Scottish Catholic Observer

Long after the headlines and the heartbreaking images have faded, after politicians have moved onto the next pressing issue, people of goodwill will strive to help and support refugees. The truth is the refugees crisis currently at the  forefront of our minds is always with us, it has and will ebb and flow but the needs of displaced people will remain.

The words of Archbishop Philip Tartaglia are poignant as he promises Church help to the Scottish Government with refugees.

“In front of the tragedy of the tens of thousands of refugees escaping death by war or hunger on the path towards the hope of life the Gospel calls us, asks us to be ‘neighbours’ of the smallest and most abandoned,” he said. “Many of our parishioners hail from families with a history of fleeing conflict and poverty in the 19th and 20th centuries to find a new home in Scotland.”

Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh has expressed his willingness to house refugees and Bishop John Keenan of Paisley met with politicians and officials on the crisis this week.

“[I am] very heartened by the gathering of civic leaders and animators in Renfrewshire… to discuss strategies for supporting refugees coming to the local area. Impressive grasp of the situation and of our responsibility as well as an overwhelming desire for everyone present to support the refugees in all the ways we can,” Bishop Keenan said.

Inspired no doubt by Pope Francis, our hierarchy is leading by example and the global rallies, which began in Glasgow, show that people are setting aside their personal politics on immigration policy to meet the dire need.

Few of us can imagine how hard it is to be a priest or in the religious life, especially in such a secular age and with challenges facing the Church that seem to keep coming.

The young Catholics who gathered at Nunraw last weekend for the Catholic Youth Service national youth pilgrimage celebrating consecrated life no doubt have a better understanding than many. These young Catholics from around the country travelled to the pilgrimage in many ways, some on foot from Haddington, to join Archbishop Cushley, accompanied by representatives of the Jesuit community from Edinburgh and Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia from Elgin.

“If your reply as young Christians is also ‘Jesus, we believe that you are the Christ,’ then that changes your life for good and it changes your life forever,” Archbishop Cushley said.

The archbishop was also keen that the young people learn from the advice given to them by Abbot Emeritus Raymond Jaconelli of Nunraw who told of the need for periods of silent prayer in life in order to let God speak. What an inspiration ahead of Vocation Awareness Week.