FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 8th – 15th JUNE 2025
Last weekend we had a very pleasant visit from Archbishop Nolan to St Mungo’s Parish and to the Passionist Community. Since his installation in February 2022, the archbishop, whenever he has had a free weekend, has been making his way round all the parishes in the archdiocese for a fraternal visit. He began with the more outlying parishes, and has gradually made his way in towards the more central parishes, which is why it has taken three years for him to visit St Mungo’s, which is considered to be a city centre parish, certainly as far as car parking charges go. Having said that, St Roch’s was visited out of sequence around October 2023 as my predecessor there as parish priest, Father Thaddeus, had asked the archbishop to come and speak to the people about his impending return to Nigeria, having been recalled by his bishop, and about the proposal that the Passionists take on the pastoral care of St Roch’s.
As mentioned, the visit was a fraternal, and mostly informal one. Archbishop Nolan celebrated and preached at all our weekend Masses, greeting people outside the church before and after each Mass, and joining the people who came in for tea and coffee after the midday Mass on Sunday. After the Saturday Vigil, he came out to stay the night with the Passionist Community at Bishopbriggs, enjoying a simple supper, and then kindly agreeing to watch the Champions League Final with us, even though he has little interest in football. It’s a pity the match turned out to be so one-sided. After lunch on Sunday, he led a slightly more formal meeting with the community, engaging in topics such as synodality, evangelisation, and the upcoming Passionist Provincial Chapter. After the 7pm Sunday night Mass, Archbishop Nolan returned home to St Pat’s in Anderston. We enjoyed his visit, and I hope he did too.
In the course of conversation during lunch on Sunday, the archbishop mentioned the names of a few priests in the archdiocese whom I was able to tell him were students at the Scots College in Rome during the time I did my diaconate year at the Gregorian University, while staying at the Passionist Retreat of Saints John & Paul near the Colosseum. This was in 1982-83. As it turned out, Archbishop Nolan had made his ordination retreat in Saints John & Paul back in 1977, just before he was ordained a priest for his home diocese of Motherwell. The Scots students in my time were also studying at the Gregorian University, distinctive by their purple cassocks, and I became friendly with a number of them. On many a Sunday I would be invited out to the Scots College for lunch - mince & tatties making a nice change from pasta. After lunch there would often be a viewing of some Celtic videos that had been sent to some of them by family or friends. My abiding memory, though, was on Tuesday, 25th January, 1983. That day was the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul the Apostle, and on that day in 1983, the church’s new Code of Canon Law was being promulgated in the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls, to replace the previous code of 1917. However, for Scots, January 25th is also Burns Night. And so, while the new code was being promulgated, I was out at the Scots College, enjoying a wonderfully traditional celebration of Burns Night, with the haggis being piped in and addressed, followed by poetry and song from some very talented seminarians; and haggis, neeps and tatties to our heart’s content. It’s a night I will always remember, and while I didn’t really keep contact with any of the guys over the years, I really valued their friendship at the time, and have met a few of them since my return to Glasgow in 2016. The memory is still fresh, and it’s hard to believe that we have all either reached, or are fast approaching, retirement age in the archdiocese, which is 75. Being a Passionist religious, I’m not sure whether that retirement age will apply to me when I reach 75 in just over a year’s time, or whether I will be soldiering on for as long as I am able. It’s all in God’s hands.
As ever, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.
Last weekend we had a very pleasant visit from Archbishop Nolan to St Mungo’s Parish and to the Passionist Community. Since his installation in February 2022, the archbishop, whenever he has had a free weekend, has been making his way round all the parishes in the archdiocese for a fraternal visit. He began with the more outlying parishes, and has gradually made his way in towards the more central parishes, which is why it has taken three years for him to visit St Mungo’s, which is considered to be a city centre parish, certainly as far as car parking charges go. Having said that, St Roch’s was visited out of sequence around October 2023 as my predecessor there as parish priest, Father Thaddeus, had asked the archbishop to come and speak to the people about his impending return to Nigeria, having been recalled by his bishop, and about the proposal that the Passionists take on the pastoral care of St Roch’s.
As mentioned, the visit was a fraternal, and mostly informal one. Archbishop Nolan celebrated and preached at all our weekend Masses, greeting people outside the church before and after each Mass, and joining the people who came in for tea and coffee after the midday Mass on Sunday. After the Saturday Vigil, he came out to stay the night with the Passionist Community at Bishopbriggs, enjoying a simple supper, and then kindly agreeing to watch the Champions League Final with us, even though he has little interest in football. It’s a pity the match turned out to be so one-sided. After lunch on Sunday, he led a slightly more formal meeting with the community, engaging in topics such as synodality, evangelisation, and the upcoming Passionist Provincial Chapter. After the 7pm Sunday night Mass, Archbishop Nolan returned home to St Pat’s in Anderston. We enjoyed his visit, and I hope he did too.
In the course of conversation during lunch on Sunday, the archbishop mentioned the names of a few priests in the archdiocese whom I was able to tell him were students at the Scots College in Rome during the time I did my diaconate year at the Gregorian University, while staying at the Passionist Retreat of Saints John & Paul near the Colosseum. This was in 1982-83. As it turned out, Archbishop Nolan had made his ordination retreat in Saints John & Paul back in 1977, just before he was ordained a priest for his home diocese of Motherwell. The Scots students in my time were also studying at the Gregorian University, distinctive by their purple cassocks, and I became friendly with a number of them. On many a Sunday I would be invited out to the Scots College for lunch - mince & tatties making a nice change from pasta. After lunch there would often be a viewing of some Celtic videos that had been sent to some of them by family or friends. My abiding memory, though, was on Tuesday, 25th January, 1983. That day was the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul the Apostle, and on that day in 1983, the church’s new Code of Canon Law was being promulgated in the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls, to replace the previous code of 1917. However, for Scots, January 25th is also Burns Night. And so, while the new code was being promulgated, I was out at the Scots College, enjoying a wonderfully traditional celebration of Burns Night, with the haggis being piped in and addressed, followed by poetry and song from some very talented seminarians; and haggis, neeps and tatties to our heart’s content. It’s a night I will always remember, and while I didn’t really keep contact with any of the guys over the years, I really valued their friendship at the time, and have met a few of them since my return to Glasgow in 2016. The memory is still fresh, and it’s hard to believe that we have all either reached, or are fast approaching, retirement age in the archdiocese, which is 75. Being a Passionist religious, I’m not sure whether that retirement age will apply to me when I reach 75 in just over a year’s time, or whether I will be soldiering on for as long as I am able. It’s all in God’s hands.
As ever, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.
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