The British Lion and the Irish Monkey, Punch, 1. April 1848

The story of the Catholic Church in Scotland over the past 500 years is one of collapse, barest survival and slow emergence. Catholicism in Scotland is old, however the institutions and personality of the Church we see today was formed in the 19^th Century; and no story about the Church could be told without talking about Irish immigration to western Scotland; beginning in the late 18^th Century, reaching a chaotic crescendo in the 1840’s and 50’s and was an ever present feature of Scottish life throughout the 19^th and into the 20^th centuries. When we look at Glasgow, Paisley, Motherwell as well as Ayrshire and indeed Dundee we are seeing a Scotland – and a Church, literally built on the backs of these often desperate men and women from across Ireland.

In this three part series: I want to look at what happened when the Irish came to Scotland from the end of the 18th century up to the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in 1878. We will explore the response of both the Scottish Catholics, and indeed the Protestant majority – both of whom, and for their own reasons revealed deep prejudices and fears about their arrival and look in more depth at the reactions of the Catholic hierarchy of the time. However to do this we will first go back a little to put it in context.

Part 1: Apostatis and Tratouris: 1560-1707

For Scottish Catholicism the reformation was a disaster, and would struggle for survival until the 19^th century. This struggle would help inform their own attitudes to Irish Catholicism and the Union itself. In the early reformation period, as the Catholic church dissolved, when even as early as 1562 the Papal Nuncio sent to Queen Mary Stuart would report on the dearth of Priests and the secrecy which Mass had now to be said. The Kirk, which saw itself as the national embodiment of Scotland, and whose powers of excommunication could include a ban on trade, employment and holding public office – could be laid upon anyone living in Scotland, but especially to Catholics - was the force used to bring conformity to Scottish religious life. A later example of this was the apprentice bakers of Perth in the mid-17th Century who so stirred the ire of the local Kirk with their revelry connected with Saint Obert ; they found themselves banned from trading in the city itself. In this atmosphere Fr William Murdoch SJ, without any hierarchical say so would tell those he served that it was a necessity to conform to the new Protestant faith outwardly whilst remaining interiorly Catholic. In this period many of the wealthy families like the Gordons of Huntly or Hegates of Glasgow could stay true to Catholicism and yet appear to conform to the Kirk. Not all would be so subtle, and although we know little of ordinary Catholics and how they navigated the Kirk, we do know, and some of this from Kirk Ministers frustrated letters, that many would feign conformity, make excuses for not being present at communion and learned to play the system.

Although Catholicism would survive, it receded to the periphery with the majority (certainly in lowland areas) converting to Protestantism. Along with the generally negative legal and spiritual atmosphere, for many decades of the 17^th century there was no official Catholic presence in Scotland. Missionary Priests, many of whom were Scots would come and go, being resident in other countries. Many also became private chaplains of rich families on continental Europe which exasperated the problem of priestly numbers. There was also often more Priests in lowland areas than would venture to the north. Irish Franciscans and other ‘freelance’ missionary Priests from Ireland would be the lifeline for many of the isolated Gaelic communities but over the course of the 17th century they were beginning to be seen as more of a problem by Scottish clergy than a blessing. Accusations of improper behaviour masked national rivalries. The result would be, as one scholar noted, by the 18^th century, Scottish Catholic Bishops would harden themselves against Irish Priests which was to remain to be the case until the late 19^th century.

For the Kirk, as Knox had loudly proclaimed, Catholics were ‘Apostatis and Tratouris’ (apostates and traitors), and although this was part of a tract he wrote concerning doctrine, this could also be applied politically. Any allegiance to the old faith was detrimental to the prosperity of Scotland before God, and as we shall see, a lot of legislative effort went into to stamping it out. This would lead to an outward conformity amongst those who remained in the faith resulting in an interiorising of Catholicism which would leave a powerful, still present, foothold in the minds of her adherents. As R.S Spurlock wrote:

‘As such Catholicism did not need to be contested at the national level to be authenticated, rather it was embodied in loosely connected networks, private households or in personal piety. For the Maxwells and Huntlys, their continued support for the old faith within the bounds of their traditional hegemonies strengthened their influence, which in turn solidified their regional dominance. Moreover, the rejection of a national obligation opened the way for the faith to be authentically privatized and this gave Catholicism and its adherents resilience’.

