Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Scotland

Webmaster • November 27, 2021


 VIEW A LETTER FROM RT.REV JOSEPH TOAL,  BISHOP OF MOTHERWELL HERE







On the Season of Christmas
and the Restoration of the Mass Obligation in the Dioceses of Scotland 


Dear Brothers and Sisters,


Christ is born for us, come let us adore him.


Christmas is approaching. It is an occasion to renew our family life, to reach out to the lonely and to celebrate the core of our faith: Emmanuel, God with us.

We have all experienced the negative impact the pandemic has had on our common liturgical celebrations and our access to the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Now that more people are attending church, the Bishops of Scotland want to encourage all the Catholic faithful to renew their covenant with the Church and her worship. Christmas seems the right time to do this. We remember how the shepherds said to each other: “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing which has happened, which the Lord has made known to us” (Lk 2:15). The Child in the manger calls to us to go with them.


Christmas Day this year falls on a Saturday. It will be followed immediately by the feast of the Holy Family on the Sunday. We therefore strongly encourage you to take advantage of the celebrations of that weekend by attending Mass on both days, or at least once.


We have often been asked about reinstating the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holydays of obligation. In our fluid situation, this is not an easy judgment to make. Thanks, however, to the effort and good sense of so many, our churches have proven to be safe places. So, saving any serious worsening of the situation, we believe that Christmastide provides an opportune moment to restore the obligation.


The obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holydays of Obligation will therefore be reinstated from Sunday 2nd January, the first of the new year. That Sunday coincides with the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. It will be an occasion for us to join the wise men in offering worship to the Infant Jesus.

In accordance with the common teaching of the Church this obligation does not bind those in ill health or those otherwise impeded from attending Mass. Nor, in the context of Covid, does it bind those showing symptoms of the virus or with underlying health conditions, or those with responsibilities for people in need of special care.

The obligation to keep the Lord’s Day holy by attending Mass should not be seen as a burden. It is a summons addressed to our human freedom and to the heart of every baptised member of the Church. “There is within me”, said St Ignatius of Antioch, “a murmur of living water which says, ‘Come to the Father’”. The obligation calls us to come to the Father together with our fellow-believers, to “listen to the word of God and to take part in the Eucharist, calling to mind the passion, resurrection and glory of the Lord Jesus, and giving thanks to God who ‘has begotten [us] to a living hope, through the resurrection of Christ from the dead’” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 106; 1 Pt 1:3). Sunday Mass can reinvigorate and refresh our Christian faith, our sense of community and our desire to live as missionary disciples in the world. This is why the Church takes this obligation seriously.


It has been good to have access to the Sacred Liturgy online, and we encourage those unable to attend Mass on Sundays and Holydays to continue making use of this. Of itself, though, online participation does not fulfil the obligation. Nothing can adequately replace actual presence. At the heart of our Christian life is the event of the Word becoming flesh and our incorporation through the Sacraments into his Body. It’s to experience this that we come to church. Our current reflection on synodality points us in the same direction: we are a people who meet together because we journey together.


Let us therefore use the coming Christian season to return, with purified hearts and fresh fervour, to our sacramental and liturgical life. During Advent and beyond, there will be opportunities to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And Christmas itself is more than a Day. It is a Season. Beyond Christmas Day, it includes the beautiful feasts of the Holy Family, of Mary, Mother of God, of the Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord. In the northern hemisphere, this season falls at a dark and low time of the year. This is not by chance. It’s precisely at this time, made darker still by so many current uncertainties, that we are offered divine energy and the joy of the human birth of a divine child. Christ’s birth means the forgiveness of our sins and our rebirth as children of God. We sense how Mary’s motherhood embraces us as well and, at the Epiphany, the star of faith lights up our hearts. As the Lord is immersed in the River Jordan the waters of our own baptism can flow in our lives with new force. We are given light and strength to live a new year in the power of the Holy Spirit.


