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28/8/2020

FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 22nd – 29th AUGUST 2020

Normally at this time of year we are in the throes of preparing for our Annual Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows. Last year was a very special Novena as it was taking place in the 150th anniversary year of St. Mungo’s Church. We invited as preachers Fr Aidan Troy CP, rector and parish priest of our Passionist Church of St. Joseph’s in Paris; Fr Paul Francis Spencer CP, parish priest of our Passionist Church of Mount Argus in Dublin, and former rector and parish priest of St. Mungo’s, and Fr James Sweeney CP; Provincial of the Passionists in Scotland, Ireland, and indeed Paris. The closing Mass of the Novena was celebrated by Archbishop Tartaglia on 15th September 2019, after which the church was closed and the refurbishment of the church began, in particular the laying of the new floor. The work was finished, to great satisfaction, just in time for the ordination of Fr Antony Connelly CP, which took place on Saturday 21st December, with his first Mass being celebrated the following day. Then came Christmas, after which we breathed a sigh of relief, and thought that was it, into the New Year everything would be back to normal – little did we know a pandemic was on the way.

So, with the period of the Novena fast approaching (it takes place from 7th – 15th September), we haven’t booked any preachers; we haven’t printed any posters; and we are still severely restricted by all the protocols demanded of churches when opening for public worship of any kind. So, what are we to do? The sensible thing would be to cancel the Novena for this year. That’s what many other churches have done in similar circumstances, but we didn’t really want to do that. When Father Gareth returned from Wales a few days ago, he, myself and Father Antony sat down and devised a modest programme that would allow an event to take place each day, both in the Church, and from the Oratory in Bishopbriggs, from where it would be streamed. Details of this are in the Newsletter on our Parish Website, but I’m going to repeat them here as not everyone may read the Newsletter.

There will be a Novena Mass in the Church on Tuesday 8th; Thursday 10th; and Tuesday 15th
September @ 10am - booking as usual. There will be an additional Mass on Friday 11th September at 1.00 p.m. which will be first come; first served – 50 people limit. On Monday 7th; Wednesday 9t; and Monday 14th September, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, there will be a Holy Hour from 3-4 p.m. The 6 p.m. Vigil on Saturday 12th September, and the
10 a.m. and 12 Noon Masses on Sunday 13th September will all be Novena Masses. Novena Masses will be streamed from the Oratory on all the usual days and times – Monday7th, Wednesday 9th, Friday 11th, Saturday 12th and Monday 14th at 12.15 p.m. and Sunday 13th at 7.00 p.m. On the two days there is no streamed Mass from the Oratory, Tuesday 8th & Thursday 10th September, there will be a Reflection with Novena Prayers at 7.00 p.m. There will be a closing streamed Mass on Tuesday 15th September, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, at 7.00 p.m. Have you got all that? We think that this is the best we can do as things are.

All of this is totally dependent on the work of our faithful band of volunteers who, since the churches first opened again for public worship, have been absolutely wonderful. and we have planned the Church Masses and Services for the Novena around the times on which they are available, so as not to place an additional burden upon them, and I want to take the opportunity here in Father Frank’s Log to say a huge word of gratitude to them. We simply could not be doing without them. Those who wish to place petitions to be prayed for during the Novena, and to make a donation if you wish, can do so online, or else take petition leaflets from the back of the church, fill them in, place them in the envelope provided, and put them in the safe collection box – they will be easily distinguishable from other contributions. We will pray for these petitions at every Novena Mass and Service, whether in the Church or in the Oratory, throughout the Novena. May there be blessings for everyone.
So, as always, protect yourselves and your loved ones, and protect Christ in your lives.

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father frank's log...