This more conformist attitude is detectable in the 18^th and 19^th century Scottish Bishops who were drawn primarily from the recusant families of the north east and would play out when faced with the needs of Irish Catholics. In an illuminating observation, by the 19th century, Scots Catholics were thought closer akin to their Protestant neighbours than to the sort of Catholicism the Irish immigrants knew. Part of the reason for this was that the reformation in Scotland was almost total in its success reducing Scottish Catholics to a mere 6000 in 1650 (although that would almost triple a century later); for the Irish however, the reformation did not succeed and most would remain attached to their faith but dominated politically by a Protestant minority. The politics of these two opposites would play out in the 19th century and would cause tensions between the Scots Bishops and their Irish flock.

Scottish parliaments, councils and the Kirk enacted Penal laws over the course of the 16th and 17th centuries trying to root out Catholics when they could, at times this might be relaxed, or strengthened, which often had to do with national politics as much as the theological. Penal laws included prohibitions on buying land, entering professions, voting, holding public office, mass attendance and of course hosting any Priests.

Respite would appear though in the renewed monarchy of Charles II and his ascension to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1660; however the Scottish Parliament in 1661 would pass an Act ‘against Papists and Priests’, which was necessitated ostensibly by the ‘increase of Popery, and the number of Jesuits, priests and Papists which have of late and do now abound in this kingdom in far greater numbers than ever they did’. The Act ordered the removal of all Clergy from the land and lists made of suspected or proved lay Catholics. Catholic children would be removed to protestant education as well. Another Act passed in 1670 would ban Catholics holding high office, and barring a brief interregnum when Charles II removed the Penal laws - they were back after a strong reaction from Protestants - as can be seen in the 1673 Scottish Privy Council order (once again) banning clergy, Mass and the sacraments. By 1681 the atmosphere was febrile with talk of ‘Popish Plots’ that would see Scottish Acts that would defend the Protestant faith through ratifying all previous penal laws and lists of all lay Catholics to be made in each parish. Again though, at the ascent of James VII & II to the throne a relaxation of all Penal laws and protection to all Clergy was rolled out in 1685 ratifying it by his ‘Sovereign Authority, Prerogative Royal, and Absolute Power’ which did not go down well at all.

This precipitated the so-called Glorious revolution in 1688-89 bringing the Protestant William of Orange, and Mary, daughter of James VII to the throne in a bloodless coup. The mix of sectarianism, fear of absolute monarchy and of foreign invasion from France and Spain - along with the vibrant Catholic Counter-Reformation in Europe would end the Stuart dynasty as Sovereigns. This would further underline the doubts surrounding Catholic loyalty to the State, which Jacobitism would further fuel. The Stuarts did have many loyal Catholics in its ranks, but it should be noted that Episcopalians were the more numerous Jacobites and would face heavy persecution for it. By the late 17th Century a 1693 Act would see the disarmament of all Catholics (and non-jurors - Episcopalians) who did not take the oath of allegiance which would be further strengthened by 1700 with no Catholic being able to teach, hold professions, buy or inherit land or leave as legacy any monies to Catholic organisations.

Enforcing the various Acts at suppressing Catholicism (and indeed Episcopalians) was however a different matter and was, at times quite difficult for local Magistrates to achieve - or often, even want to. It seems the case that if you could achieve an outward appearance of Protestant faith, as mentioned above, and go about your life quietly, you could avoid the worst of it. Certainly, Catholicism and Priestly numbers did grow in the 17th century which shows that for all the rhetoric of the Parliaments; suppression rather than destruction was the path the authorities took.

This can be evidenced by some of the continuing customs found by writers travelling throughout the highlands in the early 18^th century. One noted the veneration of St Barr on Barra:

‘The natives have St. Barr’s wooden image standing on the altar, covered with linen in form of a shirt; all their greatest asseverations are by this saint. I came very early in the morning with an intention to see this image, but was disappointed; for the natives prevented me by carrying it away, lest I might take occasion to ridicule their superstition, as some Protestants have done formerly; and when I was gone it was again exposed on the altar’.

In other places veneration of Saints for healing and on their appointed days would still continue and to many non-Catholics it would appear as superstition and magic. But within the context of almost no institutional Church and few opportunities for the sacraments it is remarkable anything did survive at all. Certainly the difficult terrain of the Highlands and Aberdeenshire helped protect them. But what this did produce was a more interior faith that was bolstered by community and would lend a resilience to those who remained Catholic.

