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father frank's log...

29/7/2021

FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 25th JULY – 1st AUGUST

Welcome back to the Log. There was no Log last week, of course, because I, with all the community, was at our Passionist Provincial Chapter in Larne. I had presumed that the Log this week would be all about the Chapter, but then came the terrible news yesterday about Saint Simon’s Church in Partick being burnt to the ground, with the unlikelihood that it will ever be restored, or opened, ever again. Readers of this Log will be aware that my roots are in Partick. I was actually born in Partick Bridge Street, with Saint Simon’s at the bottom of the road. I was baptized there, and celebrated my 1st Communion and Confirmation there too. I served on the altar at daily and Sunday Masses, as well as Wednesday night Devotions and Friday night Stations of the Cross. I had many, young prayerful moments, sitting in the church, while my father and, after his death, my uncle, serviced the boiler out in the yard. I was spiritually formed by three good priests of the parish, each of them very different. When I moved out to Drumchapel with my family, and even after I joined the Passionists, I would return again and again to this most beautiful little church, the cradle of my faith. Even after I was ordained, my first Parish Mission was preached in Saint Simon’s and then, quite some years later, when my youngest niece decided she wanted to be married there, to make the connection with her forebears, I came over from Dublin to celebrate her Nuptial Mass. The parish priest, at that time, had inadvertently double-booked, and we had to delay the bride’s arrival by about an hour, while a Polish Mass was being celebrated in the church. But now it’s gone, and I feel a great sense of sadness and loss, as I know many other people will; but I also feel a great sense of gratitude for all that Saint Simon’s meant to me in my life. I will be processing this in my mind and heart for a long time to come.

Regarding the Chapter, as I mentioned in my last Log, we were very happy to welcome our Superior General, Father Joachim Rego, to stay with us for a few days before the Chapter, over which he would preside. We had great fun the night before we travelled, as we all had to take a Covid test, photograph the results, and send them to the Retreat House where the Chapter was to take place. All five of us, the General included, sat around the kitchen table, anxiously waiting for the required half-hour to expire, before we could confirm 5, hopefully negative results. One positive test and none of us could travel and, in all likelihood, without the General, the Chapter would have been postponed for a third time. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. It was good to gather with the men who came to Larne, especially as we hadn’t seen each other since before Covid, except on Zoom. The spirit was good as we entered into the task of the week, to face critical issues and make realisable plans for the next four years. I think a Chapter can be like a marathon. There comes a point when you hit a wall, usually when you have to move beyond discussions and conversations, and start making decisions and concrete proposals. We hit that on Wednesday, and then, somehow, got through the wall on Thursday morning. On Thursday afternoon we elected our Provincial, thankfully returning Father Jim Sweeney for a second term. We maintained a good tradition of electing one of our younger men as one of the Provincial’s 4 consultors and, after a bit of a neck and neck tussle with Father Gareth, Father Antony was elected, much to the relief of Father Gareth. The Chapter came to a close on Friday and we prepared to journey home, minus Father Joachim, who would fly to Vienna on Saturday, to preside at the Germany/Austria Passionist Chapter.

So, now we begin a process of discernment, as we take the pastoral priorities that came from the Chapter, and try to put together teams in the various locations of Saint Patrick’s Province, who can best realise these priorities. More and more, we realise, that we cannot do this on our own, and so we have to forge deeper relationships with people who are involved with us, and who share a love for our charism of proclaiming the Passion of Christ as the greatest and most overwhelming expression of God’s love for us. So, watch this space! Meanwhile, as ever, protect yourselves, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.

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father frank's log...

18/7/2021

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FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 11th – 18th JULY

Last Sunday night, we celebrated the final streamed Mass from the Oratory in Bishopbriggs, at least for the time being. There was a poignancy about it, as we feel we have made a real connection with those who have joined us on the streaming service for the past 16 months or so. There are a lot of memories attached to it. It was on St. Patrick’s Day 2020 that Father Laurence was taken into the Marie Curie Hospice as his long, brave battle with cancer of the oesophagus neared its end. Father Gareth, Father Antony and myself, all spent time with him that evening, but then, early on the morning of 18th March, I received a call to say that he had passed away. The following day again, 19th March, St. Joseph’s Day, all the churches were closed for the first lockdown. We decided we would need to provide a streaming service, but the Oratory in the house was far too small and not fit for purpose, so we thought it would be a fitting tribute to transform Father Laurence’s room into a temporary Oratory for the duration, never imagining that it would be required for such a long period of time.

