Scottish Catholic Observer

In an interview last week, the new archbishop said the Church was very good at helping ‘the poor and the weak in society’ but until the election of Pope Francis it had slightly ‘forgotten the importance of’ it. He added that he wanted the Church in Scotland to be as generous to the Scottish poor as they are to those in the developing world.

“Yesterday, I had a meeting with the people who help run the archdiocese and [I] heard about our pastoral outreach work in this area and that area on justice and peace, on the environment and religious education in schools and hospital chaplaincy work,” the archbishop said. “And I said: ‘What about the poor, what are we doing for the poor?’ And there had been an office for this but I was told that it was dormant at the moment.”

The archbishop explained that it ‘is not as if it was forgotten, but it was a way of people realising ‘here is something we ought not to have let go of.’’

“It was an office someone was no longer head of and I thought, ‘here we are, here’s something Francis wants us to look into,’” he said. “I am very keen to personally find out very quickly what the archdiocese does for outreach work to the down-and-outs, the unemployed, the drug addicts and other people at risk that traditionally we help,” he said. “I want to familiarise myself with it to see if it is as good as it can be and if we can do better than that if necessary and get ourselves to commit to that.”

He also said he wishes Scottish Catholics to think of those who are needy close to home as well as abroad. “Catholics in Scotland are very generous people but often think about this in terms of generosity with the missions,” he said. “Scottish Catholics are very generous pound for pound with the missions, but the missions are not here.”

Archbishop Cushley also said the Holy Father would be his role model in how he approached his episcopate.

The archbishop added that he hoped the Pope would quickly move to fill the Episcopal vacancies in Scotland.

“There’s a rhythm of work that’s beyond our control,” he said. “Depending on the bulk of work Rome has to deal with it could be six months before we see the next [bishop] but that’s a complete guess. I’d be delighted if the Holy Father gets round to looking at Scotland again as soon as possible.

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—Pic: Paul McSherry

—This story ran in full, with additional photographs, in the October 4 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.