives by faith”. He stands by faith, not tossed about by every impression. And he understands by faith.

GPA HUMPHRIES 1/4 Page

75 Albury Road Aberdeen AB11 6TP tel: 01224 574425 fax: 01224 581311 www.gpa-humphries.com or email: architects@gpa-humphries.co.uk “That it’s love which makes every human being tick is not a problematic thesis”

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Witness to Truth Fr Bernard O’Connor

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t was the U. S. President, Abraham Lincoln, who once commented that “truth often suffers more at the hands of its defendants, than from the arguments of its opponents.” His concern was that the cause of truth could lend itself to be ‘hijacked’ by those with an agenda, and so they would distort or deviate from truth under the pretext of upholding fundamental rights and welfare. Lincoln could well have anticipated the wording of a placard which is part of an exhibit at Israel’s Yad Vashem, her holocaust memorial. It has purported to ‘defend’ the ‘truth’ of Pius XII’s leadership during World War II. On July 2, 2012, the Zenit News Service reported how the text had said that Pope Pius “did not denounce coercion and anti-Semitism, did not protest about what the Nazis were doing against the Jews, and did not intervene when they were deported from Rome.” The placard prevailed despite that “even the Jewish scholar Sir Martin Gilbert, the greatest historian of the Shoah, requested the removal of the plaque against the Pope,” because its message was completely and totally erroneous. Following extensive research and a series of conferences and formal exchanges to evaluate the vast documentary evidence in support of Pope Pius’ pro-Jewish efforts, the Yad Vashem display has been significantly revised.

The Zenit account cited the custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who is convinced that “the situation will certainly be better” in terms of the truth of Pope Pius’ motives and heroic initiatives. The new text mentions that “the Catholic Church carried out a considerable number of rescue activities to save (World War II) Jews.”

The altered placard refers, for example, to the Pontiff ’s 1942 Christmas radio-broadcast, in which he stated unequivocally that there were “hundreds of thousands of persons, who, without any fault of their own, at times only for reasons of nationality or race, are destined to death or to progressive deterioration.”

The Zenit article concludes with acknowledgement of “the New York-based Pave the Way Foundation” and its President, Gary Krupp. Gary and Meredith Krupp,

Pope Pius XII - The victim of an elaborate misinformation campaign themselves Jewish, “have long advocated a change in the text at Yad Vashem.” Pave the Way has consistently recruited historians and scholarly expertise to compile a massive array of pertinent interviews and contemporary documents; all of which verify that Pope Pius never retreated into silence or Nazi complicity as some of his critics contend. Quite the contrary. And in a spirit consonant with Vatican II’s counsel on the sharing of truth, the Pave the Way Foundation’s website (www.ptwf. org) allows the reader access to its data collection.

It is my privilege since 2006 to serve on Pave the Way’s Advisory Board. Since that time I have come to observe – and profoundly admire – how the Foundation espouses a mission of wanting to reduce instances of when religion becomes manipulated to justify overt violence or conspicuous deception and fraud, as in the case of Pope Pius. And while Pave the Way networks with those committed to interreligious dialogue, its focus is not upon contributing to “conversation”, but upon enabling concrete projects which will facilitate actual interreligious

Krupp asserts that, at the War’s end, tributes from across the Jewish world were lavished upon Pope PiusXII, repeated when he died in 1958. cooperation and prospects for peaceful coexistence.

A visit to the Foundation’s website is highly recommended. As noted above, the site contains over “76,000 pages of original material” thoroughly exonerating Pope Pius. For example, there is evidence that Pius XII encouraged “the creation of a Jewish State as far back as 1917.” Then, too, in 1939, as Cardinal Pacelli, he “attempted to obtain visas for 200,000 Jews who remained in Germany after Kristallnacht.” Similarly, the Pope “helped prevent the arrest of Roman Jews in 1943, giving an estimated 12,000 of them the chance to seek refuge in Church monasteries, convents, and the homes of Italian Catholics” (Zenit, June 21, 2012).

Krupp asserts that at the War’s end, tributes from across

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the Jewish world were lavished upon Pope Pius, repeated when he died in 1958. The mood, however, shifted against the Pope with the publication, following his death, of a play, The Deputy, written by a member of the German Communist Party “influenced” by Moscow. Krupp argues that the evidence is irrefutable: Pope Pius’ reputation was smeared due to an “elaborate misinformation campaign” waged “by the Soviets,” and against whom Pope Pius was adamantly and openly opposed. An attack on the Pope’s credibility was meant to destroy the impact of support for his anti-Soviet stance.

With equal candour and insight, Krupp elaborated upon his Soviet theory in a conversation with Zenit’s Edward Pentin ibid. He also took the opportunity to dispel three common myths which are habitually voiced by Pope Pius’ detractors. First, there is a claim that no Nazis were excommunicated. Krupp replies by citing Germany’s warera episcopate. The bishops had publicly insisted that

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“anyone who joined the ‘Hitler Party’, who wore the uniform or few the flag were excommunicated and a priest couldn’t attend their funeral if any of them died.” Second, some maintain that Pope Pius assisted war criminals to flee to South America after the Allied victory. “No, it was exactly the opposite,” as confirmed by the autobiography of a Nazi collaborator in Rome, Bishop Hulda. And third, did Pope Pius authorize “the forced baptism of Jewish infants?” Krupp retorts, “Nonsense. In fact he forbade it …. Because he had a great love and respect for Judaism, starting from his childhood. His closest friend was a Jewish orthodox boy, Guido Mendes.”

At the conclusion of his remarks, Krupp said how he is “very proud to be Jewish, and I think that this is the path God meant for me to take.” As his advisor, I would add that this is “the path” intended by God to be venerated by all those for whom truth is an indispensable ideal and vocation.

FAITH, OUR RESPONSE TO GOD Clare Benedict “By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, ‘the obedience of faith’ (Rom1:5)” (CCC 143). God speaks to us, opens His arms to us, and our response in faith is a loving trust in Him and His promises.

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aith, then, means trusting God and believing in His unconditional love for us enough to want to obey Him, not out of terror, or reluctant submission, or a grudging acceptance that could flare into rebellion at any moment; but freely, because we love our Father and trust Him and desire with our whole selves to please Him and do what He asks of us, because we believe that He knows what’s best for us, even when we don’t perhaps understand.

Obedience isn’t easy for human beings; we need only look at a child in a tantrum to realise this. Obedience has to be learned; but it has also to be desired, to be offered out of our free will. God doesn’t want frightened slaves cowering at His feet; He wants children who know how much He loves them, who love and trust Him in return, and who are glad to do what He wants.

go out and simply acquire this gift of faith from a celestial gift shop. We may already have a mind willing to believe that certain things are true; but we have still to open up our hearts to God. We have to wait for God to give us this wonderful free gift in His time. As the Second Vatican Council put it: “Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth” (Dei Verbum 5).

In the Gospels, we hear how Peter, a very ordinary human being, with a tendency to put his foot in it and get things wrong, out of the blue makes his confession of faith when he answers Jesus’ question “‘Who do you say Faith is a gift from God: It is God’s freely given gift that I am?’ ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ of grace that allows us to respond in faith. We cannot And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon! For

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beauty of the air; question the beauty of the sky ‌ question all these realities. All respond: ‘See, we are beautiful!’ Their beauty is a profession. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One who is not subject to change?â€? (St Increase our faith! We are not given faith so that we Augustine) can then sit back and bask in our special relationship The heavens proclaim the glory of God with God. We have to make a continual response; we And the firmament shows forth the work of His hands. have to cooperate with God; we have to work all our lives to keep faith strong and responsive. So even “the apostles (Psalm 18) said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’â€? (Lk 17:5). And Often, that first awareness of God comes through His when Jesus tells the sick child’s father that “all things are possible to him who believesâ€?, the father cries out Lord, I beautiful Creation: a flower, a sunset, a rainbow, a bird singing in the stillness. We can continue all through our believe; help my unbelief! (Mk 9:23-24). lives to experience this sudden thrilling awareness. We Abraham, our father in faith: Our Old Testament can also be influenced by the faith we observe in others. example of faith and obedience is Abraham, described as We probably all know people who demonstrate strong our father in faith, the father of all who believe (Rom faith, unwavering trust in God. This is especially inspiring 4:11). He earned this title by trusting in God throughout when such people have difficulties or tragedies in their his very long life, always believing that God would keep lives. Their faith can help all of us, not only as a living His promises, that he would become the father of many example; their strength can help to support those of us nations, in spite of plenty of indications that this wasn’t whose faith is not so strong. Let’s pray for this gift of very likely. “By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was faith, that it may be ever increased in us, so that we can called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an always trust in God’s love for us, that He will make all inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was things well, for He has promised that all shall be well, and to go. By faith he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well promised land. By faith, Sarah was given to conceive the (Julian of Norwich). son of the promise. And by faith Abraham offered his only son in sacrificeâ€? (CCC 145). flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven’â€? (Mt 16:15-17). This is how each one of us is given the gift of faith: as a free gift from our heavenly Father.

Blessed is she who believed: Mary, mother of Jesus, Mother of God, is our perfect example of the obedience of faith. She trusted in God’s promises; she believed that with God nothing is impossible and said Yes! to God’s request that she should bear His Son. She carried on believing and trusting throughout her son’s life and beyond, that no matter what happened (and terrible things did happen) God would make all well in the end.