The week before Father Laurence died, we had been visited by our General Consultor from Rome, Father Mirek, who was kindly accommodated in St. Dominic’s in Bishopbriggs. This was intended as a fraternal visit in preparation for our Provincial Chapter, scheduled for the following June, but now only taking place next week, 13 months later. With the pandemic hitting Italy hard at that time, Father Mirek was unable to return to Rome, and so, instead, he returned to his native Poland. It was round about that time too that Father Gareth went down to Wales to see his mum, and then got stranded because of lockdown restrictions. We wouldn’t see him again for another five months.

Father Antony, being young and fit, transported all the things that we would need from the church for Mass. An altar, which once belonged in the old Retreat; a lectern; altar missal; Lectionary; altar linens; vestments, and much more besides. To make space, the old Oratory became a storeroom for things from Father Laurence’s room, including his bed, and a wide assortment of equipment provided by the district nurses, and by the NHS. At first, we simply celebrated daily Mass but then, as time moved on, and restrictions continued, we began to provide a variety of other services as well, and so it went on. Father Gareth returned and, at first, he seemed to be curtailed by being such a big man celebrating in a comparatively small space, but he soon got over that and became a larger-than-life figure in peoples’ homes when it was his turn to celebrate the streamed service. Sometimes, all three of us were celebrating together, and it did seem quite cramped. When the church opened up again, albeit in a limited way, we continued the streaming for those still unable to get out to church, but now it must come to a close. As I said, our belated Chapter will now take place next week and, for three days beforehand, our Superior General wants to come and stay with us, so the Oratory must be transformed into a bedroom again. That’s the task on hand at present and, thankfully, it’s almost complete. The small Oratory is now restored to former glory; a new bed has had to be acquired, as well as new bed linen, for what will now become a visitor’s room; everything taken from the church has been returned. Father Laurence’s equipment, as well as his old medication, has been packaged for return. No sooner had we put together his personal items than his brother phoned. Now that the family are able to travel, they are keen to come and see us, and to collect those items, so we will arrange that for after the Chapter. It all feels like the end of an era, and we can only hope that there are better days to come.

All four of us in Bishopbriggs will head for the Chapter; Father Gareth and Father Justinian in one car; Father Antony and myself, together with Father Joachim (our Superior General) in the other car. The house and church will be well looked after in our absence, and we will be back before you know it, to begin a less restricted schedule in the church. Please pray for us. As always, protect yourselves, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.

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father frank's lof...

11/7/2021

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FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 4th – 11th JULY

Last Saturday, after celebrating the streamed Mass from the Oratory at Bishopbriggs, I left the house to do a bit of shopping before heading into the church for the evening Confessions. While I was in the supermarket the heavens opened and, very quickly, the roads seemed to be flooding on the journey into St. Mungo’s. Later on, it would be noted that no city’s drainage system could have coped with the sheer volume of rain that fell in such a short space of time. On arriving at the church, I immediately went to inspect areas of the old house, corridors and halls that were prone to water coming in, even after many attempts to resolve the issues by a number of my predecessors. What was new this time, however, was that water from the main connecting corridor had seeped under the door at the back of the church, creating a rather substantial puddle on the tiled floor. Before we could open for Prayer and Confessions, the two volunteers who had arrived for duty, had to get working with mops and buckets, and we had to cone off that area of the church for the evening. On Sunday morning other volunteers had to do a bit more work until eventually we could remove the cones and open the area up. I was so grateful, once again, for the selfless commitment of our volunteers.

I was thinking back to my time as parish priest in St. Gabriel’s, Prestonpans. The church is quite a modern church, and one of the first to be built in Scotland to reflect the liturgical changes after Vatican II. On certain days, when there was torrential rain, and the wind was blowing in a particular direction, water would stream down onto the sanctuary, very near to the altar. No matter how often we went up on to the roof, and no matter how hard we tried, we could never find the source of this water, and so we just had to live with it. On other days, of course, with the rain just as torrential, but with the wind blowing in a different direction, there was never a problem.

I remember, during the time I spent in Botswana in 1993/94, there were prayers being offered continuously for rain, as there had been no rain for a long time and everything seemed very dry. Botswana, of course, is home to a great stretch of the Kalahari Desert. Interestingly, the currency of Botswana is the pula, but pula literally means "rain" in Setswana, the language of Botswana, because rain is very scarce, and is therefore considered valuable and a blessing. The pula is also the national motto of Botswana. As it so happened, while I was there, and living in the Passionist Novitiate house just outside the capital of Gabarone, the rain came, and there was such joy among the people. So, whenever I am tempted to complain about the rain, I just remember that precious time, and the joy of pula!

