MASS OF THANKSGIVING FOR SCOTLAND’S NATIONAL SEMINARY

SCOTUS COLLEGE, BEARSDEN

SUNDAY 24 MAY

ALLOW me to emphasise some sentences in today’s Scripture readings.

“Lord, you can read everyone’s heart; show us therefore which of these (two) you have chosen to take over this ministry and apostolate...

“We must choose someone who has been with us the whole time that the Lord was travelling around with us - and he can act with us as a witness to his resurrection.” (Acts)

“... The world hated them because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world. I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the evil one... Consecrate them in the truth...

“As you, Father, sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world and for their sake I consecrate myself.” (John)

These sentences seem particularly apt for our reflection as we celebrate this Mass, the intentions of which are somewhat ambiguous.

We are closing a seminary. Should we be thanking God or asking forgiveness?

Are we bringing to an end efforts stretching over three centuries to provide in Scotland an education and formation of young men to serve the Scottish mission?

Have we tried hard enough to identify, encourage and choose candidates? Does our sending candidates abroad enhance or weaken our systems?

We speak of “consolidating resources”, be they in terms of personnel or finance. By taking advantage of opportunities elsewhere, are we limiting them here?

I don’t think we can avoid such questions, though our answers may well challenge some assumptions or easy criticisms.

Certainly, what we have done at this stage – swift though the decision may seem to have been – has been done conscientiously and after a longer period of consideration than may be thought by those not party to our thinking.

As preacher, I am not going to present the arguments or justify the decision, but simply place before the Lord, and you who have come to join us, the thoughts of our hearts and give thanks not only for 16 years of this college, but all that has gone before it.

We thank the Lord for Scalan and the West Highland seminaries of the 18th century; for Aquhorties and Blairs of the 19th - with Langbank and Blairs still later. For St Peter’s Bearsden, for Cardross and Darleith, for Newlands, for Drygrange, Chesters, Gillis and Blessed John Duns Scotus of the 20th century.

So many? Yes - and all with raised hopes and new promises.

But they fulfilled their missions for their times. A mission which, like a stream, continued to find new courses, and by their banks - in the images of the psalmist - sturdy trees put down their roots and, drawing from their waters, produced fruit in due season. They are not the willows of which the faint-hearted hang their harps remembering Sion!

The wellsprings of this river, like all our Scottish streams are in the highlands and lochs of our lovely land. Their remote locations and hidden places reflected the times.

What do our Scripture readings of today say: “The world hated them because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world.”

I can smell the sweet scent of the burning heather thatch of the seminary by the Crombie burn in upper Banffshire - burnt more than once by the Redcoats. I can see the straining eyes of those on the lookout from the island of Lismore as they search the waters of the loch for the huntsmen of the Crown.

“I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the evil one.”

I sense the joy of the faithful band of staff and students who, having found 30 years’ protection and relative comfort on the estate of the Leslie’s of Balquhairn, now make their way by canal barge from Inverurie to Aberdeen, to the lands and manor house of John Menzies of Pitfoddels.

“As you, Father, sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world...”

I share the frisson of satisfaction felt by Priest Gordon that, after 250 years of ostracism, the Catholic Church can build a seminary which all can see on lands which once belonged to the Knights Templar, on the southern banks of the Dee.

It is the same satisfaction felt by the immigrant community of the West of Scotland as the new Archbishop, the first of the restored hierarchy, Charles Eyre, builds his seminary on the outskirts of Glasgow, near to where we celebrate our Mass today.

It is sometime later that the Archbishop of the Eastern Province, Gordon Gray, opens a seminary in the Borders which imitates the journey of the Highland seminary and eventually moves under his current successor to the land purchased by Bishop Gillis in Edinburgh - through the munificence of the same John Menzies of Pitfoddels, to whose Trust the present college belongs.

“They belong to the world no more than I belong to the world...”

But the world has a habit of sharing its hubris with those it embraces, and perhaps I should pass by Cardross rather quickly, still saddened by its ruins, and the emptiness of Blairs and the disappearance of Newlands.

But wait! All the time “the Lord has been travelling around with us”. There has been no loss of his presence. Perhaps, we should see each new seminary as a sort of resurrection and expect no less for the future!

“Lord you can read everyone’s heart... show us”.

I must avoid the temptation to twist the Word of God to another purpose - but it is the same trust that enables us to make choices of places as well as faces, to discern the Lord’s will.

What is certain is that the work of preparing young men to share the priesthood of Jesus Christ will continue wherever the place, be it highland glen, city suburb or the city itself.

And we will continue to pray: “Lord, show us which of these you have chosen to take over this ministry and apostolate.”

I address myself to you, members of the student body - Take heart! Your call is our care, your formation is our purpose.

Your choice is our prayer to the Lord who reads the hearts of all... “Consecrate them in the truth”.