However as the 18^th century would dawn, new opportunities afforded in that century after the 1707 Act of Union would begin to trickle down to ordinary Scots; the recusant Catholics were not willing to remain in the shadows and desired to stake a claim in the new Scotland and indeed the new Britain that would be born. This period between the mid 16th and early 18th centuries, with its pyretic anti-Catholicism was often coupled with fears of external threat and internal strife. A virulent national identity that linked Protestantism with a constitutional monarchy and parliament seemed at odds with their perception of Catholics and Catholicism more generally. It was this perception that many Catholics would work hard at dispelling as we go into the 18th and 19th centuries, but in the 19th century in particular, the Catholicism of the incoming Irish, and its linkage with Irish nationalism would pose a threat to the ambitions of Scots Catholics and indeed their Bishops.

By Eric Hanna, Editor.

It will be the Florentines feast day on the 26^th May, a date special to me personally as it was he I chose as patron saint for my confirmation when I became Catholic as an adult. He combined a heart toward the poor with an eccentric and quirky sense humour but in addition, a reforming zeal that touched the lives of the poor and powerful. He was an everyman that ministered the love of God to those despised and did so using old and new ways alike. He for instance brought to Rome the 40 hours devotion (Quarant’Ore) and tasked the newly established Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity to not only look after pilgrims, but to practice the devotion monthly. As he said:

‘Our sweet Jesus, through the excess of His love and liberality, has left Himself to us in the Most Holy Sacrament.’

He also sent out his brothers to preach in Rome’s churches and he began his famous seven churches walk. This was a day pilgrimage between 7 of Rome’s churches still carried out today during Holy Week. The pilgrimage brought together a spiritual practice, fellowship and food open to all. He was a fool yet influential with Popes; he had deep sense of the peoples spiritual needs but had a very personal and individual piety. The most famous example of this is his enlarged heart – when, just before Pentecost, calling out in prayer to the Holy Spirit he saw a fiery globe appear in front of him and enter his body, which not only had the spiritual effect of a profound and marked joy that characterized the rest of his life but also a physically enlarged heart.

He had what you might call ecstatic experiences and inaugurated spiritual practices, encouraging personal devotion but always with the eye not to be drawn to something for the sake of it but so as to conform to Christ most perfectly. This approachable and pragmatic Saint said of spiritual practices:

‘It is not a good thing to load ourselves with many spiritual exercises; it is better to undertake a little, and go on with it; for if the devil can persuade us to omit an exercise once, he will easily get us to omit it a second time, and the third, until at last all our pious practices will melt away’.

He called for serious devotion to the Lord but warned against the hypocrisy of those who look and sound holy and are anything but. In that he is not referring necessarily to the debauched, (although I am sure he had them in mind too) but those who can say the right thing and pray the right way, and are yet far from it internally. The danger for instance in so called ‘trad-Catholicism’ and the recent surge in interest in traditional Christian values in the public sphere is that it is closer to the performative rather than linked to an interior devotion to Christ. Obviously that is not the case for all, but for those of us who love the Tridentine mass, pilgrimages and processions – it is a warning we should heed; the devil loves inducing spiritual pride in those serious about God and His Church.

All these combined elements of his life and activity are unique but also goes to show God does not make two Saints alike – you do not read the Epistle of St James and get the same sense of mirth! But if God does not make two Saints the same, He also does not wish it for only a select few which St Phillip embraced, seeing the possibilities in prostitutes and the prelates alike.

As we approach May 25^th it might be worth asking him for his prayers as we seek the wisdom of God on bringing the reconversion of Scotland’s heart to Christ. A way to start that might be participating in a Holy Hour near you.

By Eric Hanna

Since Voltaire we have been told God is dead and the Church in just a few short years will cease to exist. But it has proved rather stubborn, living through the halcyon days of the new atheism and the many scandals that have rocked all Churches, not least our own. It seemed for a time, the narrative of a declining and inherently inconsequential faith to modern Britons was true. But something has been changing. In a recent survey published by the Bible Society looking at faith and church attendance in England and Wales since 2018 they have recorded a remarkable rise in adherence amongst 18-24 years olds:

We found that the Church is in a period of rapid growth, driven by young adults and in particular young men. Along with this, the Church demonstrates greater ethnic diversity than ever before. Both within and outside the Church, young adults are more spiritually engaged than any other living generation, with Bible reading and belief in God on the rise. But we also see that active engagement with a church has a significant impact on the lives of attenders, with a high increase in mental and general life wellbeing – again particularly among young adults, a generation in the midst of a mental health crisis.

