Blog Archives

father frank's log...

31/10/2025

FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 2nd – 9th NOVEMBER 2025

This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints, and it prompted a particular memory. For 10 years I was secretary to the North European Conference of Passionists. At that time members of the Conference were Ireland/Scotland; England/Wales; the Netherlands; Belgium; Germany; France and Poland. There was an annual meeting of the leaders of the provinces that usually lasted 3 or 4 days. The meetings moved around various locations and, especially with language differences, the meetings were quite intense. And so, by way of a break, half a day was set aside for some cultural experience arranged by the host province.

Some of the experiences that I especially remember were, for example, when we held the meeting in Munich and had an afternoon at the Oktoberfest (Munich Beer Festival) This was around the time they introduced the “Quiet Oktoberfest” which, up until 6pm at least, maintained the beer tents family and elderly friendly, and now Passionist friendly, with the orchestras in the tents playing only quiet brass music and traditional folk tunes, so we weren’t going too wild. From another meeting held in Bordeaux we visited a local vineyard. After the tour we were seated around a garden and given two small glasses of wine, one of them a very expensive wine, and the other a very modestly priced wine. We weren’t told which was which and we were asked to discuss which of them we preferred. To a man we preferred the cheap wine, so perhaps our taste buds were more suited to German beer.

Lest you think all our cultural experiences were alcohol related, in Belgium we went to Leuven to visit the shrine of the leper priest, Father Damien, who was voted the greatest ever Belgian in a poll conducted by the Flemish Public Broadcasting Service for his work as the resident priest in a leper colony on Molokai Island, eventually submitting to the same, then incurable disease. At a meeting in the Netherlands, we visited the Shrine of Father Charles of Mount Argus at Munstergeleen, the place of his birth, and then on to Maastricht, where the Treaty on European Union was signed in 1992. At a meeting in Minsteracres, our Passionist Retreat Centre in Northumberland, we visited Hadrian’s Wall, built by Roman Britain to keep the Scots out. I was happy to be living proof that it didn’t work.

But the foremost memory that was prompted this week was when we had a meeting in Warsaw which took place at the end of October, beginning of November. On All Saints' Day the cemeteries and graveyards in Poland are decorated with candles, flowers and wreaths throughout the day, and the candles are left to burn through the night. And so, for our cultural experience, the Polish Passionists provided us with votive lamps and brought us to Powazki cemetery, the primary cemetery in Warsaw, where we placed the lamps on the graves of deceased Passionists. It was dark by this time and the effect of all these lamps burning throughout this huge cemetery was incredibly solemn and beautiful. Afterwards, in the church of St. Charles Borromeo, within the cemetery, we attended a concert of sombre music to fit the occasion. It was a cultural experience with a difference, but one I will never forget.

In the old Catholic ritual this commendation was said over a dying person by the priest: "Go forth, Christian soul, from this world in the name of God the almighty Father, who created you, in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God who suffered for you, in the name of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out upon you. Go forth, faithful Christian. May you live in peace this day, may your home be with God, with Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, with Saint Joseph, and all the angels and saints. Amen"

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

0 Comments

father frank's log...

23/10/2025

0 Comments

FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 26th OCTOBER – 2nd NOVEMBER 2025

Brother Conor had an unexpected opportunity to go to Rome this week. One of our English Passionists was taking a group on pilgrimage, not as pilgrims of hope to do the holy doors in this jubilee year of hope, as most pilgrims to Rome would be doing, but as pilgrims to those places in Rome connected to the founder of the Passionists, St Paul of the Cross. The opportunity for Brother Conor arose because another Passionist who was to assist on the pilgrimage had to pull out and Brother Conor was asked if he could take his place, which he was very happy to do. It is a particularly appropriate time to make this pilgrimage as we have just celebrated the 250th anniversary of the death of St Paul of the Cross. He died on 18th October 1775. I have recently been recalling in this log, my own entry into the Passionists 50 years ago, just a couple of weeks before the 200th anniversary of the founder’s death, and so, at the very beginning of my Passionist journey, I was able to participate in a number of events that helped to steep me in the life and death of this great saint.

