Scottish Catholic Observer

Those fortunate enough to attend the 2013 Caritas Award ceremony in Glasgow on Sunday saw Faith in action and gained a great deal of hope for the future thanks to young people from throughout Scotland, their teachers and the Scottish Catholic Education Service.

The Caritas Award for senior secondary school pupils, established in tribute to Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Scotland in 2010, is in its second full year and had almost 1000 winners, double the number of participants in 2012. SCES recently announced its intention to help roll out a pilot programme to extend the award to primary schools starting after the summer.

In light of the highly successful Caritas Award, it is very difficult to dwell on the challenges facing the Church. With the retirement of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, and now Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell, increasing the number of vacant bishops chairs in Scotland to four out of a possible eight, it is little wonder that some have a sense of uneasiness about what lies ahead.

Yet it was always going to be this way, regardless of the circumstances of recent changes. Scotland has gone from having one of the youngest hierarchies in Europe to one of the oldest. Cardinal O’Brien spent more than 27 as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh and Bishop Devine led Motherwell for more than 30 years, lifetimes of public service and, yes, plenty of time to make mistakes. Without being disloyal to our bishops, and the difficult role they have, we must remember that our Faith is not dependant on one person or on one personality here on earth. As Catholics, we all share the responsibility to tackle issues within our Church now, as the opportunity arises, and in the future.

Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Mennini has spoken of the likelihood that a new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh will be named within the month, and he said that Paisley and Dunkeld Dioceses are to have Vatican appointments after the summer. While the Vatican has the pool of hardworking and talented clergy throughout the world to choose from, let’s hope the God given gifts of our priests here in Scotland—who have kept the Faith alive—are not overlooked to assist in the vital task of rebuilding our Church and raising morale.

Our clergy, active and retired, continue to work tirelessly on our behalf and we can show our appreciation by supporting them and our Church in the good times, and in tougher times. In 1188 Pope Clement III declared ‘the Church of Scotland to be the daughter of Rome by special grace.’ We should have faith now that the Holy See will walk with us in our hour of need. As reported in the SCO last week, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said: “If I have a message for the priests of Scotland, it is this: do not listen to the voices of discouragement that often surround you—continue to faithfully give your lives to the Lord and allow His grace to do the rest.”