Saint Therese Icon

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The icon of Saint Therese was created by the St Andrew Community Aberdeen, coordinators of the visit of the relics to RC Aberdeen and will accompany the relics on the tour of Scotland. Continue reading

Homily for the Diocesan Pilgrimage to Pluscarden

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Today we keep Ss Peter and Paul. It’s good to remember them, say thank you for them and ask their prayers. They are very much part of our Christianity. They were there at the very beginning. They each came to know Jesus, differently, but deeply. One can say they fell in love with him and their whole lives were recast by that experience. They lived two thousand years ago, but their humanity, their personalities shine out. Christ doesn’t erase these things; he draws them out. Continue reading

Tour of Relics of Saint Therese

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An icon of St Therese painted and completed in May 2019 by the St Andrews Community

The St Andrews Community of Aberdeen and the RC Diocese of Aberdeen is pleased to announce that in September 2019, the relics of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, otherwise known as ‘the Little Flower,’ will make a tour of Scotland. In a Roman Catholic context, this is a wonderful grace for our country, an opportunity for faith, hope and charity to be rekindled in our hearts through the powerful intercession of ‘little Therese,’ as she asked to be called. Continue reading

Monaco Boys Choir comes to Aberdeen

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Aberdeen RC Diocese and St Mary’s Cathedral in Aberdeen are delighted to announce that on Friday 19th July, they are to host the Monaco boys choir – one of the world’s leading youth choirs who are celebrated internationally for their repertoire of classical and traditional works. The choir was established by Prince Albert I of Monaco in 1904 and is comprised of 30 boys between 9 and 18 years of age (images attached). Under the patronage of Prince Albert II, and with the generous support of the government of Monaco, the choir performs top quality charity concerts all around the world.
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Homily for the 250th Anniversary of the Episcopal Ordination of George Hay

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“What do you understand by the Trinity? I understand that there is but one living and true God, and that in God there are three distinct persons, called the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

“But how can we conceive or comprehend this? It is impossible for us to comprehend it. In the simplicity of our heart we believe it is so; because God himself has revealed it.” Continue reading

Northern Catholic History Notes

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Alasdair Roberts and Ann Dean’s History Notes chronicle Catholic life in the North of Scotland. From the fascinating story of Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries, close friend of Tsar Peter the Great, who rose in rank from trooper to full general, to the intriguing tale of Malcolm Hay, the code breaking laird, who headed up the War Office’s Cryptology Department in the First World War. Continue reading

Homily for the Ascension

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We are keeping a beautiful feast.

“As he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven”. So the Gospel describes what we are celebrating. “He withdrew from them”: he brought to an end the 40 days of post-Resurrection appearances to his disciples. He “was carried up into heaven”: returning to the Father from whom he came, taken in his humanity, definitively, irreversibly into God’s heavenly domain and into the fullness of who he is. He leapt, says an Anglo-Saxon poet. And in that “leap”, “the host of angels / … was made glad with rapture / with joy…[and] / the play of the prince became an eternal delight” (Cynewulf, Christ II). The disciples, too, “went back to Jerusalem full of joy”, rejoicing in the joy of the one they loved. Continue reading