This is why we call Mary truly blessed. “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lordâ€? (Lk 1:45). Mary is Jesus’ first and closest disciple: “And ‌ a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’â€? (Lk 22:27-28) Evidence? Faith, by its very nature, doesn’t require proof, as a scientist or a detective might. But that doesn’t mean that our minds don’t matter. God gave us our minds and intended that we should use them to find Him; so we are surrounded by ‘evidence’ of His existence – we just have to look around. “Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the

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# 64'#574; 1( &1%64+0' Eileen Grant “In this Year, then, the Catechism of the Catholic Church will serve as a tool providing real support for the faith, especially for those concerned with the formation of Christians, so crucial in our cultural context” (Porta Fidei 12).

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hus said Pope Benedict XVI in his Apostolic Letter announcing the forthcoming “Year of Faith”. In this document, he makes a clear link between Faith and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, so that, in this Year of Faith which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council, we are called also to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the superb publication whose seed was sown at the Council.

In 1962, at the very dawn of the Second Vatican Council, Bl. John XXIII presented the Council Fathers with a vision that urged them to produce an articulate and effective “deposit of faith” that would be accessible to all the faithful.

In 1985, when the Bishops gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Council, they agreed to develop such a catechism. The eventual fruit of this decision was the Catechism of the Catholic Church, first published in 1992, with a slightly modified edition issued in 1997.

From that first recommendation, in 1986 Pope John Paul II appointed a Commission to develop a compendium of Catholic doctrine and in 1989 a draft text was sent to all the Bishops for consultation. In 1990 the Commission examined and evaluated over 24,000 amendments suggested by the Bishops, with a final draft that differed considerably from the one first sent out. In 1991 a text was prepared for the Holy Father and, on June 25, 1992, he officially approved the definitive version. On December 8, 1992 Pope John Paul II promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church with an apostolic constitution, Fidei Depositum, “The Deposit of Faith”.

This massive undertaking has resulted in a veritable treasure-house of the Church’s teaching of two millennia, making faithful use of Sacred Scripture and Tradition, incorporating the heritage handed down from the Fathers and Saints of the Church, with frequent reference to the documents of the Magisterium, the Church’s teaching authority, commissioned by Jesus himself. The Catechism was also to serve as a beacon of light in a darkened world, illuminating our lives with the light of faith and shedding clarity on contemporary situations, dilemmas and questions.

That “Deposit of Faith” employs a similar form to the old

Roman Catechism of 1566, being divided in four main parts: dealing with the Creed, the Sacraments, the Commandments, Prayer, but under new headings: 1. The Profession of Faith, 2. The Celebration of the Christian Mystery, 3. Life in Christ, 4. Christian Prayer – described

by Cardinal Ratzinger in Lyons in January 1983 as the “four classical and master components of catechesis”.

Under these headings there are some completely new sections.

1. The Profession of Faith – what we believe.

It is significant that the Catechism begins with a richly packed section on Revelation, for Revelation precedes faith, is indeed a foundation for Faith. So we begin with the Christian mystery, the faith we proclaim: what the Catholic Church believes and is summed up in the Creeds of the Church (The Apostles’ Creed and The Nicene Creed), using as headings the articles of the Apostles’ Creed, with the Holy Trinity (three persons in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) as the central mystery of that faith, and looking also at the role of Mary, Mother of God. 2. The Celebration of the Christian Mystery – how we celebrate the faith we proclaim.

This second part expounds on how this Christian

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mystery is celebrated mystery celebratted and communicated through throu ugh liturgical actions, with special speccial place given given to the Seven Seven Sacraments.

Sacraments. th Church’s IItt opens with a beautiful exposition of the he Church’s Liturgyy, work work of the Holy Holy Trinity Trinity and centred centred on the Liturgy, Paschal Mystery, Mystery, str sstressing essing its sacr ed saving action action whereby whereby Paschal sacred man encounters God. God. d The Th SSacraments acraments are are examined e d in three basic groups: group ps: Sacraments Sacraments of Initiation Initiation n (B aptism, three (Baptism, an nd Eucharist); Eucharist); Sacraments Sacraments of H ealing Confirmation and Healing (Penance/R Reconciliation econciiliation and Anointing off the SSick; ick; (Penance/Reconciliation Sacraments at thee Service Service of Communion (Holy (H Holy Orders Orders Sacraments Matrimony). and Matrimony).

Chrisst – how how we we live livve out thee Christian 3. Life in Christ Mysterry.

Mystery. meean to be human, to have have dig gnityy, and to What does it mean dignity, free? What is th he right use of that dignity an nd fr eedom? be free? the and freedom? part seeks too answ er these questions and an nd is divided This part answer secctions: the first examines our ou ur “vocation: “vocation: into two main sections: Spirit”, a vvocation ocation that calls us to beatitude; it life in the Spirit”, treats of human n freedom, freedom, human actions, action ns, passions, treats virtuee, sin, the natural moral law, law w, grace and conscience, virtue, t Church Church as teacher of the moral life – justification and the p us remain rem main true true to that vocation. vocation. The second all to help masterlly exposition of theTen the Ten Commandments, Comm mandments, section is a masterly through them one by by one. It It is both salutary salutary and taking us through

o may be surprised what seemingly s ‘minor’ ‘minor’ inspiring – one God’s Law and may find oneself contravene God’s peccadilloes contravene confessional more more frequently frequentlyy than usual! visiting the confessional Prayyer – encounter with the he living God. God. 4. Christian Prayer In the h final f l part, part, we we see how h w this ho h mystery mysteery we we proclaim proclaim l In is o prayer: prayer: “This “This mystery, mystery, then, th hen, requires requires that the basis for our believe in it, that they celebrate brate it, and that the faithful believe live from from m it in a vital and personal relationship relationship with they live nd true true God. God. This relationship relatioonship is prayer” prayer” the living and “the raising of one’s one’s mind and a hear God (CCC2558), “the heartt to God requeesting of good things from from m God” God” (St (St John John or the requesting Damascene). The first part part looks at the ‘history’ ‘history’ and Damascene). prayer, the different different types typ pes of prayer prayer – tradition off prayer, intercession, praise, thanksgiving; thankksgiving; different different supplication, intercession, expressions of o prayer; prayer; difficulties in prayer. praayer. The second expressions gives a superlative superlative exposition of the Lord’s Lord’s Prayer, Prayer, section gives “the summary summarry of the whole Gospel” Gospel” (Tertullian).

(Terrtullian). It It is the “the zenith of Christian Ch hristian prayer, prayer, each phrase sufficient ufficient in itself, itselff, zenith rest and acknowledging, ackno a wledging, in summing up and including the rest trust, our ou ur Father’s Father’s boundless merciful mercifu ul love. love. filial trust, Grrantt is an RCIA RCIA Catechist Catechist for thee Diocese Diocese of Eileen Grant Aberrdeen Aberdeen

A C A LEND DA A R OF F SAINTS Saintt Columban(us) Columban n(us)

Apostle A postle p tle of the V Vosges osges og R Region eg gion i (543-615AD (543-615AD) 15AD) Canon Alistair Alistair M. D Doyle oyle

I

t is one off the minor irritations off life to be confused with similar. w someone whose namee is similar r.

For F or instance instance, e, Canon Canon Co Coyle, yle, Dean Dean and P.P. P.P P. of Ellon Ellon justified annoyed would be ju ustified in feeling anno yed if confused with me because our names ar aree vvery ery similar. similarr. S So o it must be b a minor i blip bli in i their h i heavenly h enly heav l bliss bli when wh people l confuse Columba, Columb ba, Columbus, and Colum Columban. mban. O One ne Saint West was the S aint of Iona, Iona, one discovered disco overed the W est IIndies, ndies, and the other is rrevered evered in S South outh Eastern Eastern France France and Northern N orthern IItaly. talyy. IIn n America, l understand understan nd that the Knights of S St. t. Columba Co olumba ar aree kno known wn as the Knights Kn nights of St. St.

Columban. Which W saint is their patr patron? on n?

Columba was w a young young man of 21 when n Columban was born in 543, in the province province of Leinster, Leinster, Southern Southern IIreland. reland.

As a bo boyy Co Columban lumban was educated in the he Latin and IIrish rish classics, helped helpeed on the farm, learnt how how too use a sword sword and spear, livee off the land in thee forests spear, and how hoow to liv forests and hills.

Some Some of thiss early training would be useful in his later years monastic community. years as a leader l ader lea d off a self lf sufficient ffi i astic i community i y.

He He decided too become a monk as a yyoung oung man, and despite his mother’s active mother’s activ a e opposition, set off for an island in Loch Erne, Erne, Ulster.

Ulster. Columban spent six years yearrs on the island, during which h time he wrote wrote a Commentary Commentar ary on the Psalms Psalms and other mo monastic works.

However, onastic wor ks. H owever, he began to feel his

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The Blessing of St Columbanus - Fresco in the Concattedrale dei Santi Pietro, Lorenzo e Colombano, Brugnato, Nr La Spezia, Italy life was too comfortable and took to the road for Bangor where St. Comgall had founded a much stricter monastery.

At the age of fifty, after many years in Bangor, Columban and twelve others set off for Gaul. Why, we do not know.