22/8/2020

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FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 15th – 22nd AUGUST 2020

I’m a day later getting to the Log this week as yesterday was taken up with a meeting of a Passionist Province Commission of which I am the coordinator. There were only five of us at the meeting, four Passionists and a facilitator, and we met in the bottom hall at St. Mungo’s. Prior to the meeting the facilitator had been in touch to seek agreement on the purpose and agenda for the meeting, but also to propose the protocols we should put in place for keeping safe, having himself consulted the most recent advice available for keeping safe at meetings. Among his proposals were: open all windows and doors to increase air ventilation and air exchange – and therefore to bring an extra layer of clothing in case it got cold (which it did); everyone bring laptops so that any documents could be shared online rather than sharing paper documents; sit two metres apart (in fact we did more than that as we created a pentagon of tables which meant we were at least 3 meters apart); everyone bring their own supply of alcohol hand gel and use it at regular intervals throughout the meeting; and bring our own drinks and lunch. This is yet another example of how complex life has become in the course of this pandemic, when even a simple meeting of just five people demands such care and preparation.

Father Antony is also on the Commission, and the facilitator lives in Milngavie. The other two Passionists travelled over separately from the North of Ireland on the ferry, one from Crossgar, and the other from Belfast. As we have no accommodation to offer, each booked into a different hotel for bed and breakfast. Hotels, of course, also have their protocols to follow. On the basis of this, one of the guys had quite a positive experience, and the other a horrendous experience. On Wednesday evening I had been invited by one of the guys, the one who had arrived earliest, to meet him for a bite to eat in an Indian restaurant near to his hotel. In years gone by, when he was based in Scotland, he had come to consider Glasgow as the best place ever for Indian cuisine. The restaurant also had all the Covid-19 protocols in place, one of which was that we had to sit alongside each other, rather than facing each other, so as to keep the two-metre distance from the table in front. The food was delicious, and we were able to have a good catch-up with each other. The waitress kept referring to us as “my darlings”, in a very loud and friendly way, and, I thought to myself, I must bring Father Gareth here some time as I could imagine her calling him darling, and him calling her sweetheart, and the whole restaurant being able to hear and enjoy the pair of them – but no hugging so as to keep safe distance.

At the beginning of the meeting, before getting down to business, we shared on how things had been for us during these past few months. One of the Passionists had contracted the virus early on, he thinks from another member of the community, but had been able to carry on his counselling ministry via Zoom. He had recognised the need to have a special shirt for these Zoom meetings as the temptation during isolation was to stray from casual into scruffy, which wouldn’t have come across as very professional. The other Passionist, the director of our retreat house, had been compelled to close doors and isolate with his community. He had found it a prayerful time, with plenty of opportunity for reading, and enjoying walks in the beautiful retreat house grounds. The facilitator was on furlough and was able to enjoy time with his wife and young daughter, feeling grateful that he could walk out of his front door and, in minutes, be on some of the lovely walking paths that are part of the West Highland Way. Father Antony and I shared our experiences too, but I think readers of this Log will have a good idea of how things have been for us during this period.

In Bishopbriggs at present, we are looking forward to Father Gareth’s return next Tuesday. As well as longing to welcome his unique, larger than life presence, to liven up our community life, it will also be good to have him available to share the pastoral load. The only drawback is that I have been using his room as an overflow to hang up washing on the clothes dryer, rather than cluttering up the sitting room, which we normally use, and also to hang up my own shirts to keep the creases out, so as to clear space in my own room, which is the smallest room in the house. I will need to ensure that all of that is removed before Father Gareth bursts in the door as if he had never been away. Father Antony and myself are still keeping things going as best we can. Father Antony is looking forward to going over to Belfast for his classmate Aidan’s ordination on 5th September. The ordination was postponed last May because of Covid-19, but even though restrictions are still in place, and it won’t be as Aidan would have wanted, it will now definitely go ahead on that date no matter what. Father Justinian is well. So, as always, protect yourselves and your loved ones, and protect Christ in your lives

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13/8/2020

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FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 8th – 15th AUGUST 2020

