Sr Andrea at XPO

On the the first Friday of every month the Archdiocese of Glasgow Youth Pastoral team invites young adults to XPO, an opportunity to come together for prayer and reflection, focused on a particular theme.

Sr Andrea will lead today’s XPO in the Frassati room at Our Lady of Consolation, Govanhill, at 7.30 p.m. Sr Andrea will reflect on mission and identity as the people of God.

There is also an opportunity to spend some time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and an opportunity to socialise together afterwards. All welcome, especially those aged 16-35. For more information, please email fr.david(at)btconnect(dot)com

Sr Roseann at the Linacre Ethics Forum

The Linacre Ethics Forum provides an opportunity for junior healthcare professionals and students (medics, nurses, pharmacists etc.) to explore and discuss Catholic healthcare ethics. Each month a senior practitioner or other expert is invited to give a 30 minute presentation, followed by discussion. The aim is to understand the Church’s teaching, and explore ways in which it can be presented sympathetically to patients, colleagues and managers.

Next week (Tuesday 13 May) Sr Roseann will be speaking on crisis pregnancy counselling. The talk is at 6.30pm (for 7pm) take place in Vaughan House, Francis Street, SW1P 1QN (behind Westminster Cathedral, near Victoria tube station). There is Mass at 5.30pm in the Cathedral.

St Andrews

This evening I’ll be accompanying Fr Roger Nesbitt to St Andrews where he will be giving a talk entitled ‘For me to live is Christ’ at the Canmore Catholic Society. It’s always great to visit Canmore though it’ll be nice to be in the audience this time. I’d imagine that the talk will be well worth listening to - it’ll soon be available on the Society’s podcast page.

Nurses Day

On Saturday 10th May, the Catholic Nurses Guild will be celebrating Nurses Day with 1pm Mass in St Andrew Cathedral, Glasgow followed by a talk from Fr Paul Murray on Ethics in the Eyre Hall after Mass. Light refreshments will be provided.

For more details please contact Nita Harkin on 01475725252, Isa Wilson on 01316653639 or email clairemarion.murray@ntlword.com.

The 2008 Pluscarden Pentecost Lectures

CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORLD RELIGIONS
Clash of Civilisations or a New Opportunity
by Prof. Gavin D’Costa

A series of four public lectures at
Pluscarden Abbey
Elgin IV30 8UA
from 13th to 15th May 2008

Each year the Abbot and Community of Pluscarden Abbey sponsor a series of four lectures by an invited theologian on an aspect of Catholic Theology.

One of the most important and controversial questions in theology today is that of the status of non-Christian religions. Catholics, and all orthodox Christian, believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Saviour of the whole human race. At the same time the Second Vatican Council affirmed the value of other religions and taught that their adherents may be saved.

Globalisation, decades of interreligious dialogue and the rise of militant Islam have all made this issue a priority, and it is of great imporance to Pope Benedict XVI. Even in the political sphere recent events and the publication of Samuel P. Huntington’s book, The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order, have brought the question of relations between the religions to the centre of debate. Professor Gavin D’Costa is one of the leading Catholic theologians working in this field and we are pleased that he has agreed to share with us new developments in his research.

THE LECTURE PROGRAMME:

Tuesday 13th May at 2:45PM.
A map of the terrain: current debates in Christian attitudes to other religions.

Wednesday 14th May at 10:15AM.
‘The descent into hell’ as a doctrinal solution to an unresolved question?

Wedanesday 14th May at 2:45PM.
Dying to redeem? A comparison of two lives: a Hindu ’saint’ and a Catholic saint.

Thursday 15th May at 10:15AM.
Christianity in a multi-religious Europe: The Clash of Civilisations?

The lectures are free and all are welcome to attend, either the whole series or individual lectures. They will take place as usual at the Abbey in St Scholastica’s Retreat. We can offer hospitality at the Abbey for a limited number of men and women, but early booking is advised.

To make further enquiries contact:
Pluscarden Abbey, Elgin, IV30 8UA.
email: monks@pluscardenabbey.org

Monastic Experience Retreat at Pluscarden

To continue on the vocations theme and to steal shamelessly from Fr Tim:

Pluscarden Monastic experience retreat 2008
Live the monastic life for six days

The Benedictine monks of Pluscarden Abbey are organising a Monastic Experience Retreat for single Catholic men aged 18-40 to be held at the Abbey on 1st – 6th September 2008. The format will be the same as the successful retreat held last year and those who attend will live the same life as the monks and follow the monastic timetable. They will be in choir with the monks, do some lectio divina (spiritual reading) and prayer as we do, eat in the monastic refectory, do some manual work with the brethren each afternoon etc. There will also be a few talks and discussions on things such as the meaning of monastic life, monastic prayer and the Divine Office, and Gregorian Chant, as well as a tour of the Abbey some periods of recreation and a chance to speak with the brethren.