Gaul, at this time was riven by civil war and anarchy; murder and torture were commonplace. Bishop Gregory of Tours writes that the Church suffered more in this period than in the Roman persecutions. By the time Columban arrived in Gaul, of four brothers, descendants of King Clovis, only one remained, the others having been murdered. So King Guntrum welcomed Columban and his party, hoping these holy men would expiate his crimes by their prayers. He allowed them to settle in the Vosges region, modern Franche Comté.

They settled first in Annegray, a ruined Roman settlement overgrown by the forest and, at once, started felling trees and clearing the ground for crops. PeopIe began to flock to these white-robed monks who spoke of peace and forgiveness and knew herbal medicine.

Columban founded a second, main monastery, eight miles from Annegray, in Luxeuil a former Roman town. To this day, the townspeople of Luxieul regard Columban as their patron Saint and they have a life-size statue of him in the market place.

Columban and his monks observed the liturgical practices they had learned in Ireland, which were based on the Julian calendar. However, Pope Gregory had corrected this calendar and the Church in Europe observed the Gregorian reforms. Columban’s obstinacy in remaining loyal to the Irish tradition angered the French Bishops who reported him to Augustine of Canterbury as he passed through Gaul on his way to England. Augustine was regarded as the Papal Legate and Columban was summoned to be reprimanded. He replied, “It is well known that the Irish have the best mathematicians in the world” and

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continued to observe his later Easter in the Vosges. He also wrote to Pope Gregory expressing his astonishment that so learned a man as the Pope could not see how incompetent the French mathematicians were. Eventually, matters came to a head with a new king, Guntrum’s grandson. Columban refused publicly to condone the immorality of the court.

King Theodoric ordered Columban and his monks to be deported to Ireland. They were taken under armed escort to Nantes but the ship ran aground before it reached the sea and the monks disembarked regarding the incident as a Divine sign. They decided to leave Gaul and go to Lombardy in Northern Italy. With a safe conduct, they set off across Gaul to the Rhône as the easiest way to the Alps and Italy. Finally, after stops in Metz and Lake Constance they reached Lombardy and settled in Bobbio, rebuilding the ruined church there. They soon became the spiritual heart of the area, giving the people help and advice for body and soul, and continuing to observe the Irish traditions in the liturgy.

The ruIer, Agiluf was an Arian in belief. This heresy concerning Christ’s divinity had infected the Church for two centuries and had been condemned by the Council of Nicea. Agiluf ’s wife was a Catholic from Bavaria and she urged Columban to write to Pope Boniface IV asking for clarification, especially as the Pope‘s predecessor was widely suspected of favouring the Arian heretics.

Columban wrote a long letter, stating his loyalty to the Pope but asking him for a clear answer even if it meant condemning his predecessor. Pope Boniface ignored the letter perhaps thinking the fiery, impulsive Irishman was too simplistic in his understanding of papal politics.

After some years in Bobbio, Columban was overjoyed to receive visitors from Luxeiul, learning that the monastery and town were thriving. There was a message from the king inviting him to return but, now 70 years of age, Columban felt he was too old and tired to accept. He remained in Bobbio until his death two years later.

Columban’s rule was very strict involving corporal penances and long fasts and, after his death, was soon replaced by the more moderate Rule of St. Benedict.

What is striking about St. Columban is his zeal for the Gospel and his sometimes misplaced loyalty to the tradition of the early Irish saints. His impulsive nature led him to write to Popes and rulers before he had grasped all the facts but behind it was his desire for clear leadership and a pastoral desire to ease any confusion in people’s mind.

The people of the Vosges and Northern Italy have never forgotten the Irish saint who came bringing peace and forgiveness and Christian morality to them. His feast is on 23rd November. The Mass prayer is: Lord God, who combined in Columbanus a zeal for mission and a love of monastic life, grant, by his prayer and example, we may love You above all things and strive to increase the household of the Faith. Amen

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*+5614; 1( 6*' 5%166+5* %#6*1.+% #4%*+8'5

Alasdair asdair R Roberts oberts

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rrchbishop chbish hop Mario Mario Conti mayy no now, w, in rretirement, etirem ment, wish to make more mo ore of his honora h ary chair in theology att Aberdeen Aberdeen honorary U nivversity errsityy. Meanwhile Meanwhile controversy controvers ersy sy continues University. over his pr oject of bringing back the former forrmer B lairs over project Blairs library along with h documents which used to o be kept in library ‘muniments’ room. room. oom These two collections collectiions (books the ‘muniments’ have been in E dinburgh for mor ore than half and papers) have Edinburgh more century. The univ u versity has a new librar ry so ther a century. university library theree is ishops of Scotland clearly a case forr doing what the B Bishops havve decided on n. This article article seeks to explain e have on. the historry of C athollic archives archives in the nor th. history Catholic north.

Another Ar chbiishop of G lasgow, James James Beaton, Beaton, e Archbishop Glasgow, began ssafeguarding documents when wh hen he took the business of safeguarding twelfth-century papal p bulls to P aris at the time of the twelfth-century Paris S i h Reformation.

Reformat f tion. i Th e he Ther h acted d as am b d for bassador f Scottish There ambassador Mary Queen Queen of Scots, S and letters fr om her su urvive. The Mary from survive. aris became a repository repository forr everything everything Scots College at P Paris

from clergy ccorrespondence correspondence to memoirs ‘in ‘ his own own hand’ hand’ from James II. These were were lost l at the time of of the exiled King James French Revolution.

Revolution. The Scots colleges ges at Douai Douai and the French Rome also suffer uffered the destr uction of documents, doocuments, but all Rome suffered destruction recovered was brought brought backk to Scotland. that could bee recovered C h l E Catholic mancipation in 1829 coincided ncided d d with h the h Emancipation Blairs College, but the conservation conservation of ar chives opening of Blairs archives went on elsewhere. elsewher w e. Preshome Preshome (near Fochabers) Fochabers) had been went protected bbyy dukes of Gordon Gordon since Thomas T Nicolson protected Nicolson eatton’s episcopal successor after afteer a gap of many became B Beaton’s years. St St Gregory’s, Gregory’s, Preshome, Preshome, Britain’s Britain’s largest Catholic years. church after the embassy chapels in London, Lond don, represented represented a church pre-dated emancipation by by step out of penal times which pre-dated Bishop James James Kyle Kyle designed ned the house in four decades.. Bishop yeaar after taking charge of the Northern Northern D istrict. that same year District.

Monsignorr David David McRoberts, McR Roberts, Ke eeper of o the Ar chives in Monsignor Keeper Archives Edinburgh, was w impressed: impressed: ‘On ‘On the second seccond floor of the Edinburgh, ere the th he ar chive room room and the library. library. The central house w were archive room on the nor th side of the house held d the cupboar ds in room north cupboards were stored stored the collection of letter rs and documents which were letters from the Co ntinental colleges. The cen ntral rroom oom on the from Continental central west side of the t house was the librar y, a small small room room with a west library, g windo w opposite pp bookkcases covered covered the single window the door;; bookcases from o floor to ceiling, each section tion with its own own side walls from greyy. The centre centre of the room room was door and all painted grey. row of similar cup pboards, back-tofilled with a double row cupboards, th here was scarcely scarcely room room to mo ve. . . The back, and there move. cupboards above ab bove and on either side of thee door were were fitted cupboards letters.’ I hav with pigeon holes and held the series oof letters.’ havee abou ut young young priests helping Bishop Bishop Kyle Kyle to written about theem in the current current issue of The T IInnes nnes Review, Review, catalogue them the journal off the Scottish Catholic H istoorical Association.

Historical IItt was onlyy after his death that B lairrs became a tr ue Blairs true ar chival centr re in the 1870s, but even even then theen the library library and archival centre 25,000 let tters rremained emained at letters P reshome.

With ample Preshome.

With space in th he national junior the seminar o D eeside, K yle’s seminaryy on Deeside, Kyle’s collection was secur e. secure.

O thers contributed. con ntributed. Bishop Bishop Others JJames ames G illi illis recovered d Gillis recovered material fr om F rance (seven (seven from France car tloads landed at cartloads A berdeen) and the Scots Aberdeen) monaster Bavaria. monasteryy in Bavaria.

Canon W illiam i Clapperton William Clapperton St Gr Gregory’s regorry’s Peshome Peshome and byy the house se designed b Bishop K Kyle, Kyle y e, the sec yle second ond floor was flo or of which hich w as devoted devvoted tto o the archive arrchiv ch hivve and libr library. rarry. watercolour ((This This vibrant vibrrant w aterrcolour is b byy ar artist, tistt, Ann Ann Dean) Dean)

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of Fochabers wrote up the history of 105 Scots missionary priests. Monsignor Peter Louis Butti was precise in his care of books and documents in the early twentieth century.

Beyond deciphering curious calligraphy, Malcolm Hay of Seton turned it into books starting with The Blairs Papers, 1603-1660. He was helped in this work by the During the war David McRoberts, newly ordained, met ‘apoplectic’ resistance from the rector when he asked for a fortnight in the muniments room. scholarly Bishop George Bennett of Aberdeen. During the Second World War David McRoberts, newly ordained, met ‘apoplectic’ resistance from the rector when he asked for a fortnight in the muniments room. A letter from the Archbishop of Glasgow got him in, to find ‘an unusually large ash tray, heaped up and overflowing with cigarette ends’ - evidence of Hay driving across from the Bridge of Don. It was McRoberts who first proposed that the Blairs archives would be more useful to historians if they were located in the south of Scotland. He wrote: ‘Many others were thinking along the same lines and, at their meeting in Glasgow in November 1957, the Scottish bishops decided

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to purchase a house in Edinburgh where the archives could be stored and where students could carry out their research within convenient reach of the facilities afforded by the Scottish Record Office and the National Library of Scotland.’ The result was Columba House at 16 Drummond Place, where Mgr McRoberts presided for the last six years of his life. One responsibility was to accommodate Preshome’s books and letters when the last resident priest retired.