Last Friday night parish priests and parish coordinators received an email from the Vice-Chancellor of the Archdiocese to provide an update on Covid-!9 restrictions for acts of public worship. There was nothing particularly new in the document, but I detected a definite change of tone, a harsher tone, not from the Vice-Chancellor, but from the Government. Essentially, it was a reminder to parish priests that we would be committing a criminal offence if we did not enforce the Government guidelines with regard to face coverings; social distancing; numbers control; track and trace details; and infection control. Initially, it got me down a bit, not because I disagreed with the guidelines, but because I was imagining the consequences if something went wrong, with St. Mungo’s having to close doors, and other churches having to close doors too, because of St. Mungo’s, just as we were beginning to get going again. This is the tenuous nature of the times, and the reality we are living in. We have also come to realise how tenuous things are with regard to pubs, restaurants, and the like, and of course, football, with the exploits of the Aberdeen Eight, and Boli Bolingoli, meriting a yellow card from the First Minister, and the Sword of Damocles hanging over us, of a possible red to come.

The thought of potentially committing a criminal offence isn’t pleasant, but it didn’t bother me, as I know that we are doing our absolute best here in St. Mungo’s to get things right. In a more light hearted vein I recalled that I already have a criminal record, of sorts. When I was eight years of age I was “booked” by the police, along with my older brother and four friends, for playing football in Thurso Street in Partick, outside the old Spillers Mill. Usually we had a lookout who signalled to us when the police were in sight, and we would make a run for it, but, on this occasion, we were caught out by two plain clothes policemen. In the Glasgow gangland era I would have thought there might have been greater priorities than us, but there you are. The six of us, two Keevins’s and four Kelly’s, all from up the same close, had to appear before the Children’s Panel, and we all received a 5 shilling fine – which was a fair bit of money in those days for our parents to pay out. After our ordeal we had to return to school at St. Peter’s Primary in Partick. My brother’s teacher treated it lightly enough, but my own teacher was most displeased, especially as I was the teacher’s pet. This was mainly because I served Mass every morning before school at St. Simon’s Church in Partick Bridge Street, and I always got my R.E. questions right. On this basis, I was considered honest and trustworthy enough to be sent out each day to get her lunch. This was always the same routine. I would walk down to the local grocer’s shop on Dumbarton Road and ask for a quarter pound of red cheddar. The big block of cheese would be sitting on the counter and I would gaze in fascination as the grocer got the cheese wire and sliced through the block with consummate ease. He would then, with a flourish, throw the cheese on to the weighing scales and, almost always, it would be a quarter pound exactly. I was continually amazed at how he could always get it so spot on. He would then wrap the quarter pound of red cheddar up in greaseproof paper and put it in a brown paper bag, take the money from me, ring it up on the big till, give me the change, and I would bring it back to my teacher. Day in, day out; week in, week out, I performed this task diligently, and I can only imagine this was the reason she was so disappointed in my crime. Still, it didn’t stop her from sending me out for the red cheddar.

In reality, everything seems to be going smoothly enough, and people accept all that has to be done in a good spirit. One positive aspect of the booking system is that, when people arrive for Mass, and have to be ticked off on the check list, we are putting faces to names that we weren’t sure of before. There is a good sense of community, in that we are all in this together, making the sacrifices, looking out for each other, and the variety of face mask designs has become the topic of great conversation and fun, even though nobody actually likes wearing them. Out in Bishopbriggs there is not a lot to report, except that two of our neighbours, one diagonally to the left of us, and the other diagonally to the right, have both had their cars stolen recently, and there have been reports of other cars being stolen, usually in the wee hours of the morning, throughout the estate. The police have been at the door asking did we see or hear anything, but, with Father Gareth still away, only Father Justinian sleeps at the front of the house, while both Father Antony and myself sleep at the back of the house, where all we hear is the croaking of frogs and the chirping of birds in the woods, so, we weren’t much help. I don’t think any of our cars are worth stealing, but we are certainly being more careful about making sure that no keys, or anything of any value, is left inside them. Apart from that we are good. So, as ever, protect yourselves and your loved ones, and protect Christ in your lives.