I don’t know what Brother Conor’s itinerary will be, but from my own time studying in Rome back in 1982/83, I was imagining the places he would be likely to visit. The first would probably be the Quirinal Palace. At the infant stages of the founding of the congregation, St Paul of the Cross decided to travel to Rome to get permission from the pope to gather companions. He was very young and naïve at the time. On the journey his ship was quarantined for a few days at the port of Civitavecchia, north of Rome. From there Paul could see a mountainside rising up out of the sea at a place called Monte Argentario, and he resolved to found his first Passionist monastery there, which he did a number of years later. Resuming the journey to Rome he went to the Quirinal Palace where the pope resided at the time, but he had made no appointment. The Swiss Guard took him for a beggar and threw him out. He was a bit despondent but, from the piazza outside the palace, he could look down the hill and see the dome of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. He headed down to the basilica and prayed in a side-chapel there before a beautiful icon of Our Lady. This same side-chapel would become famous in recent times as a place where the late Pope Francis went often to pray, and indeed he is buried very close to that same icon. This was a significant moment as, until then, Paul had been going to call his new congregation The Poor of Jesus, but as he prayed there that day, he was inspired by Our Lady to call us The Passionists and to focus the charism on keeping alive the memory of Christ’s Passion as a work of infinite love. No doubt, Brother Conor will visit there too.

Another site he may visit is a church on the Coelian Hill popularly known as the Navicella because of the boat-shaped fountain outside. Hearing that the pope was going to be visiting that church, Paul went there to meet him, and at last received permission to gather companions. The congregation took off from there. Paul gathered companions; travelled extensively; opened a number of monasteries (or Retreats as he called them); preached many missions, especially in the poorest of places – the Passion of Christ is written on the foreheads of the poor, he said – taught people of all kinds a simple method of meditating on the Passion; wrote hundreds, if not thousands of letters giving spiritual guidance, and much more besides. His last mission, when he was very frail, was at the beautiful Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere on the banks of the Tiber. Both the church and the piazza were packed with people wanting to hear the final sermon of this renowned preacher of the Passion - another venue for Brother Conor, I’m sure. Paul ended his days in the Retreat of Saints John & Paul in the heart of Rome, now the mother house of the Passionists throughout the world, and where Brother Conor will in fact be staying. For the last couple of years, Paul was bedridden and confined to a small room on the ground floor. In that room there is an alcove with an altar. He would be helped to that altar each day to celebrate Mass. When I was living there during my diaconate year, I had the great privilege of going to that room frequently to practice celebrating Mass, something that moved me very deeply. Paul died in that room with some of the brethren gathered around his bed. In his final hours a cross was held before him and the Gospel of the Passion was read to him. In his final words he said that if he had to do it all again, he would preach only one thing, and that would be the mercy of God, the mercy that flows from the Sacred Passion, and from the Cross of Christ, that greatest and most overwhelming expression of God’s love for us. If we really believe that, we are truly blessed.

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

0 Comments

Father Frank's Log...

16/10/2025

0 Comments

FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 19th – 26th OCTOBER 2025

Father Gareth is now officially the parish priest of St Mungo’s and St Roch’s. At the end of last week, the formal letter of approval arrived from Archbishop Nolan. We all wish Father Gareth congratulations on his appointment, and every blessing on the work that lies ahead. I have no doubt that he will make a great job of it in his own unique way. Earlier this week Father Tom Scanlon arrived to take up his position as rector of the Passionist Community in Glasgow. Until recently he has been the rector of our Passionist Retreat Centre at Crossgar in County Down, as well as master of novices and student director, as Crossgar was also our formation house for St Patrick’s Province. Prior to that he had been rector and parish priest at our house in Paris, so he is a very experienced man who is looking forward to this new challenge in Scotland. Of course, he also has experience of working in Scotland, many years ago, at the Passionist Retreat House at Coodham in Ayrshire. We welcome Father Tom back to Bonnie Scotland, and we wish him also every blessing in this time of significant change for our province. For the moment there will be just the three of us in the house, with Brother Conor scheduled to return to Belfast soon, but there may still be further developments going forward as the Provincial and his Council, of which Father Gareth and Father Tom are both members, continue to meet and plan in these challenging times, so watch this space.