Before that the first Keeper of the Scottish Catholic Archives, Fr William James Anderson, had taken charge of bringing Blairs books and documents south. He based himself behind the Cathedral at 19 Golden Square, Bishop Walsh having taken himself off to Fetternear where he and Fr Anderson attempted to find the coffin of Bishop Hay. It would hardly be surprising if readers of this magazine favoured the ‘repatriation’ of the former Blairs material. If personal comment may be allowed, however, neither I nor Ann Dean support the move. The Preshome illustration comes from a lifetime ‘northerner’ (now in the Gordon town of Huntly) who also works with documents. We both feel that the journey which ends in a short walk from Waverley or the bus station is worth it: historians come to Edinburgh from all quarters. The work they do of explaining the past should not be hampered.

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Letter from a Reader Mrs Isabel E. Garrett is a guide at the new Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway. She wrote to us about an article we carried in issue 19 of the magazine about the friendship between Bishop John Geddes and the Bard and the famous “Geddes Burns” manuscript which contains 14 poems in the poet’s own handwriting.

Bishop Geddes was also instrumental in the reestablishment of the Scots College at Valladolid in Spain and Mrs Garrett has been researching the background of a Fr Donald Easson who was, for a very brief spell in the 1890’s, Rector of the Scots College.

Isabel E. Garrett

came from there and that he had inherited a writing desk, a portable one which had belonged to Donald Easson, who had been born in Tomintoul on the 18th March 1864. After some research I discovered Ken’s great, great uncle was Fr.Donald Easson, son of David Easson and Margaret Stuart and that he was ordained in Valladolid in 1887 at the Royal Scots College in the Bishop’s Chapel2. He returned to Scotland and by the age of 25 was parish priest of St. Michael’s Linlithgow where he remained for nine years3. Ken’s writing- case was a gift from the parish in 1890.

In l897 in response to the Rector of the college’s request “for a mature priest who might succeed him” the bishops nominated Fr. Easson who was engaged for some time on a fund-raising tour of Galloway on behalf of the college4. The appeal raised £320. It would help to improve conditions there, which had troubled Bishop Turner when he visited Valladolid in l898. Fr. Donald arrived in Spain in November of that year but died of diphtheria four months later in l899.

Fr Donald’s grandmother Ann Stuart had a small croft at Bellavlair near Tomintoul which is shown on Thomas Milne’s plan of l7755. Ken has a copy

T

his story starts with, would you believe it, Bishop John Geddes! Dr. Ken Fegan G.P. recently retired, at West Kilbride North Ayrshire and I had a very interesting conversation at a 140th birthday party recently at Portencross. Let me explain: Audrey was 60 and Walter her husband was 80!

Ken was intrigued by the connection between the good Bishop and Robert Burns. l was able to tell him about the "Geddes Burns" and the letter written by the poet to Bishop John from Ellisland in February l789.

Robert Burns first met the Bishop at Lord Monboddo’s, the year before in Edinburgh. Bishop Geddes had been responsible for having the Scots colleges at Valladolid, Douai and Paris and the monasteries at Ratisbon and Wurzburg put on the subscription list for the Edinburgh Edition of the poet’s works. As we discussed the unlikely friendship between the bishop and the bard neither Ken nor I guessed at the connection between his family and the Royal Scots College at Valladolid.

The story of the Geddes Burns is a fascinating one. Burns borrowed Bishop Geddes’s copy of the Edinburgh Edition of his poems, which the Bishop had rebound with blank end-papers, for his Highland Tour. He returned it a year and a half later with a long letter and fourteen poems in the poet’s own handwriting, inserted in the end-papers1. Burns addressed the Bishop as "Venerable Father", ”My Reverend and much honored friend"(sic) and as “Learned and Good". He wrote that he looked forward to renewing his acquaintance with Bishop John in Edinburgh in March.

The Geddes Burns belonged to his sister after his death and eventually was given to a Dr.Henry Goadly when he left for America in 1838. It passed into the hands of W.K. Bixby, President of the Burns Club of St.Louis. In 1908 it was photographed and reproduced in facsimile. Four hundred and seventy three copies were made which became known as the Geddes Burns. The original is held in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. The conversation led to talk about Scalan and Bishop Geddes’ time as Rector of the “hidden seminary”.

Scalan was burned down after Culloden in 1746 but John Geddes had it rebuilt. It is only five miles from Tomintoul and Ken told me his family 1 The Complete Letters of Robert Burns edited by James A. Mackay, Alloway pub. Ayr, 1987.

The portable writing- case which was presented to Fr Donald Easson by parishioners of St Michael’s Linlithgow of a deposition making over the croft to David and Margaret Easson because of Ann’s age and fragility. Her name is spelt Stewart in this document. It lists her possessions from a cow and a Quey, swine and all the crops of corn and straw, to small items, four tubs and a baking case! In July courtesy of Fr. Stephen McGrattan’s bus to Scalan I visited St.Michael’s Tomintoul where I found your excellent magazine and thought the story and the accompanying photographs would interest your readers. Ken recently visited Tomintoul and Scalan and found it very moving. Fr. Donald was buried in Spain and his parents, we presume in Tomintoul.

Mrs Garrett would be pleased to hear from anyone who may be able to provide her with more information about the Easson family: isabelgarrett@tiscali.co.uk

2 Records of the Royal Scots College Valladolid.

3 A plaque commemorating Fr Donald Easson is on view in the church 4 The Scots College in Spain, published Valladolid 1971. Mgr Maurice Taylor Ch. l 7 pp237,238.

5 Thomas Milne’s Plan for Tomintoul, 1775 from “Tomintoul, its glens and its people”, Victor Gaffney 1970.

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Take T ake a seat seat and travel trravel back iin time time...at ...at Blairs!

Ian F Forbes orbes

J

ohn M Menzies enzies of P Pitfodels itfodels benefitte benefitted ed fr from om the expansion n of Aberdeen Aberdeen to the west west b byy selling off groun nds of his ancestral home in the late the grounds centu ury. H de and 18th century.

Hee needed a new abod abode s ver Dee Dee and settled forr a site just south of the Riv River overlooking it – Blairs.

Blairs. He He built a new mansion man nsion with a overlooking garden modelled m c the walled garden on that of his cousins, Maxwells of Kirkconnell Kirrkconnell k construccted the first Maxwells who had constructed garrden in n Scotland which had a double dou uble wall of heated garden allowing warm war w m air to circulate circulate from from furnaces furnaces in brick allowing corner of the th he garden. garden. each corner Not long after w ds in 1791, JJohn war ohn married M ary Westby Westby Not afterwards Mary Preston. Mary Mary died nearly 15 years years later and a is buried in Preston.

Menzies stone in the Snow Snow Kirkyard Kirkyyard in Old Old under the Menzies Aberdeen. Just Just over over 20 years years later, later, in 1827, John John o gave gave his Aberdeen.

Blairs estate to thee Catholic Church Church to set up the national Blairs seminary which opened op 9 seminary in 1829. garden d continued to be productive productiive for Blairs Blairs The walled garden Its gardeners garden ners won prizes prizes in Aberdeen Aberdeen horticultural h ticultural hor College. Its shows and on Wednesday Wednesday 9 September September 1863, The shows Aberdeen Journal Journal reported: reported: Aberdeen E CROP CR ROP OF PEARS PEARS – From From o a honey REMARKABLE tree trained horizontally h horizontally on the wall in the the garden garden at pear tree Blairs College, the th he gardener, gardener, on Wednesday Wednesda ednesday ay last, took Blairs more than forty forty pecks p tree is more of pears – about 5000.. The tree forty-five years years of age, age and about fifteen fifteeen feet high, high about forty-five spread of about a forty feet. with a spread forty It would seem an a extra zero zero has been mistakenly akenly added It above rreport eport but 500 pears from from one tree trree is still an in the above exceptional crop. crop. exceptional garden was a garden gaarden bench.

An addition to the walled garden Coallbrookdale Fern Fern and Blackberry Blackbeerry pattern, The seat is a Coalbrookdale registered in 1858.

1858 8. It It appears in an early photograph ph hotograph of registered Blairs Blairs dated 18633 (the same year year as the above above newspaper newspaper report). report). )

Seated Blairs President Seated on the right of the bench is B lairs P resident (rector), President, ((rector), ), JJohn oh hn Strain, Strain,, with Vice Vice P resident,, David David Macdonald Macdonald surr ssurrounded ounded bbyy some of the students and the dog. Not Not long loong after this picture picture was taken, taaken, John John Strain Strain was made Bishop Bishop of the Eastern District District and then Archbishop Archbishop of o St St Andrews Andrews and Edinburgh Edinburrgh in 1878 with the restoration restoratioon of the hierarchy hierarchy in Scotland.

Scotland.

In In 1982 the th he scene was rre-enacted e-enacted with h another depute rector bbyy the name n Macdonald – John John Angus A Macdonald rector of Macdonald Macdonald d the h rector, recttor, Keith Keith i h O’Brien.