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father frank's log...

6/8/2020

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FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 1st – 8th AUGUST 2020

Last Saturday I celebrated my first wedding since lockdown began. Other weddings had been postponed until next year, especially with hotel and reception venues cancelling, but this couple were determined that the wedding would go ahead, if at all possible. The most important thing, after all, was the marriage, not the reception. Over the weeks and months since the pandemic took hold, the couple and myself were watching for the First Minister’s announcements each Thursday, listening for a hopeful word that weddings could go ahead, even with restrictions and limitations. Eventually that word came and we knew, barring a second spike, that the wedding could proceed, albeit with a maximum of 20 people, and a raft of protocols to comply with. The paperwork proved a challenge as well. Two dioceses were involved and chancellery staff in both were working from home. The registry office was on lockdown too but re-opened just in time to allow the necessary civil requirements to be attended to. The night before the wedding there was torrential rain with thunder and lightning, but on the day itself the sun was shining, albeit with a bit of a breeze. All went well, with only 10 people in all present, including the bride and groom – well, 11 if you include myself. There was a BBQ afterwards in the family garden, after which the couple managed a few days away, glad of some peace and quiet after the tension and anxiety of the previous months, and no doubt, whenever it becomes possible, they will gather a larger group of family and friends to celebrate belatedly what was a very lovely and happy occasion.

We have reduced our streaming service a little bit from St. Mungo’s, as Father Antony and myself were finding things a bit stretched since public Masses resumed in the church. So, on the two weekdays, Tuesday and Thursday, when we have Mass in the church, we don’t have Mass streamed from the community house in Bishopbriggs, but that still leaves five days when we do have streamed Mass. We know that the main purpose of these streamed Masses is to provide a service for people who are still in isolation, for one reason or another, and who therefore cannot come out to Mass as they would like. However, we have also made a lovely connection with people in Ireland, North and South, and in a number of other countries as well, who seem to have formed a small, virtual community, of prayerful communion with each other, and we don’t want to let go of that too easily. When life gets back to some kind of normal, we will have to think carefully, and consult, on how this virtual family of faith might continue, in some fruitful way, going forward. There is a sense in which the church will have changed as a result of this pandemic, and as a consequence of how we have had to adapt and respond to the challenges that were posed. Not everything will be exactly as before, and if there are positive opportunities to emerge, we will do our best to take hold of them. We have also added an extra day to our availability for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which takes place during the times that the church is open for personal Prayer and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. This is now on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2-4 p.m., and on Saturdays from 3-5 p.m. It is heartening to see how people have responded to this, and while, as I mentioned before, there were some tears shed in the first weekend when we returned to public Masses, there have also been tears of shed by people who have felt bereft in not having this Sacrament of Healing available to them, and who can now return. If only more people could come to an appreciation of the blessings this Sacrament can bring.

At a more mundane level, the football season has resumed, and I had to rely on a parishioner to inform me that my older brother, the doyen of Scottish sports journalists, has made a return to the written word with a certain Sunday newspaper. When I checked this out online, the vitriol was already outpouring from some of the sad and mad people who think social media is a vehicle for their own particular bile. Big brother is a brave man for making himself vulnerable to that yet again – as if Super Scoreboard wasn’t enough. But he is a good writer, who uses intelligent thoughts and words, with real punctuation, almost a lost art, and I will look forward to reading his articles. On another sporting note I was amused by John Higgins’ comment that coming out at the World Snooker Championships to no audience was a bit like going to Mass. As for we Passionists, there is not a lot to report. Father Antony, having cut the hair of father Justinian and myself, has now cut his own hair, and not before time, he was beginning to look like the Cure d’Ars. The date for Father Gareth’s return has now been agreed for 25th August, all going well with his mum, and we still look forward to that.
As ever, protect yourselves and your loved ones, and protect Christ in your lives.

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father frank's log...

FATHER FRANK KEEVINS C.P.

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