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  PassionistsGlasgow

father frank's log...

24/9/2021

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FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 19th – 26tn SEPTEMBER

Shortly after the Log was published last week, our post-Chapter appointments were finalized. There is a saying that, the more things change, the more they stay the same. On this occasion, however, they are not staying the same. Father Gareth has been asked by our Provincial to join our Passionist community at Holy Cross, Belfast. He will be part of the parish team at Holy Cross, and also be part of a North Belfast project we are initiating to try and develop our Passionist mission in that part of St. Patrick’s Province. Father Gareth spent his first two years, after ordination, at Holy Cross, before being handed his first official appointment to come to St. Mungo’s. Needless to say, he was very popular in Belfast, and they were sorry to see him go. No doubt they will now be delighted to welcome him back.
 
The two of us arrived at St. Mungo’s in the early days of October 2016, never having lived, or worked together before. I remember our first Sunday here, after the morning Masses, we went for lunch to La Vita’s in Bishopbriggs, and had a good chat, trying to get to know a bit of each other’s stories. From the offset, we clicked together well, and we put our combined energies into the task we had been given, to try and revitalize the mission in St. Mungo’s. We were glad of the assistance offered by Father Lawrence, God rest him, and Father Justinian, and then we were blessed with the arrival of Brother Antony, still a student at that time, to take up a role with regard to college and university chaplaincies. By then, Father Gareth had gotten the Passionist Young Team up and running, a great achievement, and Brother Antony readily partnered with Father Gareth to form a dynamic duo. Of course, the Passionist Young Team is full of leaders and, over the years, despite a big turnover, when international students would finish their courses and return to their own countries, it has gone from strength to strength, and I have no doubt it will continue to do so. On those occasions when it was God’s will that Father Gareth spend time with his mum in her illness, we missed him terribly, but he always came back larger than life and soon picked up where he had left off, as if never away.
 
Brother Antony became Father Antony at the end of 2019, but hardly had the chrism dried on his hands when lockdown came. I won’t go into all the ins and outs, ups and downs, of that period again, but the two have been just about inseparable and now, as we inch towards a more normal situation, Father Gareth is moving on. However, they will combine to be joint directors of Passionist Vocations, Father Gareth in Ireland, and Father Antony in Scotland. If our Passionist Mission in Scotland is to continue far into the future we will need vocations, and I’m sure the dynamic duo will put great enthusiasm and energy into achieving that. I would imagine, also, that they will combine in trying to develop our ministry to, and with, young people and, I know, that sad though they are, our Young Team will be well up for that.
 
I’m delighted that Father Antony is remaining on the mission here in St. Mungo’s with me. As well as Father Justinian out at the house in Bishopbriggs, we will be joined by Father John Varghese, a Passionist from India, who is going to be with us for a minimum of three years. Father John will work mostly with me on the parish as we try and free up Father Antony for his chaplaincy and vocations work. But, no doubt, the three of us will be creative in finding energy for other projects too. It’s not easy to replace someone as much-loved as Father Gareth and, of course, there could never be another Father Gareth, like for like, he is too much of a one off for that, but we will give Father John a very warm welcome, and we can look forwarded to experiencing the unique giftedness that he will bring too. God be with us.

As always, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.

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FATHER FRANK'S LOG...

16/9/2021

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FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 12th – 19th SEPTEMBER
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Today is the morning after the close of the Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows. It was a very blessed time for all of us and we are so glad we decided to have it this year, after only being able to do it online last year. The Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows has been running for more than 50 years in St. Mungo’s. It was begun by the then rector, Father Pancras Fanning, who presented it as a short 10-minuite reflection after the evening Mass for the nine nights up to, and including the Feast. Over the years it developed into the format we have now. There is at least one person in the parish who was present when the Novena began, and has been present at every novena ever since. We hope and pray that this tradition will continue for many years to come, which I am sure it will, so long as there are Passionists to serve in St. Mungo’s, and that is something we need to constantly pray about, as our average age increases, and our number of active religious decreases, in these difficult times. We need Passionist vocations.
 
