Saint Mungo’s Newsletter
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time
9th October 2016
Visiting the Sick
Just to let you know that Fr.
Frank and Fr. Gareth have to
wait for safeguarding clearance
before they can begin to visit the
sick in their homes. We phoned
around to let them know and it
was lovely to talk to them on the
phone. As soon as clearance is
received we look forward to
meeting them in person and
meanwhile they are in our
prayers.
Fr. Dermot and Fr. John
Fr. Dermot is on the verge of
leaving for Mount Argus in
Dublin and Fr. John has already
taken up residence in Holy Cross,
Ardoyne in Belfast – he said that
Fr. Gareth left the room very
untidy! We thank them for their
service here in St. Mungo’s and
we wish them well in their new
positions.
St Mungo's Church, 52 Parson
Street, Townhead, Glasgow, G4 0RX
0141 552 1823 or 0141 772 9697
St Margaret's Children and
Family Care Society are
looking for adopters.
St Margaret's prides itself on
being a specialised adoption
service and encourages you to
take a look at their most recent
inspection report at
www.careinspectorate.com
Have you ever considered
adoption? Could you give a
loving, stable home to a child
who has suffered abuse or
trauma? Do you have what it
takes to be a "Therapeutic
Parent?". If the answer to any of
these questions is "yes" please
visit St Margaret's website at
www.stmargaretsadoption.org.u
k for more information or call
0141 332 8371 and speak to the
duty worker.
Discussion on Ecumenism
for Parishioners, Eyre Hall
Monday 24th Oct 2016,
19:00
Parishioners with an interest in
Ecumenism are invited to an
evening discussion on Monday,
24 October 2016 at 7.00 pm in
Eyre Hall, Archdiocese of
Glasgow, 196 Clyde Street,
Glasgow, G 1 4JY. This is an
opportuity for people to share
their experience of Ecumenism
within their local area and to
consider different ways of
furthering Christian Witness.
Tea/coffee will be available from
6.30 pm
RCIA in Saint Mungo's.
If you or if you know someone
who would like to join the
Catholic Church please speak to
Fr Frank. A leaflet is available at
the back of the Church or email
[email protected]
We require parishioners from St
Mungo's to journey with people
who wish to join the Catholic
Faith, please speak to Fr Frank.
Glasgow Churches Together
AGM - Glasgow City Chambers
Monday 10th Oct. 2016, 18:00
The parish of St Mungo is a parish of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, a Designated Religious Charity, Number.SC018140
www.passionistsglasgow.com email [email protected]
St. Mungo’s Parish. Townhead & Sighthill.
A MESSAGE FROM FATHER FRANK
I want to take the opportunity this weekend, on behalf of Father Gareth and myself; to say how happy we
are to join you here in St. Mungo’s. For me it is a coming home. I am a Glasgow man born and bred.
I grew up in Partick and then the family moved to Drumchapel in the early 1960’s. I did my secondary
schooling at St. Mungo’s Academy, my first contact with the Passionists, and after studying accountancy I
decided to give a vocation with the Passionists a try. Fr. Michael Doogan, the late and much lamented
parish priest of St. Mungo’s, was my vocations director at the time. After studies in Dublin and Rome I
was ordained in St. Mungo’s in June 1983, and my first posting after ordination was again to St. Mungo’s,
being appointed Vocations Director in Scotland and part of a preaching team that included Fr. John Mary
and Fr. Paul Francis. In 1986 I was transferred to Dublin and for the next 30 years I moved around in
various roles and St. Mungo’s was just somewhere to visit as I was never appointed here again – until
now. I come here after 16 very happy years in Mount Argus and the leaving was a wrench and a
heartache; but if I was to come anywhere I’m glad it is to here, and while St. Mungo’s is a much changed
place since then I sense that there is a spirit that persists and Fr. Gareth and I will give our all to grow and
develop that spirit in the years ahead. Fr. Gareth of course is from the Welsh Valleys and spent some
years of his Passionist Formation here in St. Mungo’s which he loved, and from what I can see the people
loved his being here and are delighted with his return. We are also delighted to be joining Fr. Justinian
and Fr. Lawrence in the new community house in Bishopbriggs, something else that has changed. They
have been extremely welcoming and I know that they too are committed to doing what they can to help
St. Mungo’s in moving forward. So I ask you to pray for us and to travel with us on a journey of faith and
trying build a parish we can be proud of, while keeping the focus on Christ. “If the Lord does not build the
house then in vain do the builders labour”; and we do so imbued by the Passionist spirit, firmly believing
the Passion of Jesus is the greatest example of God’s love for us, and may that Passion be ever in our
hearts.
REFLECTION
The ancient world was terrified of leprosy, which is a contagious disease, and having no cure for it they banished
lepers from society. Lepers became outcasts, required by the law to stand at a distance from people, and to shout
‘Unclean, unclean!’ when they saw anyone near. The Samaritan leper in this story was doubly isolated, for there
was deep religious hatred between Jews and Samaritans. These ten outcasts must have heard of Jesus’ reputation
and they are desperate for help. They kept their distance, as Jewish Law required, and they shouted, ‘Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us!’ Every society, every group, has outsiders. How a group sees and treats outsiders is the
clearest indicator of the values the group is based on. “We must face that fact,” wrote George Bernard Shaw, “that
every society is based upon intolerance.” But to say this is to discount the possibility of an open society. We might
expect that all religious societies, since they claim to be in the service of God, would be open societies; but some of
them shrink into cults, and many develop cult-like qualities. There is always a match between inner and outer. If the
outsider is regarded only as an enemy, then we can be sure that the inner life is diseased is some way. This is how
we estimate the life of an individual; it is also how we can estimate the life of a society. An individual who only
knows who he or she is against has no positive identity at all; likewise, a society. The greatest tragedy for disciples
of the one who said, ‘Love your enemies’ is that they make their own identity depend on the very existence of
enemies. Inevitably they will have no heart for “the weak, the sick, the wounded, the strayed, the lost” . They will be
without the quality of mercy. The isolated, the doubly isolated, will get no hearing from them. A Christian society that
is deaf to the outsider and that marginalises some of its own, can hardly be described as Christian. Pope Francis, in
his very first week as pope, spoke about a tendency in the Church to “self-referencing.” A Christian community of
any kind is not a group of likeminded people who confirm one another in their narrowness, but a group that reaches
out to those whose lives are in chaos, whose voices are not heard, whose presence is not welcomed.
The only leper who came back to give thanks to God was the Samaritan, the doubly isolated. That was a poor
reflection on the nine. Today’s gospel reading is a call for us to think about how we relate to our Church, our
groups, our family…and to outsiders. We can have a subtly hostile attitude to all outsiders, and we are even
capable of making outsiders of some within. Jews despised Samaria as a blot on their country. We need to realise
the significance of the fact that Jesus reached out to Samaritans, went into the heart of Samaria, and even made
Samaritans the heroes of some of his parables. He even had the word ‘Samaritan’ thrown at him as an insult by
people who considered themselves insiders.