O’Brien. i Th ee years Thr years later l Keith ih and Three Keith O’Brien became becaame Archbishop Archbishop of St St Andrews Andrews w and Edinburgh Edinburgh O’Brien Cardinal. and in 2003 was made Cardinal.

Years after the college closed all that remained remained was the Years iron frame me with flaking paint. Former Form mer Blairs Blairs College cast iron Pat Bradley Bradley (y ear of ‘66) tookk on the task of student Pat (year restoring it. H he metal, tr eated, restoring Hee had it stripped back to the treated, re-timbered and painted. The colour Prussian Prussian Blue Blue was re-timbered beforre green green became the standard standard colour of garden garden popular before furniture. Blairs Blairs M useum is vvery ery grateful gratefful to Pat Pat for his furniture.

Museum donatioon. The bench is now now kept in i the cloister – it kind donation. very comfortable comfoortable to sit on and has proved proved an inter esting is very interesting Blairs Museum Museum linking as it does d various various times addition to Blairs history of Blairs Blairs College. in the history

Forbes iss the Blairs Museum Manager.

Manager gerr.

Ian Forbes The museum museum m Opening Opening Times Times are arre from frrom A pril to to October October The April visitors are arre w elcome outwith outwith these times but visitors welcome by arrangement. arrrangement. ment. by

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James Gordon, Jesuit and the 6th Earl of Huntly Anne L. Forbes’ book ‘Trials and Triumphs: The Gordons of Huntly in Sixteenth-Century Scotland’ has a long chapter about the Jesuit, James Gordon. Here is a flavour of it:

Anne L. Forbes

I

t was very interesting to read that letters sent by Mary Queen of Scots were to go on display to the public in Aberdeen, along with books, manuscripts, maps and papers and will be preserved and housed at the new university library.

This is part of a treasure trove of material from the Scottish Catholic Church which is returning to the north-east, joined by an immensely valuable collection belonging to the former Blairs Library on the outskirts of the city. Many of these documents record the dark days for the Catholic Church after the Reformation.

They would be relevant to my chapter on the Jesuit James Gordon, fifth son of the fourth Earl of Huntly, who became very involved in attempts to bring counterreformation to Scotland in the sixteenth century.

In 1560, when the Scottish parliament passed its draconian laws against Catholics who continued practising their faith, James would have been about seventeen and at St. Andrews University, destined for the priesthood.

However, as a Catholic that would have been out of the question for him in Scotland, where priests had either to convert or leave the country. Some carried on in disguise as doctors or teachers.

In 1562 a Dutch papal legate, named de Gouda, came to Scotland from Rome in a fruitless attempt to persuade Mary Queen of Scots to send representatives to the Council of Trent, which aimed to reform the Catholic Church from within. De Gouda was shocked and saddened by the sight of churches, altars, sanctuaries and images profaned and broken in the dust, and the mass only allowed in the Queen’s personal chapel. He concluded that the success of the reformers in Scotland was due to the scandal of benefices being given to laymen and the low standard of clergy education and morality. He thought the people were like sheep without a shepherd.

To de Gouda the answer lay in the Jesuit order, to which he belonged, with its emphasis on spiritual self-discipline and respect for education and learning. The order set up seminaries on the Continent for the training of priests, many of whom then endeavoured to turn the tide against the spreading Protestantism. James and five other St. Andrews graduates were recruited by de Gouda to travel back to the Continent with him on 3rd August, 1562 to join his Jesuit order in France. Later all six returned to

Statue of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587), flanked

by John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, and William Maitland of Lethington, on the east facade of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.

Picture Credit: Jonathan Oldenbuck Scotland to work in the field as Jesuits, often at great risk to themselves.

After James’s eldest brother George, fifth Earl of Huntly, suddenly collapsed and died, in 1576, following a game of football outside Huntly Castle, the sixteen year old heir (also named George) and now the sixth Earl, was sent to Paris to complete his education in the care of his uncle, Fr. James. There the young George was described by the exiled Bishop of Ross, John Leslie, as ‘a young man of eighteen years of age, of excellent disposition and well brought up in the Catholic faith…We will keep him for better times like another Joas rescued from the cruelty of Athaliah, in hope that he may restore the Catholic worship of God in Scotland one of these days.’

It was probably to fulfil these Catholic high hopes of him that led the young sixth Earl into so much trouble in the future, back in Scotland. The Jesuits put most of their effort into influencing those in authority, including the King himself, and had some considerable success, even converting Queen Anne.

Fr. James had brilliant debating skills and challenged Protestant clergy and the Privy Council to debate with him publicly. On one occasion, he proposed that if he won the debate, Catholics in Scotland be allowed to practise their faith freely but, if he lost, he was prepared to

u ltu faithandculture fai fa ait ith th h and han a nd d c ult l turre re

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sacrifice his life. The T King agr agreed eed as he was amused am mused bbyy his boldness, but non materialized e to take up nonee of the ministers materialized truly the challenge. F r. JJames ames was a brav u dedicated Fr. bravee and truly man, but many rregarded egarded him as a danger rous traitor dangerous traitor,, especially when su uspicious letters were were found d fr om him, suspicious from purportedly Philip the h 6th 6 h Earl E l and d others, oh purpor tedly dl to King K gP h l II off hilip

Page P age 27

Spain Spain regretting regrettting the failure failure of the Spanish Span nish Armada and offering military miliitary help if he made another her attempt, this through h Scotland. IItt was a crucial crucial time tiime in the history history time through a Fr.James Fr.James Gordon Gordon was at the heart heart of it. of Scotland and You can can find fi d a review review i off Anne’s Anne’s book bookk on n page 31 You

Shelagh elagh g Noden’s den’s Musical M l M is Memories of the he North-East East havee been to hav n vvery ery much ahead of his time me liturgically; he used lay rreaders ead ders and had a council of eld ders, rather like a elders, disapproving modern-dayy p parish council. A disappr pp oviingg neighbouring g g commented have priest comm mented ‘he continues to hav h e singing and his ar article t ticle could hav have ve a sub-title: sub-titlee: ‘‘the the man psalms translation, ms of his oown wn translation n, which I must dared Hay.’ who dar d ed stand up to Bishop Bishop H ayy.’ The ranting psalm confess I thin nk most impr oper in a R oman n Catholic chapel think improper Roman Robertson, man in n question is James James R obertsson, born born in partt of world.’’ o the world.

North family, 1758 into i a N orth East family y, who was in this par U nsurprisin ngly when this got to the ea ars of B ishop H ay Unsurprisingly ears Bishop Hay educated at thee Scots Benedictine monastery mo onasteryy in severe ere letter off rreprimand. eprimand. This Regensburg and d then entered entered the order, orderr, taking the he was quick to despatch a sev Regensburg would hav e been to mo ost have enough silence most offenders, but Gallus. name Gallus.

Gallus Robertson.

Hee had the temer temerity allus R obertson. H rity to write back ordination n he returned returned to Scotland, wher ell not G After ordination wheree as w well at length: working ki as a missionar m i i y priest i t he h pr oduc d ced d amongstt as working missionary produced Could I rrefuse effuse what accompanied the p praises of G od in God literary works, worrks, the first Catholic translation translation of the other literary Apostles, at is specially rrecommended ecommended d bbyy the A postles, New Testament Testament to to be printed in Scotland. The T por trait all ages, what New portrait desire Church what is the de esir e and practice of the Chur ur ch since her first shows him in ordinary ordinar d y clothes; at that time in Scotland shows Origin, believee to be our duty to rigin, whatt I believ t establish when laaws it would have have been impossible im mpossible for O under the penal laws circumstances times and cir cumsta ances permit? wear the habit h order. him to wear of his order.

Hee w went H ent on to point p out that he passin ng of the Catholic After the passing nearby Church had consulted nearb arb y Chur ch of R elief A ct of 1793 17793 many priests Relief Act assured Scotland ministers who had assur ed hoped to intr oducce music into their introduce objections. veiled hi him th they h had d no ob b bj bjections. ti A v eiled il d chur ches. They w ere disappointed; churches. were Bishop Hay warning to B ishop H ay followed. followed. IIn n B ishop Hay Hay flatly rrefused efused to allow allow it.

Bishop Fr Robertson’s opinion, prohibit F r R ober tson ’ s opin nion, to pr ohibit An accomplished d musician himself weaken singing would: w eaaken the esteem he felt that per forrmances might not performances and confidence of o people, which our meet his oown wn exacting e standards, standards, important preserve, it is so impor tant to pr eserve, and and he was also afraid a of inflaming excite ex cite murmurs and discontent P rotestant opinion. opinion n.

Protestant which always turn too the prejudice prejudice of Gallus R obertsoon, described as a Gallus Robertson, Authority A uthority when it is thought too ‘‘short, short, stout, merry m merry little monk displayed. much display ed. [who] was always jesting and poking Bishop Hay responded B ishop H ay responded with a fun, tiime the chaplain to fun,’’ was at that time from barrage of quotations tions fr om the the M axwell family family at Munshes Munshes and Maxwell Trent other Council of T r en nt and had intr oduced music into the introduced directing Frr authorities, ending bbyy dir ecting F chapel. That was not all. H Hee sounds James Rob Robertson ertson Robertson R obertson to ‘write ‘writte yyour our opinion

Gallus, G allus, the ““Merry Merry M Monk” onk”

T

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Light of the North

with all you can say in favour of it, in Latin, and send it to Rome.’ No doubt the bishop expected that this would be the end of it, but no, Fr Robertson bounced back with another letter, even longer than the first: I desire to submit, but cannot silence my conscience... you do not vouchsafe to give any reasons for leaving off Singing...I was in hopes that the weight of authorities and reasoning I presented and the request I made that you would instruct me and not condemn me to a servile blind obedience would have obtained from you something more satisfactory than the disdainful order to give up my Singing.