That, of course, is why our Provincial and his Council have such a difficult task in making appointments after the Chapter, which is what they are in the process of doing right now. They are in the final two days of meetings and, by this weekend they would hope to have completed their task. In St. Patrick’s Province we have our mother house at Mount Argus in Dublin; a rural monastery in Enniskillen; a parish in Belfast; a retreat house in County Down; a parish in Paris, and of course, a parish in Glasgow. When I say parish, as we are a religious order, our ministries do not confine themselves solely to parish work, and there will be a number of religious in those locations who are engaged in other ministries too. All of those places need to have leadership – rectors; vicars, bursars, parish priests, assistant priests and so on. There will also need to be people appointed as vocations directors, novice masters, and student directors – what we call the work of Formation. We also have various chaplaincies to look after – a hospice in Dublin; the Gardi (Irish police); as well as colleges and universities. We are engaged in media work; counselling; preaching missions and retreats; and spiritual direction. We manage two pastoral centres. We try to look after our frail and elderly men in their own communities for as long as is feasibly possible. On top of that, the Provincial and his Council will be looking to set up a number of task forces to assist the areas of mission that were prioritised at the Chapter. And, even all that, does not exhaust the list. Inevitably, in these times, anyone who is active will end up wearing a number of hats and have to engage in a variety of ministries and, with regard to any thoughts of retirement, most of us will die with our boots on, and are willing to do so. However, one area of priority is to engage more and more with those laity who are involved with us in our charism and mission, and to find ways in which we can work together to keep doing what we have been put in the church to do, which is to promote the memory of Christ’s Passion as the greatest and most overwhelming expression of God’s love for us. By the time of the next Father Frank’s Log, all of the main appointments, and how they affect St. Mungo’s, will be known – so, watch this space!
 
Today, the day after the Novena, is also the Feast of St. Ninian. An occasion like a Novena heightens our appreciation of the faith that we have received from those who handed it on to us, and St. Ninian was among the first, if not the first, to do that. He arrived at the Mull of Galloway, towards the end of the 4th century, possibly with 12 monks gifted to him by St. Martin of Tours, whom he visited in France on his way to Scotland from Rome. Together, they achieved so much with so few, and that, today, gives me hope. I have twice visited the cave where he found space for prayer and contemplation away from distractions – beautiful!
As always, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.

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father frank's log...

11/9/2021

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FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 5th – 12th SEPTEMBER
​

As I write this week, our Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows is well under way. It has been good to see old, familiar faces, devotees of this Novena over many years, returning to our church, after only being able to celebrate it online last year. I was thinking back to the Novena in 2016 when, at the closing Mass, which I attended because I was at home on vacation, Father Jim Sweeney, the Provincial of the Passionists in Scotland and Ireland, introduced me as the new rector and parish priest of St. Mungo’s. That seems so long ago now but, here we are, in post-Chapter mode once again. The Provincial and his council are at present considering new appointments and I wonder if, at the close of this year’s Novena, next Wednesday, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, we will be announcing any changes to the present Passionist team.
 
Change is part of the life of a religious. Since I joined the Passionists in 1975 I have moved communities 15 times, sometimes it was back to places I had been before, only this time to take up a different role; but most times it was to new places where I had never lived before. There is a belief that moving home is one of the most stressful things a person can experience and often that was what I felt, but, after a time, you settle in and put down new roots, even if knowing that, in time, you may be pulling them up again.  Some changes have certainly been more difficult than others, but always, they have been challenging and grace-filled.
 
In the earlier years of our Passionist Congregation, the religious were permitted to have very little in their cells – as their rooms were then called. And even within the monastery itself, men would be asked to move cells from time to time. This was so as to encourage a spirit of detachment. For example, in the old monastery at Mount Argus in Dublin, the cell of Father Charles was turned into a little museum after his cause for canonization was introduced. But this was only the cell that he happened to be living in when he died. Throughout his many years in Mount Argus, he had lived in different cells. I imagine it must have been much easier for the religious to move, not just from cell to cell, but from monastery to monastery, when they had so little in the way of goods to bring with them. Times have changed, of course, and we are permitted to have more than we used to have. Like many people, depending on varied personality types, there can be a tendency to accumulate stuff, and that can make the process of moving even more stressful. To bring or not to bring, that is the question?
 
