Scottish Catholic Observer

It is always a pleasure to bring good news and this week, as Lent begins, there is plenty of it to report. With the high profile launch of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund’s Wee Box, Big Change campaign, Scottish Catholics are reminded, this week, of ways to observe Lent. And while Scotland’s own ‘singing sensation’ Susan Boyle, Cardinal Keith O’Brien and SCIAF president Bishop Emeritus Peter Moran entered into the spirit of Shrove Tuesday with the help of St Augustine’s High School pupils, the serious message was not lost behind the light-hearted launch: there are many ways to support the work of Catholic charities, and if you can have fun in the process all the better, but the support is the desired end result.

Also this week, the launch of Lentfest in Glasgow was more high profile than ever before. Following the official blessing of the Vatican for the festival, Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow and festival director Stephen Callaghan told invited guests and VIPs, that this year’s programme of Faith and the arts offers an inspired opportunity to prepare for Easter via a series of events, including exhibitions, performances, talks, films and music.

Further exciting news surrounding this year’s festival, Lentfest’s sixth year, comes with the announcement that Strathclyde, Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian universities have come on board, as has the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In addition, as the festival goes from strength to strength, coverage will be broadcast nationally on Premier Christian Radio.

Without overlooking the support this week from Bishop Philip Tartaglia of Paisley and the Scottish bishops for Scottish health care workers, and the efforts of Michelle McManus and the cast of the fundraising concert for St Columba’s Cathedral, Oban, the most moving news, and the last word, belongs to Mgr Charles Burns, a priest from Paisley Diocese.

The Ecclesiastical advisor to the British Embassy to the Holy See, who previously worked for 35 years at the Vatican Secret Archives and was also professor of the history of Papal diplomacy at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, has become the first Scottish priest to be installed as a canon of the Papal Basilica of St Peter in the Vatican. Tributes have been flooding in this week, including messages from his former classmate Archbishop Conti and Nigel Baker, the British Ambassador to the Holy See.

In Mgr Burns own words, however: “I am deeply grateful to the Holy Father for this exceptional gesture of benevolence. I will participate with great pleasure in the Liturgy at St Peter’s.”

A dedicated life of giving and service that has brought rewards that cannot be calculated in this life, inspiration, indeed, for all of us on our Lenten journeys.