Fr Robertson went on to describe the effects upon his congregation which included not only the Maxwell family but local Catholics: If you were here, if you knew how much these poor people are edified and consoled (some even to tears) by this help of devotion which the Church has not only granted but recommended to her children, you could never deny it to them. And I am so deeply affected by their feelings that...I cannot promise myself to be bold enough to oppose what is their desire, their consolation, what I think is their right, I might say their duty and even ours.

Fr Robertson ended his powerful argument by stating

Margaret Bradley’s FOOD AND FAITH

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here is a popular fish dish called “St Peter’s Fish” which is served in restaurants alongside the Sea of Galilee. The dish consists of locally caught fish, fried and served with salad. But why is the dish called St Peter’s fish?

The answer lies in Matthew 17:24-27. There we learn that after Jesus and His disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma Temple Tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your

that he was ‘convinced against his will and therefore of his own opinion still.’ It is not on record whether singing continued at Munshes; very possibly it did. Perhaps Fr Robertson, as a Benedictine, felt that he owed allegiance to his Abbot rather than to Bishop Hay. If so he was incorrect, because the Mission Statutes laid down by Bishop Nicolson in 1700 stated that all members of religious orders working in Scotland were under the authority of the VicarsApostolic, so Bishop Hay was entitled to expect Fr Robertson’s obedience.

Two years later Fr Robertson left Scotland and returned to Germany. His future exploits, though not related to music, make fascinating reading. He became a British spy, disguised as a cigar merchant, working for the British against Napoleon. Perhaps standing up to Bishop Hay made Napoleon an easy prospect. Some of his at times hair-raising adventures can be found in Narrative of a Secret Mission to the Danish Islands in 1808, by Rev. Jas. Robertson. (Available on Amazon, or you can read it for free as a Google ebook) Later he turned to the education of deaf and dumb children, before opening a school for the blind in Bavaria. A fascinating character, whose story merits the description of ‘stranger than fiction’ teacher pay the Temple tax?” “Yes, He does,” he replied.

The temple tax of those times fulfilled for the people the requirement that they pay atonement money to the temple, as commanded in Exodus 30:11–16. This paid for the upkeep and expenses of the temple. Jesus, being sinless, would be exempt from such a payment, for He needs no atonement.

Jesus and Peter seem to have been without money at the time but so as to avoid a confrontation with the temple official he asked Peter, “Go to the lake and throw out your fishing line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a fourdrachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” And so the Temple tax was paid with a coin taken from the mouth of a fish.

Jesus did not want to put in place unnecessary stumbling blocks to prevent anyone from believing in Him, so He paid the tax, even though He had every right, as the Son of God, to be exempt from it. Some would have said that He did not keep the law, did not perform a recognized duty of every Israelite, and so He certainly could not be the Messiah This should be a lesson to us, that we should seek to obey the laws and customs of the land in which we live (assuming, of course, that there be nothing unlawful in the eyes of God in them), in order not to put any stumbling blocks in the way of nonbelievers.

u ltu faithandculture fai fa ait ith th h and han a nd d c ult l turr e

Light Ligh igh ght ht

Our Lord’s example in this case deserves the attention of all who profess and call themselves Christians.

There is deep wisdom in those five words, ‘lest we should offend them.’ They teach us plainly that there are matters in which Christ’s people ought to sink their own opinions, and submit to requirements which they may not thoroughly approve, rather than give offence and “hinder the Gospel of Christ”. It is significant that Jesus also paid Peter’s atonement money, not just His own. He was soon to pay for the atonement of all of us, at much greater cost.

But what type of fish did Peter catch? It is commonly accepted that Peter caught a tilapia or musht. This is a flat fish about 45cm long with an enormous head, a comb-like spine along its back and a large mouth.

It could have picked up an abandoned coin from the sea bed in a number of ways. Most types of tilapia are mouth breeders ie they carry their young in their very large mouth until they are large enough to leave. To prevent them returning, they pick up small pebbles from the sea bed to hold in their mouth. A lost coin could easily have been picked up at the same time.

Also, tilapia move gravel on the sea bed with their mouths to build spawning pits (which they would do in late February to mid March which is when the Temple taxes were collected) and could have scooped up a lost coin then. Most tilapia are also plankton eaters and might have found a coin while searching for plant material on the sea bed. Another species is occasionally omnivorous and might have seen a shiny object and gone to investigate. In modern times tilapia have been reported to have been found with bottle tops in their mouths.

If on a trip to Israel you find yourself on northwestern shores of the Sea of Galilee, go to one of the shoreline restaurants and order a “St Peter’s Fish”. It can be recommended. You probably won’t be lucky enough to be served one with a coin in its mouth but you will certainly have a very enjoyable meal.

Page P age 29

St. Peter’s Fish isn’t readily available here so I have substituted trout for this recipe.

Trout with Parsley Sauce 1 cup fresh parsley 1 clove garlic, chopped 4 tbsp. water juice of one lemon salt and pepper 3 tbsp. flour 6 trout filleted ½ cup olive oil 3 tbsp. onion, chopped In a food processor, combine the parsley and the garlic with 2 tbsp. of water. Mix until completely smooth. Thin the mixture with an additional 2 tbsp. of water and mix well. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside, covered.

On a flat plate combine about 2 tbsp. flour with about ½ tsp. each of salt and pepper and mix well.

Into this dip the fillets, coating well and shaking off the excess. In a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil and in this fry the fish until well browned on both sides. Transfer the fish to a preheated serving platter and set aside to keep warm.

Discard about half of the oil and in what remains sauté the onions until golden brown. Sprinkle in the remaining flour and over a low flame cook until the sauce is a light brown, stirring constantly.

Add the parsley mixture and cook, continuing to stir for 2–3 minutes longer. Pour the sauce over the fish and serve immediately.

faithandculture

On a wing

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Light of the North

and a prayer

Father Peter Barry

I

n Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, I never felt threatened, even walking alone at night. During the day, fishermen gathered at the seashore and threw weighted hooks into the water. These had no bait attached, but were simply pulled through the water to snag any unfortunate fish. This required no skill whatever, except a strong arm to hurl the deadly hooks a couple of hundred yards. Fish lay wriggling all over the quay. Little wonder the tackle was called “The Murderer”.

In August 2008, I boarded a local bus in Azerbaijan heading for a camp-site called the Garden of Eden. This beautiful venue well deserved its name. Golden Orioles, in glorious yellow and black, called from every tree, with lovely fluty notes. A “hamman” (steam bath) in the grounds issued tepid water non-stop.

Fruit grew in abundance, and every tree seemed weighted with apples and oranges. One almost expected Adam and Eve to appear anytime, wearing fig leaves and innocent smiles.

The camp site is run by the Islamayov family. There are two sons who speak excellent English. Riyadh has returned from his studies in political science. With his first class degree from Ankara University in Turkey, he is well placed for work in the diplomatic service.

When he appeared before the committee to judge his application for work, he was asked quietly for a bribe of $10,000. Taken aback, he wrote to the wife of the president, who seemed ashamed at such blatant corruption.

She cleared the way for him, and next week, full of excitement, he was to set off to begin his new work: "Probably shadowing some suspect in Iran," he said casually.

They were Muslims, but this amounted to a cultural definition. "Granny reads the Koran," Riyadh said, but no one else in the family had any religious beliefs or practices.

Nevertheless, they were very interested in my work, puzzled at the requirement that priests remain celibate.

The local Imam, it seems, had 2 wives and a handful of

children. Evenings in the camp were spent discussing the eternal questions: who am I, where do I come from, where am I going?

I set off in the morning to look for a local speciality, the Black Lark. Alas, the sun was too strong, and I retreated when my skin began to Azerbaijan postage stamp turn a bright red. I’ll commemorating the Golden Oriole hunt some other time for this elusive passerine.

Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists. Our church encourages dialogue with people of every religious hue and none. I seem to have done rational discourse in every corner of the globe, quietly, with never a voice raised or an angry word.

Rational discourse is a powerful instrument against bigotry and ignorance. Please God all of these encounters, in some tiny way, make the world a safer place.

For centuries, any exchange between Christianity and Islam has been a military encounter. Surely it’s much better to work towards mutual illumination.

Making my way home from the airport the flight was delayed for four hours. I worried I might not be home for the weekend Masses. One of the many oil-workers in the queue turned to me and asked, “Which oil company do you work for?”

I told him I was a Catholic Priest, and worked for the Church.

“Get away!” he said in surprise. That’s exactly what I was trying to do.

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Light of the North

faithandculture

BOOK REVIEW

Trials and Triumphs: The Gordons of Huntly in Sixteenth-Century Scotland Author: Anne L. Forbes Publisher: John Donald Short Run Press (1 Aug 2012) ISBN-10: 1906566526 ISBN-13: 1906566524 Paperback: 320 pages List Price: £25.00

Peter Hammond

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his is the story of one family’s rise to power and influence in 16th century Scotland. It is also the tale of decline and disgrace, followed by recovery and re-emergence. The author, for whom this authoritative work must have been a true labour of love, traces the path to political prominence of the Gordon family through the parallel biographies of six of its members.