Here are some key statistics from the report.

• ‘In 2018, just 4% of 18–24-year-olds said they attended church at least monthly.

  Today this has risen to 16%, with young men increasing from 4% to 21%,

  and young women from 3% to 12%. This is now the second most likely age

  group to attend church regularly. Overall, churchgoing Christians now

  make up 12% of the population, up from 8% in 2018. In numerical terms,

  that’s growth from 3.7m in 2018 to 5.8m in 2024 – an increase of 56%’.

• ‘In addition to absolute growth in churchgoing, including among the

  white population, the Church in England and Wales is also becoming

  more diverse. Just under 1 in 5 churchgoers (19%) are from an ethnic

  minority, but among 18–54-year-olds this rises to 1 in 3 (32%). At

  the same time Catholicism has risen sharply and Pentecostalism

  has become the third biggest Christian tradition, with the share of

  churchgoers identifying as Anglicans dropping steadily’.

• ‘27% of adults say they are Christian but don’t regularly go to church,

  compared to 32% in 2018’.

• ‘35% of 18–24-year-olds say there is ‘definitely a God/gods

  or higher power’.

• ‘21% of men aged 18-24 are regular churchgoers’.

The report goes on to show that social activisim, connection to local communities and it relationship in helping people with their mental health have all contributed to this rise. There are however nuances in the report that should be taken into account.

The decline in people identifying as ‘Christian by default’ has not abated, with the rise of those stating they are non-religious continuing. The people affirming their faith in this report are those then who are actively choosing - and hence converting. Spiritual practices are also quite important to this age cohort, but again it is down to real adherence and not ‘just because’. When it comes to the bible, there has been a doubling in general numbers of people who read the bible, this increasing rapidly with those who actually attend church. With those who attend church, it is members of Baptist, Pentecostal and ‘new churches’ that see the greater increase. Catholic church-goers are still the least likely to read their bible in this survey.

The other thing of course about this survey is that it only relates to England and Wales. To date there are no similar surveys for Scotland, and although we could anticipate similarties, there will be differences.

What the report is showing is that we have a generation wanting to know more and be part of the community of faith. It now is down to our clergy and active lay people to respond - we need to reassess our RCIA process (how many of our Parishes have one for starters?), think about ongoing discipleship programmes, as well as increase bible literacy and confidence. The church offers many pathways for spiritual discernment and help; from rosary groups to lectio divina, as well as access to places and groups such as; Pluscarden Abbey, lay Dominican groups, Secular Franciscans, the Ignatian Spirituality Centre in Glasgow, FireCloud, Craig Lodge and many more. There are also wider parish programmes of renewal out there such as Divine Renovation. To reach out to non-believers, with the report also highlighting a greater openess of non-church attending folk to come to church if they were asked, we can use faith exploration programmes like Sycamore.

In Scotland we have imbibed of the narrative of decline but our youngest generation is baulking at it and we need to respond.

To read the report in full please click here.

By Eric Hanna

For the last couple of years an ecumenical group, made up of local Catholics, Church of Scotland congregants and the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in Scotland have been meeting every Wednesday for Evensong at Birnie Kirk just outside of Elgin. Formally used as a Church of Scotland parish but closed as part of the wider Church of Scotland’s drive to reduce costs; new life has been breathed into it

In 2022 the COFS closed the church citing a dwindling congregation and skyrocketing fabric bills. It is a rural parish lying just south of Elgin, Morayshire’s main town, and like many rural churches it faced a dwindling congregation. But Birnie is not your run of the mill Kirk. Birnie is the site of the longest continuous worship in Scotland, having been founded by the followers of St Brendan in the 6^th Century and became Moray’s first Cathedral. Its span of history is reflected in the architecture, the present building originating in the 12^th century, with the reformation ravaging its changes with the once grand high altar removed. It also famously housed the 1773 Hairy Bible and a 1000-year-old Coranach bell that was possible blessed by the Pope of the day.

No intrusive digs have been done yet but archaeologists found the remains of 12 round houses in the field next door on the site of what was Birnie’s village.