In his Letter of the 9th of November to the Catholics of Scotland, written in the midst of CoP26, the Holy Father said, “In these challenging times, may all Christ’s followers in Scotland renew their commitment to be convincing witnesses to the joy of the Gospel and its power to bring light and hope to every effort to build a future of justice, fraternity and prosperity, both material and spiritual.”


We echo these words as we seek together to follow God’s ways and open our hearts to the gift of his Son.


Yours devotedly in Christ,

+ Hugh Gilbert

   Bishop of Aberdeen, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland

+ Leo Cushley

   Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh

+ Joseph Toal

   Bishop of Motherwell

+ Stephen Robson

   Bishop of Dunkeld

+ John Keenan

   Bishop of Paisley

+ William Nolan

   Bishop of Galloway

+ Brian McGee

   Bishop of Argyll and the Isles

   Monsignor Hugh Canon Bradley

   Diocesan Administrator, Archdiocese of Glasgow 

Prayers for the Sick

By Webmaster • January 30, 2026
Please pray for Our Sick : Margaret Callaghan Doreen Cleary, Michael Ritchie, Neil Boyle, John Rielly Molly Strang, James Clark, Fr. Michael McLaughlin, Patricia Henderson, Joanna Maier (Connecticut USA), Therese Gilgunn Tressy Callaghan, Suzanne McMurray, Mary Coyle, Lesley Watson (Spain) Maureen McHugh, Margaret Burke, Marie White, Kathleen Daly, John McGuire, Jill Brown, Karen Pritchatt, Louise Newton, Faith Lyndsey, Jill Brown, Marie McGuire, James Morton, Paul Kearney, Thomas Daly, Andrew McCluskey, Premature Baby Vincent McDowell, Bill Allan, Gudren Berk (Germany), Jaqueline McReynolds, Mary Morrison, Helen Howarth (Easterhouse) Eugene McVey and all our sick.

Dates for your diary

By Webmaster • January 30, 2026
Mass of the Sick Saturday 14th February 10am Mass Ash Wednesday 18th February: Masses 7am, 10am & 6pm Sacramental Meetings Tuesday 24th February St. Peter's & St. Mark's 6pm First Confession 6.30pm First Communion  7pm Confirmation Meetings will take place in the Church

Gift Aid

By Webmaster • January 30, 2026
If you wish to sign up for Gift Aid. It is a great way to help the parish financially, costing you absolutely nothing. If you wish to sign up contact myself or Doreen Lee and we will give you the form and hand it back as you can and we can get it organised. As I said it costs you nothing, but helps the parish so much.

This week's readings

By Webmaster • January 30, 2026
First Reading Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13 There will be a people who remain sheltered from God’s anger. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 146:6-10 The Lord is faithful forever. Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 God chooses the weak to show his power. Gospel Reading Matthew 5:1-12a Jesus teaches what it means to be happy. Background on the Gospel Reading Today’s reading is the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which is found in Matthew’s Gospel. The form of the Beatitudes found here is not unique to Jesus. Beatitudes are found in the Old Testament, in the psalms, and in wisdom literature, for example. They are a way to teach about who will find favor with God. We quickly note in this reading that the people whom Jesus calls “blessed” and “happy” are not people we think of as blessed or happy . . . the poor in spirit, the meek, the persecuted. This Gospel is one of reversals. Jesus’ blueprint for happiness reflects little of what the world might call happiness.  “Blessed” is sometimes translated as happy, fortunate, or favored. In other words, Jesus is saying that divine favor is upon those who are poor, those who mourn, those who are persecuted. This news might have been welcome—and surprising—to the crowds who heard Jesus that day. The Beatitudes can be understood as a framework for Christian living. Our vocation as Christians is not to be first in this world, but rather to be first in the eyes of God. By referring to the good things that the faithful will experience, Matthew reminds us that those who act in the manner described in the Beatitudes will find their reward with God.