This is an opportunity for men who are considering a monastic vocation to experience our life ‘on the inside’ as well as for any men in the age group to share the riches of monastic spirituality. Those who came on previous retreats have ended up as monks, seminarians, diocesan priests, members of other religious orders and secular institutes as well as in various other ways of life.

Pluscarden Abbey was founded in 1230. The monastic community died out after the Reformation in 1560 but Benedictine monks from England returned to the medieval buildings in 1948 and resumed the monastic round of prayer and work. Over the years the buildings have been restored and at present the cloister is being completed. The community now consists of 30 monks, some of whom live in a daughter house at Petersham, USA and in a new monastic foundation in Ghana, West Africa. The monks live the classical Benedictine life of prayer and work centred on Holy Mass and the Divine Office celebrated according to the traditional schema of St Benedict, all of which is sung in Latin with Gregorian Chant. For more information on our way of life see the Pluscarden Abbey website

For further information on the retreat, contact Fr Augustine by email or by post at:
Pluscarden Abbey
Elgin
IV30 8UA

We cannot recommend this enough - if you’re a young man discerning a religious vocation, this is an absolutely wonderful opportunity to gain new insight into monastic life.

Minster Abbey Vocations Retreat

In advent we joined the wonderful nuns of Minster Abbey in Kent for their Advent retreat - it was a great experience of authentic contemplative religious life. In the summer they will be holding a vocations retreat for young Roman Catholic women, so if you think you might have a vocation to religious life this an excellent opportunity to see what it’s all about!

ST MILDRED OF MINSTER
690-735 AD

A WOMAN OF PEACE:
OF PRAYER:
OF WISDOM AND LOVE

A WOMAN FOR OUR TIME

Do you feel inspired to follow Jesus, in the footsteps of St Mildred?

COME AND JOIN THE BENEDICTINE NUNS
OF MINSTER ABBEY JULY 9-14TH 2008

For a time of reflection, prayer, and work,
and celebration of the Feat of St Mildred!

For more information contact:

The Novice Mistress
Minster Abbey
Minster, nr. Ramsgate,
Kent CT12 4HF 01843821254

 

Day of Renewal

Charismatic Renewal, Glasgow are having a Day of Renewal here at the Pro-Life Initiative on Saturday (5th of April) at 10.30am. Sr Roseann will be the main speaker and there will be Mass in the afternoon.

Much delayed…Benbecula.

Fr Ross Crichton, parish priest of St Mary’s, Griminish, with faithful companion Pangar Dhu.

The parish house, attached to the Church, is on perhaps the only hill on the island.

This beer container caused quite a furore a while back when it was swept ashore near Griminish. It’s massive (though sadly empty). You can see Fr Ross at the base, to give you an idea of the scale.

A cemetery on the beautiful rocky island of Eriskay.

Well, contrary to all expectations, I finally landed on the isle of Benbecula on the Wednesday afternoon.  On Thursday morning I went to the community school (so called because, as well as being a school, it also serves as a sports centre, cafeteria, library & theatre for the local community. Even the BBC studios form part of it.) and spoke to some very fine first and second year pupils on vocation and the work of the Initiative.

Fr Ross told me that many had never met a religious before so simply showing upwas already a bonus! Talking to eleven and twelve year olds is a real pleasure since they’re so receptive. Please God the encounter will bear some fruit.

The plan was to go back to the school on Friday to speak to the 4th and 5th years who had already done a good bit of fundraising for the Initiative in October of last year, but it was not to be…Radio Gael announced that morning that Liniclate school was shut: the gales were so bad that no buses could safely make it over the various causeways.

On Sunday I spoke to the parish during devotions and they were - as I knew very well they would be - incredibly generous.  In fact the people throughout my stay were utterly charming and welcoming.

A number of people lamented that mainlanders have absolutely no idea about the Hebrides, where they are and how people there live and their natural pride in the Hebridean way of life & culture really impressed me. In a world that always seems to be striving to be something else, their quiet confidence is a breath of fresh air. It makes the supposed sophistication of our cities seem over-wrought and empty. Who wouldn’t trade in high-rise buildings and noise pollution for the ever-changing Atlantic on your doorstep and a sky that changes a million times a day?

I’m grateful for Fr Ross’ sterling hospitality and for the welcome I received from everyone we met (& we met people all the time! A five minute trip to the Co-op takes one hour and twenty…).

The idea of the Church as the Body of Christ is no empty rhetoric: no matter how far flung the place, there is always a sense of belonging, of communion, and the prayerful support of the Hebridean people will make all the difference to our lives and work. God bless them!

Reminder: International Student Pro-Life Conference

SPUC will be hosting an International Student Pro-Life Conference at the Carberry Tower Conference Centre, near Edinburgh, 28th - 30th of March. The main speaker will be Celeste Beal, great niece of Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

If you’re interested in attending you can get more information here.