For me, books have always been the problem. I have never accumulated much of anything else, except perhaps documents connected with various roles I’ve held, but I have never been one for accumulating clothes, shoes, or nick-nacks. However, as a voracious reader of just about anything and everything, deciding what books to bring and what to leave behind has always been painful. The best thing about having had to move 15 times over the years is that this cull has been periodic. If I had never moved I might, by this stage, have been unable to navigate my cell for books, as indeed is the case in my brother’s house. Also a voracious reader, he has books piled high in just about every room where, remarkably, he seems to know exactly where each one is and, if I were ever to move one when I’m in tidy-up mode, he won’t be long in noticing, and asking me where I put it. One of the small pleasures of his enforced retirement, due to ill-health, is that he is returning to read books that he first enjoyed many years ago, and finding the pleasure in them once again. When I moved from Dublin 5 years ago, I brought just enough books to fit in the bookshelves that were already in the room, and, with the help of my Kindle, I have managed to restrict the number of books to the space available – so, I am ready to move for the 16th time, if necessary. Although, my guess is, that I won’t be asked to move this time around, and, at aged 90, I doubt if Father Justinian will be asked to move. That leaves the dynamic duo, Father Gareth and Father Antony. It would be so sad to lose either of them, but we will need to wait and see. Watch this space!
So, as ever, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.

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father frank's log...

4/9/2021

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FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 29th AUGUST – 5th SEPTEMBER
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I’ve been drawn into two crime dramas on television at the moment, both set in Scotland. The first is called Annika, on Alibi, starring the magnificent Nicola Walker, who stars as a Marine Homicide Detective, investigating murders along the River Clyde, the Firth of Clyde, and so far, even on the Isle of Bute and on Loch Katrine. The other drama is Vigil, on BBC One, which has a fantastic cast, including Suranne Jones and Martin Compston, centring around the disappearance of a fishing trawler, and a murder on board a nuclear submarine. The naval base is obviously meant to be Faslane, and there are scenes shot around Largs as well. In both series there have been some wonderful shots of Glasgow along the Clyde, and of the Cowal Peninsula. As always, this sparked off a distant memory for me, from my days playing double bass in a folk group, touring around various clubs, mostly in the West of Scotland.
 
In the early 1970’s, a new folk club opened in Dunoon, part of the Cowal Peninsula, back in the days when there were American sailors based on Dunoon, connected to the Royal Navy submarine base on Holy Loch. The group I played with were invited to be part of the opening night, along with some other fine acts. It was a weeknight, and I was working with Olivetti at the time, but I managed to get away from work early to get ready. Living up the same close as me in Drumchapel, was a West Indian gentleman, one of the nicest, kindest people you could ever wish to meet. He had a van, and he often drove our group to various venues, and picked us up again, for nothing more than petrol money. He was very fatherly towards us. On this occasion he drove us to the ferry port at Gourock, where we had to offload everything and hump it on to the ferry and make our way to the folk club on the other side by foot, thankfully not too far from where we would disembark. The plan was that he would meet us off the last ferry to Gourock at the end of the night, and bring us home again to Drumchapel.
 
The night went well but, at the end of the night, it transpired that someone had run off with the takings, and all these acts, including ourselves, were waiting to be paid. Not that we were being paid much, but it was the principle of the thing, and we still had to pay my friend, the van driver. By the time the hullabaloo was over, with none of us yet paid, and little chance of it happening, we discovered that we had also missed the last ferry. There were no mobile phones in those days, so we had to find a red phone box to call our families, and also to call the wife of the van driver, to apologise and explain as, by this time, her husband would be on his way back to the Drum, minus his passengers, and wondering what had happened to us. We slept on benches overlooking the Firth of Clyde, cold and uncomfortable, more than once being questioned by American sailors who thought we might be up to no good. The next morning, I had to phone my boss in Olivetti and explain why I wouldn’t be in that morning. He took it in good part, being very sympathetic, but also having a good laugh at our expense. Very kindly, our roadie came back out in his van and brought us home again, chastened by the experience. We never went back to that folk club again. The mad things we do for our art! I’m looking forward to the unfolding of these two dramas over the next few weeks.
 
Meanwhile, we are getting ready for our annual Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows. The last time we held the novena in the church was in 2019, when we had a special jubilee novena to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the church. We had some special speakers and on the last night Archbishop Tartaglia celebrated the closing Mass. Immediately after that novena the church was closed for three months for refurbishment. When the church was re-opened, the archbishop was there again, as one of the first events was the ordination of Father Antony. Then came Covid-19 and lockdown. The 2020 novena was celebrated online. In that period, Father Lawrence, and also Archbishop Tartaglia passed away. Our feeling this year was, that while we will still be restricted, and it will be very low key, it will be good to gather to pray.
So, as ever, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.

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    FATHER FRANK KEEVINS C.P.

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