Prayers for the recently dead, months, mind and Anniversaries

By Webmaster • January 30, 2026
Our Recently Dead Frances Drummond, Mary McCrudden, Mary Mearns, Grace Hogg (Wishaw), Baby Lila Rose Kasap (2 months) Anne Marie Watson, Jean Murdoch Month Minds & Anniversaries John Corns, Margaret McCluskey, Helen Connolly, Catherine, Patrick & James O'Donnell, Mary Lyons, Margaret Mine, Marie McLaughlin, Jean & Mary Kane, Mary, Pat & Margaret Cox, Edward & Margaret Rodden Please if you could make sure all month minds and anniversaries are handed in no later than Wednesday Night. If they come in after that they will be read out at Mass on Sunday. If the recently dead come in after the Wednesday deadline they too will be read out at Mass on the Sunday

Powerpoint Remote Control:

By Webmaster • January 30, 2026
I am looking for Volunteers to move the power-points on during the Sunday Masses, Vigil 4pm, 9.30am & 11am. It is very easy to operate, if we get enough volunteers for each Mass we would put a wee rota together. It would take a wee bit of pressure off me.

Year of St Francis of Assisi

By Webmaster • January 24, 2026
The “Year of St Francis of Assisi”, was proclaimed by Pope Leo, in Rome to mark the 800th Anniversary of St Francis’ death in 2026. I am proposing to put a statue of St. Francis in the Church for this jubilee year. This is from EWTN Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed a “Special Year of St. Francis” to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death. During this time of grace, which will extend until January 2027, the faithful are granted the opportunity to obtain a plenary indulgence . This Franciscan Jubilee Year, considered a gift for the entire Church and an occasion for authentic spiritual renewal, was inaugurated on Jan. 10 with a decree issued by the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See. Until Jan. 10 of next year, the faithful can obtain this grace under the usual conditions — sacramental confession, Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the pope — by making a pilgrimage to any Franciscan conventual church or place of worship dedicated to St. Francis anywhere in the world. Furthermore, the elderly, the sick, and those who, for serious reasons, cannot leave their homes can obtain the plenary indulgence  by spiritually joining in the jubilee celebrations and offering their prayers, pains, or sufferings to God.

Mass of the sick

By Webmaster • January 17, 2026
Mass of the Sick Saturday 14th February 10am Mass Ash Wednesday 18th February more details to follow.

Second Sunday of Ordinary Time - 18th January

By Webmaster • January 17, 2026
The Second Sunday of the Year A, falling on January 18, 2026, is known as the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, featuring readings from Isaiah (calling the Messiah a shoot from Jesse), 1 Corinthians (emphasizing unity in Christ), and John's Gospel (John the Baptist identifying Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world). This Sunday marks a shift after Christmas and Epiphany into the regular flow of Ordinary Time, focusing on discipleship, God's calling, and Jesus's identity as revealed through the Baptist. Key Readings (Year A): ● First Reading : Isaiah 49:1-7 (The Servant Song, foretelling the Messiah's mission). ● Responsorial Psalm : Psalm 40 (A response of praise and commitment). ● Second Reading : 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 (Paul's greeting and call to unity). ● Gospel : John 1:29-42 (John the Baptist points to Jesus as the Lamb of God). Themes & Focus: ● The Calling of Disciples : The Gospel highlights Jesus's first disciples (Andrew and another) meeting and following Him. ● Identity of Jesus : The powerful declaration "Behold the Lamb of God" is central, connecting Jesus to sacrifice and redemption. ● Unity in Christ: 1 Corinthians speaks to the diverse people called to be saints, united in Christ. ● Ordinary Time : Moving from festive seasons into regular liturgical focus on Christian life and growth. Context: ● This Sunday often coincides with the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Baptism of the lord

By Webmaster • January 11, 2026
The Baptism of the Lord is observed as a distinct feast in the Roman rite, although it was originally one of three Gospel events marked by the feast of the Epiphany. Long after the visit of the Magi had in the West overshadowed the other elements commemorated in the Epiphany, Pope Pius XII instituted in 1955 a separate liturgical commemoration of the Baptism.  Currently, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is usually celebrated the Sunday after Epiphany. The exception is when Epiphany is observed on January 7th or 8th; this causes the Baptism to be celebrated on the Monday immediately following Epiphany.When celebrated on Sunday, the Baptism is part of Christmas Time,
Show More