By Carleen Friel, S6 Student, St Margaret’s High School, reports
International Youth Archives
Airdrie pupils’ gift of warmth and compassion for Malawi
Italian Franciscan nun Sr Anna Tomassi heaped praise on the staff and pupils from St Margaret’s High School in Airdrie after they provided blankets for child prisoners in Bvumbwe Juvenile Prison in Malawi, where more than 250 children are forced to share a cell the size of a classroom with... read more
Strong in Faith: An Italian lesson for Scotland
By Mary Dougherty
In September of this year I moved to Campobasso, a small town in Molise, a small rural part of Italy. I am a postgraduate intern in the university of this small town of 40,000 inhabitants. The experience has been cultural, a linguistic learning curve and, most interestingly and unexpectedly, an... read more
Beware of gangs, Pope urges youths in El Salvador
Pope Francis has warned adolescents in El Salvador to ‘beware of gangs’ during a video conference call with young people in the violence-wracked country.
Speaking to a 15-year-old boy and dozens of his classmates in the town of Soyapango outside San Salvador, the Pope urged the youngsters to steer clear of the violent groups that are plaguing the Central American nation. The Holy Father told Gerardo Ernesto Mancia and some 30 of his schoolmates to... read more
Airdrie students make a difference in Malawi
This summer pupils from St Margaret’s High School, Airdrie, visited Malawi with Coatbridge-based charity Aiming Higher in Malawi. Below, then S5 pupil Alexandra Barclay shares the joys and difficulties of her experience.
I arrived in Malawi on June 11. During the three-hour drive from the airport to my accommodation I was engrossed in what I was seeing as we travelled through many villages where I witnessed first hand the poverty of the country. I saw girls as young as seven with babies... read more
Malawians make a song and dance for pupils
PUPILS from four Lanarkshire schools were treated to traditional African dance, drama and food by Malawi villagers two years to the day after they were found starving to death in their homeland.
The Africans were plunged into difficulties after the only male in their village died resulting in them losing their property and land rights. With the help of Coatbridge-based charity Aiming Higher in Malawi, and with the assistance of Labour MSP for Central Scotland Siobhan McMahon, Airdrie school St Margaret’s High provided... read more
A thankful Church, a joyful ceremony
JIM CASSIDY reports from the Canonisations, launching an appeal to help subsidise Scottish WYD pilgrims for Kraków 2016
In the darkness of the streets leading up to St Peter’s it had been difficult to see the colours but as the dawn broke it was a universal rainbow that dazzled your eye. Greens, blues, yellows brought life to a damp dank morning in St Peter’s Square. Argentina, Brazil, Croatia and... read more
Viva Brasil!
— AIDAN COOK travelled to World Youth Day in Rio with Fr John Keenan and a group from Glasgow University
Arriving in town at 11pm at night, we were not expecting much of a welcome. But as our bus pulled up in front of the church, the waiting crowd burst into song and dance, jumping around as madly as if Brazil had just won the World Cup. These were the... read more
SSVP youth changed by WYD pilgrimage
In a sneak preview of the reports from Scottish pilgrims back from World Youth Day Rio, Brazil, in this Friday’s SCO, here is an account from three pilgrims who travelled with the Society of St Vincent De Paul Scotland
July 6-15: The cities of Sao Goncalo, Trinidade and Itaborai Our work with the SSVP Brazil By Paul Breslin Strain, Barrhead Our work with the SSVP Brazil took us to some of the poorest parts in Rio. We visited a number of parish conferences, were shown around SSVP projects and centres, participated in... read more
Send-off for Scottish World Youth Day pilgrims
Archbishop Tartaglia celebrates Mass for Scottish youths attending World Youth Day in Rio
A send-off Mass for Scottish pilgrims attending the International World Youth Day gathering in Brazil was celebrated at the end of last month at St Francis Xavier’s Church in Falkirk. Pope Francis will attend the 14th international World Youth Day gathering in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro later this... read more
Strong in Faith: Is the historicity of the Resurrection essential to your Faith?
A fortnightly discussion chaired by our Catholic university chaplaincies.
Discussion 12: Is the historicity of the Resurrection essential to your Faith? EMERSON STEVENS: Yes, the Resurrection signifies Christ’s (literal) triumph over death, and the evidence that our sins had been paid for once and for all. While I think it is acceptable to interpret some aspects of the Bible (for... read more
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- Bishop John Keenan of Paisley has urged the prayer campaign for the Scottish nurse who became critically ill with late complications from the ebola virus to continue after doctors said her condition was improving
- Archbishop Leo Cushley told some of Scotland’s future Catholic teachers that they must teach from the heart and pursue personal holiness.
- Warner believes Catholics have lost the sensus fidei.
- Richard Purden discovers the secrets of red-heads from author Jacky Colliss Harvey, and it is not all Celtic roots.
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