Scottish Catholic Observer

Sometimes it takes one person to symbolise a tragedy. Natural disasters, accidents and man-made violence often takes place at such a scale—and so far away—that we cannot fully comprehend its magnitude. So, just as the body of the Syrian Kurdish refugee toddler Aaylan Kurdi washed up on a beach became the icon of the migrant crisis that spurned governments and peoples to action, the tragic death of Sr Clare Theresa Crockett, a 33-year-old missionary from Derry, in last Sunday’s earthquake in Ecuador has become a symbol of the lives lost there and brought that loss closer to home.

By all accounts Sr Clare Theresa was living a good and worthwhile life as a religious sister. Nonetheless, her’s is just one of the 413 deaths and rising caused by the 7.8 magnitude quake.

Readers of the SCO will remember the articles of Fr Martin Chambers while he was a missionary in Ecuador, a mantle now taken on by Fr Colin MacInnes.

On behalf of Missio Scotland and the Scottish Church, Fr Chambers has pledged spiritual and financial support to Ecuador through this crisis. Those who has so little, essentially nothing to fall back on, will have the hardest time recovering from what has happened in the South American country.

We will keep them in our thoughts and prayers, yes, but if we can dig into our own pockets even a little it will go a long way with the relief efforts which will be needed in Ecuador for some time to come. That’s the real power of one, when we all come together to help we can really make a difference.

Pope Francis post-synodal exhortation on the family continues to fuel debate this week, from the concerns of Gerald Warner of conflicting messages with regards to the state of grace required to partake of the Sacraments, to Joe McGrath’s belief that Pope Francis isn’t looking to see a change to Church teaching but a change in us the Faithful. There remains a great deal to process.

All the prayer and preparation ahead of Paisley Synod, the first synod in Scotland in 50 years, came to fruition this week when the opening Mass was celebrated by Bishop John Keenan in St Mirin’s Cathedral. We wish Paisley parishioners every success in this process and will keep them in our thoughts and prayers.