The book opens with a brief overview of the family history charting the Gordons’ arrival from Berwickshire in the latter part of the 14th century to settle in Strathbogie and claim it as their power base. Thereafter, starting with Sir John Gordon, the third son, the book is divided into biographies of four sons and two daughters of George, 4th Earl of Huntly. Born in 1514, he was a man of great ambition who sought (and often achieved) high office at a time when noble families carried great influence and power both locally and on the national stage.

Accordingly, the lives of their offspring (they had twelve children in total) were inextricably entwined with Scotland’s fortunes during the tumultuous events of the 16th century and in particular the religious and political upheavals of the age which so preoccupied the nation.

Inevitably, given their power, (they owned vast tracts of land and were able to act as arbitrators when disputes between warring local factions erupted) the Gordons of Huntly played a key role in the fate of some of Scotland’s most colourful historical characters as well

Page 31

as participating in some of the pivotal events which helped shape Scotland’s destiny.

Mary Queen of Scots, for example, looked to the Gordons for support during the years following her ill fated return to Scotland, just as the Reformation was rapidly taking root and flourishing. This alliance is particularly well described and the author examines in detail the relationship between Mary and her son James and the Gordon family.

The final chapter, devoted to James Gordon, the 5th son, is of particular interest as it helps illustrate the machinations at work within Europe as both sides in the religious debate sought to strengthen their position. The nephew of William, Bishop of Aberdeen, James joined the still fledgling Jesuit Order in 1562.

Along with his fellow priests, he would later return from exile on the continent to reinvigorate the Catholic faith in the north, becoming known as ‘The Parson of Clatt’.

In this precarious endeavour, he was courageously aided by his sister Jean, another of the book’s subjects.

Rich in detail and complete with copious references, Trials and Triumphs includes notes on each chapter and helpful illustrations of the main personalities. The author invites the reader to immerse themselves in an age of grace and favour, of political intrigue and skulduggery, of ambition, love and loyalty. Not to mention quite a lot of bloodshed!

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faithandculture fai fa ait ith th h and han a nd d cult c u ltu turre re

Page P age 32

Light Ligh igh ght ht

P oetic etic c Licence ce Ca B CCanon Bill A Anderson rsonn delves into some me off his favourite inspirational nspirationall versee.

O

Shakespeare: Shakesp peare: Sonnett no. 30

ne of m myy mo most ost lo loved ved books is an old edition ooff Palgrave's Palgrave's ""Golden Golden TTreasury". reasury". It bbelonged elonged ttoo my my mother,, who used it aatt school nearly a meantt a gr great ccentury entury ago. ago. Poetry Poetry mean eat deal ttoo her all a her life, liffe, and the book I have have mentioned menntioned is very very well-thumbed. well-thumbed. I inherited inherited her copy, copy, and noticee a number notic num mber of marginal marginal schoolbo schoolboyy not notes, es, so s apt that that they must have have been dictated dicta t ted to to the class by

by Mr Mr CCollie ollie or M Mrr Blair!

Blair! presennt choice choice is one of Shak espeare's lo veliest sonnets ns ev en mor ecall its being spok en bbyy my my My present Shakespeare's loveliest sonnets,, and its beaut beautyy mean means even moree ttoo me when I rrecall spoken motherr, who committed committted much poetr to memory. memory. mother, poetryy to TThe he opening lines describe d regret we we may may all have have at at times oover ver w asted hours and lostt oppor tunities in our liv es. TThe he ne xt fo our lines elabor ate the regret wasted opportunities lives. next four elaborate three examples, examples, quite quite the most mo ving of w which speaks of "pr ecious friends hi th's da teless night." night." That That ph hrase of ften ccomes omes to to on this with three moving "precious hidd in dea death's dateless phrase often prayer iss being off fered ffor or the HHoly oly Souls, Souls, especially e in NNovember. ovember. TThe he poet's poet's selfselff- indulgenc tensified in the thhe third third section, section, and mind when prayer offered indulgencee is in intensified tellingly emplo ys lon ng-sounding vvowels owels in remorseful remorseful fashion, faashion, "from "from w oe to to woe woe ttell ell oo'er", 'er", and "fore-bemoaned "fore-bemoaned moan. tellingly employs long-sounding woe moan.""

Remembering tha ertainly in Shak espeaare's da as primarily a lo ve-poem m, the final ccouplet ouplet eexemplifies xemplifies this are aatt liberty liberty thatt the sonnet sonnet,, ccertainly Shakespeare's day,y, w was love-poem, this,, but w wee are to br oaden our interpretation interppretation of it by by taking taking the term term "dear "dear friend" in as broad broad a sense as w to broaden wee wish.

TThere here is a wistful serenity serenity about this piece, ppiece, a serenity serenity someho ssomehow w enhanced enhanced if the lines ar recited thoughtfully. though g tfullyy. aree recited

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste: Then can I drown an eye, unus'd to flow, For precious friends hid in death's dateless night, And weep afresh love's long since cancelled woe, And moan the expense of many a vanished sight: Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, Which I new pay as if not paid before.

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored and sorrows end.

humour

Light Ligh igh ght ht

Humour from the Vestry given compensate IImagination magination w was giv en to man to compens sate him for what he is not; a sense of humour to console ole him for Bacon what he is. ~~Francis Francis a B acon The Food of Love dent called his mother and announced A university student he had just met the girl of his h dreams. excitedly that he ld he do?

Now what should His mother hadd an idea: "Why don't youu send her \RXXU ÀDW IRU D ÀRZHUV DQG RQ WKH FDUG LQYLWH KHU WR \RXU home-cooked meal?"

VWUDWHJ\ DQG D ZHHN Z ODWHU +H WKRXJKW WKLV ZDV D JUHDW VWUDWHJ\ ODWHU dinner. His mother called d the next the girl came too dinner. day to see how things had gone.

KXXPLOLDWHG KH PRDQHG 6KH 6K KH LQVLVWHG , ZDV WRWDOO\ KXPLOLDWHG on washing the dishes." er.

"What's wrong with that?" asked his mother mother.

"W We hadn't started ted eating yet."

"We Does this ring a bell!

D Having been bored witless by the world's rld's most boring preach preacher, e , Jack came out of church er ch before the preacher had ad finished his sermon.

Outside he met a friend who asked, "Has he finished, then?" ?"

He replied, "Oh Oh yes, he's finished, butt he won't stop!"

A fa father ther stayed stayed e home one nigh nightt tto ow watch atch his son wiffe went went tto o a PTA PTTA meeting. meeting. La LLater ter in the while his wife ev ening he settled setttled down down to to watch watch TV. T V. evening repea e tedly kept coming coming in and asking asking But his son repeatedly ffor or a glass of water. water.

After the fifth fiffth h glass ,the dad lost his patience paatience and After glass,the yyelled, elled, "I'm I m trying tryin ng to to watch watch the TTV. V. G o tto oB ed."

Go Bed." e bo my room room is still s on fire!" fire!"

"But Dad" Dad",", the boyy whined whined,"," my Cheeky!

Cheek C heek h eek ek ky! y!

FFinding inding ding d ing ng one ne of of her her pupils pupils pils p ls making mak akking ing fac faces acces es aatt others es thers hers h ers rs in the he p h playground, play pla layground ound nd, Miss Miss SSmith mith ith h st stopped stopped opped ed d tto o gently gen ently tlly reprove rrepr ep epr prrove the he child. h child child ld. ld d. Smiling miling iling ling ing ng sw sweetly, sweetly ee etly tly tly, ly, the th he school chool hool ool ol tteacher eacher eacher cher her h er said, said aid id, d, "B d "Bobby, Bobb obb bby, when hen h en I w was a a child as ch child, hild hild ld d, I was was a told told olld d that tha hat if I made ade de d e ugly ugly ly fac faces, acces es, my my face fac acce e would would ould uld d freeze fre fr reez eezze e and and d I would would ould uld d stay sta taayy like ike kke that." tha hat." t.

Bobby B obb obb bby looked bby ooked oked ked ked d up p and nd d rreplied, eplied eplied p ied ed d,, ""Well, Wel ellll,l, M Miss iss Smith, Sm mith, ith, h, you h you o can can't an' t sa ssay aayy yyou o weren't ou wer w erren en' t wa warned." w arrned ned." ned

Page P age 33

S hort but S weet Short Sweet W hat tim me did SSean ean C onnery arrive arrive at at Wimbledon?

Wimbledon?

What time Connery e TTennish. ennish. wearing What W hat do yyou ou call a FFrenchman renchman w e ing sandals? ear Philippe Philoppe.

P hilippe P h hiloppe . never wanted believe myy Dad w was I nev er w anted tto o believ e that that m as stealing from worker. st ealing fr o his job as a road om road w orker k . But when I home,, all the sig signs were there. got home ns w ere ther e.

What wearing W hat do o yyou ou call an alligator alligator w e ing a vvest? ear est?

An investigator.

A n in vestig gator.

Say ay y it With W th h Flowers F owers wers errs , P , , VRUU\ VRU VR RUU UUU\ U\ VDLG VDL VD DLG LG G WKH WK WK KH DVVLVWDQW DVV DV VVL VLV LVW VWWDQ WDQW DQW LQ WKH WK KH Ă RZHU K Ă RZ Ă R Ă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

Workmen W orkmen n install b bollards ollarrds on a B Belfast elffas ast st street strreet but how ar re they going tto o get out off ther re?! how are there?!