It's a strange feeling for me, at present, not to have any specific area of responsibility. From my ordination in 1983, after which I was appointed vocations director for Scotland, and as a member of a Passionist itinerant mission team, I have always had a defined role, and indeed, usually a number of defined roles at one time. My role now, from a background position, is to support Father Gareth and Father Tom in whatever way I can, and to help see through to its conclusion, the move from Bishopbriggs to our new house in Provanmill. But primarily my task is to try and get my health sorted out, and then to take a break, including some kind of sabbatical. This was the kind intention of our provincial and his council when he relieved me of responsibilities an invited me to take a step back. I haven’t come up with any plan for a sabbatical yet, although I have researched a few things, but in God’s good time, it will sort itself out. I don’t want anything too strenuous or intense, and I have no great desire to go very far afield to do it, but somewhere out there, the right opportunity will emerge for rest and renewal. I am looking forward to it.

On the day that Father Tom arrived, I had some blood tests taken at the phlebotomy department in Stobhill Hospital and am now awaiting results. Later on in the month I will return to the urologist to assess how things are going with new medication. Afterwards, on that same day, I went into town to meet a long-time friend of mine who had very kindly travelled over from Dublin for the day to see for himself how I was, and to have a nice meal together and a catch up. This particular friend had been one of the classmates I joined up with on that day, 50 years ago, when I first joined the Passionists and, despite a 6-year age difference (I’m the old man of course) we have been good friends ever since. Later on, he would discern that his vocation lay elsewhere and he would leave the Passionists, but not before becoming a very brilliant scripture scholar, studying at the Biblicum in Rome, and in Jerusalem. He then carved out a very successful career for himself in the fertile field of sacred scripture, initially in the teaching profession, but then, and now, as a very popular, and in-demand lecturer at various courses, in person and online, as well as being a retreat giver, pilgrimage director, and many other things besides. He has a lovely wife and three grown-up children, twin boys and a girl. I am godfather to one of the boys. All of that doesn’t even begin to do justice to all he has achieved, but with great humility and modesty. It is a blessing to be his friend, and we enjoyed our day together.

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

0 Comments

father frank's log...

9/10/2025

0 Comments

FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 12th – 19th OCTOBER 2025

Last weekend, because of the works going on in the church, we had limited lighting for the Masses. This was especially challenging at the Vigil Mass at 6pm on Saturday, and even more so at the Sunday night 7pm Mass. For the Sunday night Mass, we put extra candles in and around the sanctuary area and, while it wasn’t ideal, still and all it created a nice, subdued, prayerful atmosphere. It reminded me of the times I have been blessed enough to go to Taize, the ecumenical pilgrimage centre at Burgundy in France, founded by Brother Roger Schutz during the 2nd World War with its focus on prayer, peace, and the unity of Christians. The beautiful prayer services in Taize, marked by chants, scripture, reflection and silence, typically take place with subdued lighting and many candles lit around the place.

My first trip to Taize was shortly after ordination when myself and Father Paul Francis accompanied a group of young people from St Mungo’s to make a week’s retreat there. The travel was tough, but it was a special trip with wonderful memories, and some of those young people still come to St Mungo’s, although they are not quite so young now, as this was forty years ago. My second pilgrimage was about 5 years later, when I took a group of our Passionist students from Mount Argus to also make a week’s retreat in Taize. Again, it was a very memorable trip. One of the things I will best remember from both occasions was how, after Compline, the night prayer of the church, Brother Roger would invite some of us up to a room where the brothers of Taize would provide us with hot chocolate and Brother Roger would speak a few inspiring words to us. I knew I was in the presence of real holiness.

My third visit to Taize was only as a day pilgrim, again accompanied by Father Paul Francis. He was based in Paris at the time, and I was based in Prestonpans. The only thing those two places have in common is that they both start with a P – P for Passionists, maybe. We had planned a driving holiday together, although the driving would be all down to me as Father Paul Francis didn’t drive at that time. I made my way to Paris from the Pans and we took the community car, a rather nice Renault 12. We drove down through France to Burgundy, where we visited a couple of vineyards, and some old Cistercian monasteries, staying mostly in farmhouse B&Bs along the way. As part of the trip, we went to Taize as day pilgrims, bringing back memories of the trip with the young people from St Mungo’s some 15 years or so previously. From there we drove through Switzerland and over the St Bernard Pass into Italy, meeting up with a fellow Italian Passionist in Turin, and staying a few days in a Passionist Monastery in the hills above Turin, before heading back to Paris by another route, this time over Mont Blanc, and taking in places like Ars (famous for the Cure of Ars), Annecy, where St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal lived and ministered, and Paray-le-Monial, the famous centre for devotion to the Sacred Heart, along the way.