On my way home from Botswana, I spent two weeks in Nairobi, in Kenya, to pay a visit to our Theology house there, and to catch up on a former student colleague of mine, who was the director of the theology students. I had only arrived when he was diagnosed with malaria, which confined him to barracks for most of the time I was there. So, one day I set out on my own, to walk the dusty road to Karen, named after Karen Blixen, the author of Out of Africa. Her farm and former home, now a museum, still occupied the land, and I remember sitting under a tree, enjoying a cup of tea when, once again, the heavens opened, and the rain fell in torrents. The rain fell for about an hour and then the sun came out again. I started walking back to the Theology house, which had taken me about an hour in the first instance, only to discover that the road had been largely washed away and was now quite indistinguishable. I had to follow my nose on the way back, going astray once or twice, and it was a great relief when I came to some recognisable landmarks that I knew were close to my destination.

Back in Bishopbriggs, we are getting ready for our Provincial Chapter, which we all hope to attend from 19th to 23rd July, which means that the church will be closed for those few days.
As always, protect yourselves, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.

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July 03rd, 2021

3/7/2021

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FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 27th JUNE – 4th JULY

As I write this log, on a Thursday as usual, today is the 1st of July, the 70th anniversary of my Baptism, exactly one week after my birth. I was baptized in St. Simon’s in Partick, which is on Partick Bridge Street, the same street in which at that time we lived, and where I was house-born on the 24th of June 1951. Before the liturgical reforms after Vatican II, the 1st of July was the feast of the Precious Blood, the companion feast of Corpus Christi, but now they are both combined into the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. However, given how closely the Precious Blood is connected to our Passionist charism, focussing on the Passion of Jesus as a work of infinite love, in Passionist churches we still celebrate the feast of the Precious Blood on this day. In fact, I have just come off the altar after celebrating this Mass along with Father Gareth. Father Justinian and Father Antony celebrated it at home.

I am also hoping that, as I write today, a long quest has come to an end. For some time now I have been trying to find a chiropodist to attend my brother at home. Last year it was arranged by the local health centre, but they no longer do it. They gave me the contact details for a clinic, but they no longer do it either. I have tried various numbers that either ring out, ask me to leave a message, or else promise a call back that never comes. However, at last, I have found someone to come, and she has promised to be there this morning to do the needful, for which I am grateful. As my brother is on a thinner, hopefully no precious blood of his spills.

It must be 15 years ago or more that I, myself, swallowed my foolish pride and asked our community nurse at Mount Argus in Dublin to cut my toenails. I was a bit embarrassed to ask her, but I had developed some back trouble, partly due to a fall, and partly due to a stubborn tendency to do heavy lifting around the church, when there were parishioners who would gladly have helped me with that. This meant that I found the task of cutting my toenails very difficult, and any attempt to do so left my back aching for a long time after. Thankfully, our nurse was more than willing, and from then on it became a regular appointment.

It was towards the end of the last millennium that the decision was made to get a full-time nurse for our Passionist community in Dublin. Mount Argus is our mother house and by far the biggest house in the province. The men, however, were getting older and more fragile. Our desire was to do all we could to enable our religious to live in their own community for as long as was possible, and that, only as a last resort, would we look to a nursing home. Up until then we had, from time to time, on a temporary basis, engaged a nurse for a specific member of the religious community as needed, but now was the time, we felt, to engage a nurse for all. There was some reluctance among the members initially. Some found it difficult to come to terms with their own diminishment, and some were concerned that a new nursing station would be set up within what used to be called the enclosure. There were ground-floor areas of the monastery that were open to the public, but the enclosure was always reserved as a private area for the religious only. The fact that the nurse we engaged was also a woman created particular problems for those who considered the enclosure sacrosanct. However, within a short space of time, because our nurse was such a lovely person, sensitive to the men and their needs, and amazingly good at her job, those who had protested most, soon became first in the queue on any given morning to demand her attention. She established herself very quickly as a much loved, and absolutely vital part of the life of the monastery. She retired only recently and it’s hard to imagine Mount Argus without her. Our Passionist community in Bishopbriggs is too small to have its own nurse, but we have been glad in recent times that Father Lawrence lived in the house right up to the end, which is what he wanted, and Father Justinian, at 90, is well cared for in the house too. Father Gareth and Father Antony are too young to even be thinking such thoughts, and I hope I am too, at least for a few years yet. So, as always, protect yourselves, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives

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father frank's log...

father frank's log...

father frank's lof...

July 03rd, 2021

FATHER FRANK KEEVINS C.P.

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