Reportedly Reportedly sp spotted otted in a branch brranch off WH Smith! ll i Blooper Blo l oper Bulletin The The concert conccert held in Fellowship Fellowship Hal Hallll w was as a g great reat success. SSpecial thanks ar e due to to the t minister’s minister ’s success. are daughterr, who labor ed the whole ev e ening at at the daughter, labored evening piaano, which as usual ffell ell upon upo on her piano, her..

crossword

WORD No. 21

Page 34

Light of the North

In this issue’s competition there’s an opportunity to win a copy of “Trials and Triumphs - The Gordons of Huntly in 16th Century Scotland” by local author, Anne Forbes. Just send your completed entry, together with your name, address and telephone number to the ‘Light of the North’, Ogilvie Centre, 16 Huntly Street, Aberdeen AB10 1SH. First correct entry drawn out of the hat is the winner.

Down Cont: 25 Lebanese trees (6) 26 Provided by God when we are tempted (6) 29 Far extremes of the earth (4) 30 Luke Part II ? (4)

Last issue’s crossword solution Across: 7 Passover, 9 Hannah, 10 Abba, 11 Registered, 12 Jethro, 14 Tent cord, 15 Foreknowledge, 17 Grievous, 19 Rested, 21 Bystanders, 22 Pool, 23 Mirror, 24 Skillful. Down: 1 Rabble, 2 Asia, 3 Overlook, 4 Chosen, 5 Intercedes, 6 Carefree, 8 Righteousness, 13 Harvesters, 15 Forty six, 16 Lordship, 18 Owners, 20 Exodus, 22 Palm.

Congratulations to our last competition winner, Mr Robertson from Aberdeen

Little Horror Sudoku No. 8 If you prefer sudoku to crosswords then you still have a chance to win a copy of Anne Forbes’s new book about the Gordons of Huntly with our super tough sudoku puzzle.

BibleQuizzes.org.uk

Name .............................................................................

Address ......................................................................... .........................................................................................

Telephone ......................................................................

Across: 1 A nation referred to in the O.T. and the N.T. (6) 5 Teacher; leader (6) 10 Letter (7) 11 Blood was painted on these (7) 12 "Out of the _____ came something sweet" (6) 15 Where was Jacob? (6) 16 Made unholy (7) 17 Ezekiel lay on this for three years (4) 18 Very old (4) 19 Sure (7) 20 Ethiopia (4) 22 Remaining (4) 25 Naaman's maid, for example (7) 27 Seraiah's father (6) 28 Land (6) 31 Hold inside (7) 32 The teaching place of the Ethiopian eunuch (7) 33 Jews are renowned for celebrating these (6)

34 A child of Caleb & Maachah (6) Down: 2 The lame man was too slow to reach this type of water (7) 3 To wait on, or be present (6) 4 Untruths (4) 5 The Promised Land was said to be flowing with this (4) 6 We have all done this (6) 7 Late in the day (7) 8 Animals (6) 9 A Philistine city (6) 13 Sisera, for example (7) 14 A nation in the O.T. neighbouring Israel (7) 15 Anyone who comes to God must do this (7) 20 Together with 'time' this happens to all (6) 21 Did Nadab and Abihu have a match for this? (7) 23 Self scrutiny before communion (7) 24 Half the time of Jesus' fasting (6)

Name .............................................................................

Address ......................................................................... .........................................................................................

Telephone ......................................................................

FOR A WIDE RANGE OF ADULT AND CHILDREN’S READING

Dor n oc h Book sho p 1 /8 pag e ● Talking

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music CDs survey maps ● Postcards ● Greetings cards for all occasions ● Book tokens ● Fax and photocopying service HIGH STREET DORNOCH SUTHERLAND IV25 3SH TEL: 01862 810165 FAX: 01862 810197 ● Stationery ● Ordnance

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Light of the North

To read or not to read?

Sr Janet Fearns FMDM

O

ne of the best Birthday presents I ever received was a set of multicoloured plastic fish. There was nothing spectacular about them. They were not expensive. The novelty lay in the thin length of fishing line that stretched from the abdomen of each fish to a small round weight. I borrowed an empty jam jar from my mother, filled it with water and then, following the instructions on the packet, transferred the fish to their new home. The length and positioning of the line ensured that the fish floated upright at exactly the depth they would have occupied had they been real. I was absolutely enthralled. Of course, once in the water, the fish did absolutely nothing, but that didn’t matter. To me, they were as real as could be. I sat staring at the jam jar and its contents for hours.

To a 9 year old with a vivid imagination, expensive presents are unnecessary. Just give a spark to the fire that’s already laid and it will burst into flames. Adventures beyond anybody else’s conceiving are there for the enjoyment. Walt Disney’s most spectacular animations have nothing of the colour, the excitement and the fantastic surroundings and events of a child’s private world. All things are possible: no mountain that can’t be climbed, no sea that can’t be swum, no planet beyond reach.

One of the greatest gifts parents can give to their children is the possibility of learning to read and write. Open a book and there is the direct entry to worlds within the minds of others. How many of us have been so absorbed in a good story that we’ve been oblivious to everything else? Minutes and hours have ticked by, but only the clock has seen them. Even food became irrelevant compared to the last few pages of the book. Brothers, sisters, friends have come and gone, poor seconds to the story that has so totally taken hold of the imagination.

Travel on the London Underground during the rush hour and almost everybody is reading. We take the free newspapers for granted and, as soon as someone dumps their copy, someone else picks it up and glances through the pages. This is so commonplace that there is no ‘Wow!’ factor attached to the fact that 84 percent of adults in Britain are able to read and write. Instead, the 16 percent who are functionally illiterate are regarded as a national systems failure.

Move out of Britain and into the remote areas of the developing world and it is quickly seen why missionaries are still associated with educational priorities. Even telling someone the quantity and frequency of their prescribed medication becomes a process of drawing pictures and lines as reminders. Fortunately, most people recognise a diagram of the sun, the moon and a star and can make sense of an upright stroke representing one tablet or one teaspoonful of medicine. Yet it is also a humbling thought to visit a village and realise that probably nobody, in the entire history of the world, from this village has ever attended school and learned to read and write.

When a school is established in a village, new problems arise. Parents make enormous sacrifices to ensure that their children go to school, but they have no way of helping their youngsters with homework. Sadly, some children subsequently look down on the parents who never had the opportunity to sit at a desk in a classroom and do not appreciate the

Page 35

generosity and love which made the bricks, built the school, thatched the roof and dug pit latrines.

If literacy is the gateway to dignity, self-respect and employment in Britain, in many developing countries, it is also the road to equality.

Where women and girls are second-class citizens, with no horizon beyond the home and one pregnancy after another, an education raises the status of a young woman as she approaches marriage: she has learned to think and it is an unstoppable process. School has an added benefit: if education is a priority, then it is less likely that a girl will be married off as soon as she starts to menstruate. Suddenly, there is a reduction in child brides and mothers whose bodies are unready for motherhood. Some of those who

Literacy - the gateway to dignity, self-respect and employment are most stridently anti-Church and pro-population control have overlooked one simple fact: let a girl go to school and there is a possibility of dignity, justice and equality – and the birth rate automatically declines – and so does the maternal death rate!

What happens when a young person dreams and is unable to follow their dreams simply because of A-B-C or 1-2-3? Low skills lead to high unemployment, a particularly dangerous prospect in our prison population. 'Half of all prisoners have the reading skills of a child of 11 or younger, rendering them virtually unemployable and creating a vicious circle that only encourages a return to crime when they are freed.' If this is true in Britain, is it not equally so elsewhere in countries such as Nigeria or Sri Lanka, where unemployment is a much greater problem and where there is fierce competition for even the most menial jobs?

There are many situations today when change cannot wait until the local people are able to pick up a newspaper. This is why the missionary Church proclaims that literacy is a vital part of evangelisation, is an absolutely necessary factor in human rights and an important gem in everybody’s personal treasury of skills.

You have just read this article. What about the man in Westminster Cathedral bookshop who wanted to buy a Birthday card but could not identify one because he could not read? What about the mother who cannot distinguish between fish cakes and rissoles because she cannot read the packet? What about the illiterate peasant who does not know that his cherished acre of land is to become an opencast mine rather than his home because he cannot read the notice in the newspaper?

CATHOLICISM with Fr Robert Barron

Discover the splendour of the Catholic Church on a breath taking journey around the world with Fr Robert Barron as he illuminates the timeless treasures and teachings of Catholicism. “It has been inspiring for me to see how so many different people have really come alive in their faith through taking part in the Catholicism project. It has set a new standard in catechesis and is a timely and providential gift for us all in the Year of Faith.

By taking us on pilgrimage to places around the globe where God has revealed something of His mystery, Fr Barron inspires us to reflect on how God has walked with us throughout human history and continues to touch our lives today. Catholicism really helps us to appreciate how we are each individually created to be living cells within the Body of Christ.�

Fr Richard Nesbitt, Vocations Director Diocese of Westminster

Watch Watchititon onEWTN EWTN starting startingNovember November4th 4th Sundays Sundaysatat2:30 2:30pm pm Mondays Mondaysatat10:00 10:00pm pm Thursdays Thursdaysatat7:00 7:00pm pm

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