My final visit was in August 2007. Brother Roger of Taize had been tragically stabbed to death during an evening prayer service in Taizé two years earlier, on August 16, 2005, by a young Romanian woman who was later deemed mentally ill. It was a sad and violent end for such a man of peace. I had it in my mind that I wanted to go back and say a prayer at his grave, and this was the first opportunity I had. Taize had changed in the intervening years with Eastern Europe opening up, and so there were pilgrims, and members of the community, from much further afield. This was reflected also in new chants. It was still very beautiful. As befitting for Brother Roger, it was a really simple grave in the local parish churchyard, with just one small garland of flowers placed on top of it, his name inscribed on a simple wooden cross. In these days, when we are praying for peace in the world, and especially in the Holy Land, Gaza and Israel, one of the people whose intercession I will seek is Brother Roger.

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

0 Comments

father frank's log...

3/10/2025

0 Comments

FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 5th – 12th OCTOBER 2025

Last weekend we had two simple celebrations, one in St Roch’s and one in St Mungo’s, to allow people to say their farewells to Father John, whose departure was imminent, and Brother Conor, who will be leaving us before the month of October is out. I am very grateful to those who organised and attended these little celebrations. On Monday night the four of us, Father John, Brother Conor, Father Gareth and myself, went out for a meal together in a local restaurant in Bishopbriggs, to say our own farewells. Around 5.30am on Thursday, Brother Conor drove Father John to some friends of the Passionists who were going to bring John, and the remainder of his luggage, to our Passionist Retreat Centre at Crossgar in County Down, his new place of residence. The bulk of his luggage had already been shipped over. We wish Father John well in whatever lies ahead, and we thank him for his ministry here in St Mungo’s. We all received a text on Thursday afternoon to say he had arrived safely.

I couldn’t help but recall that, from entering the Passionists in 1975, until I left St Gabriel’s in Prestonpans, to go to Mount Argus in Dublin, in 2001, I had actually moved 13 times. An average of once every two years. One of the things that taught me was to try not to accumulate too much stuff so that, when asked to move again, I could travel reasonably lightly. The main issue was always books. Since 2001 I have only had to move once, and that was from Mount Argus to St Mungo’s in 2016. Now there will be the move from Bishopbriggs to Provanmill, whenever that may happen – the work is scheduled to begin on our new house, the former convent of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, this Monday, 6th October and, please God, be finished by the middle of December. So, by the looks of it, we may wait until after Christmas and move in early January.
The essential works required in St Mungo’s, extensive electrical work to church and halls, and the removal of two old boilers, followed by the installation of two new boilers, began this past week. It has meant a bit of disruption to services but it is good to see it underway, and it will be even better to see it all finished and, especially, to have heat restored in the church. But that’s probably a few weeks away yet. I am so grateful, not just for people’s generosity in providing the funds, but also for people’s patience in the midst of the disruption, and in bearing with the cold with little complaint.

When I joined the Passionists, having previously trained as an accountant, I thought, and hoped, that I was leaving that heady world of finance behind me, but then I ended up assuming a number of bursaring roles in the congregation. But at least I had half a clue as to what I was being asked to do, even though my accounting experience went back to the days when there weren’t even any computers. The last thing I expected to be drawn into was building projects, about which I had completely no clue, and no experience, miles out of my comfort zone. Before joining the Passionists I had only ever lived in tenements in Partick and Drumchapel. However, when I went to Mount Argus as rector in 2001, I found myself having to oversee the journey towards moving out of the old monastery of St Paul of the Cross, where the Passionist had resided for over 150 years, and into a new custom-built monastery within the same grounds. It was a very painful but very necessary transition. The move eventually happened in 2009. I said to myself, never again will I get involved in any building project of any kind. Then, after coming to St Mungo’s in 2016, we undertook the task of putting the new floor into the church in 2019, the 150th anniversary of the dedication of the church. After that I said, definitely never again, but here I am in the midst of all sorts of building stuff. When it’s all over I will be saying once more, with all the passion I can muster, definitely, definitely, never, ever, ever again. I ask your prayers that it will all work out well and that my stress levels will soon return to normal.

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

0 Comments

father frank's log...

father frank's log...

Father Frank's Log...

father frank's log...

father frank's log...

FATHER FRANK KEEVINS C.P.

Archives

Categories