I attended one Wednesday evening, arriving in the dark and walking its rather evocative pathway up to the church building through its graveyard. The bell was ringing as the wind whipped last season’s leaves and branches around. Numbers rise and fall between 20 and 40 attendees a week – some, like Ann Stewart, have been coming to Birnie -and indeed been an Elder for decades. It was partly her energy along with convener Hazel, and Derek Kelly of the Catholic Men’s Group that brought about this rather surprising ecumenical synthesis.

As Derek said, he could not believe this church was being shut and felt that if he could get a group, like the Ordinariate or other Religious interested, it might save the building. The first Mass since the reformation was held on 5^th November 2022 with its chief celebrant being Bishop Hugh Gilbert of the Diocese of Aberdeen, but alongside representatives of the Church of Scotland, Episcopal Church and the local Ordinariate as well as other local Priests to a packed out Birnie. Mass is now held once a month along with the regular Wednesday Evening Prayer.

Byran Miller, one of the main organisers and Hazel talked to me about how the St Margaret Declaration (signed in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Anne with Rt Rev Dr Iain Greenshields – Moderator of the Church of Scotland and Archbishop Cushley in 2022) spurred on their own ecumenical effort and signing their very own declaration. They spoke about how Evening Prayer as a means of worship as well as a coming together was a perfect driver for what they are doing – using the Ordinariate Rite and adding the Magnificat/Nunc Dimittis alongside hymns and copious Scriptures it has surprised many of the original congregation and allowed barriers between Catholic and Protestant to come down. The Ordinariate was an initiative of Pope Benedict XVI to allow Anglican clergy to enter the Catholic Church bringing with them the Anglican liturgical tradition.

Another key aspect is community, not an add on but an integral component with tea/coffee afterwards, no one siting in sectarian groups but mingling as believers with a common baptismal calling. They are forthright though in the differences of both traditions, however they neither downplay them nor allow them to snuff out what is happening.

And what is happening here really is very special and an encouragement in a number of ways. It is clear that as much as they have had Clerical input and support at times, the main drivers and founders are all lay men and women. Evening Prayer does not need any Priestly involvement meaning that those who attend not only receive of the churches deep liturgical beauty without requiring the time of an already overburdened Priesthood. There are in fact a lot of things we as laypeople can do, and must do, if we want to see our own Parishes and places like Birnie thrive. What does it take to do this? When Derek started, he had no idea what would come of his first meeting with Ann Stewart, and so it shows how God uses just that attitude of get up and go.

This is also a potential way forward for the COFS. Instead of instantly trying to sell a building, can they look to a succession plan of sorts, encouraging other Christian groups to engage? For very historic buildings – like Birnie – what other charity and government help is out there? Such works take a great deal of effort and planning and it is therefore incumbent upon local interest groups to engage. In the Church of Scotland’s push for a renewed sense of mission they appear to miss the significance of buildings in mission. Just read Lucy Frasers conversion story (also happens to be a local) – and her article on why Pagans convert to Catholicism. The sacred spaces of our churches (especially Catholic) are proclamatory in themselves not to mention their actual sacredness due to consecration.

The future of Birnie is still uncertain. The building is up for sale, although there will be great difficulty in selling it, but if it does, so will end nearly 1500 years of worship. There is hope amongst the group that they can find the right donors or Religious group who can take the building on and bring new life and a new work here. An historic sympathy alone, even family ties will not save it – only a beating and vibrant community worshipping and serving God in rural Morayshire will save it in the end.

As the church closed up for the evening and I was left looking at it in the nearby electric light I said a quick prayer to St Gilbert de Moravia, the Bishop of Dornoch who managed to raise the money for the building of Dornoch Cathedral in the 13^thC, even miraculously making stone masons tools get to work by themselves. Birnie is a

By Eric Hanna

This Week in the Coracle

A Lenten Journey of Hope: Jack Heitman asks how are we doing this Lent?

The Annunciation: How I learned to embrace Mary.

As March draws to an end, we can look forward to celebrating and praying with the above mentioned St Gilbert of Dornoch, St Magnus of Orkney and St Maelrubha who was based out west at Applecross.

Other Writing that Might Interest You

Lucy Fraser: The New Age Family Tree: a look at it's roots, branches and fruit.

Mary was a problem to me. Although my Father’s side was Catholic, I grew up with my Mother and her side of the family were very Presbyterian, DUP voters (Ian Paisley’s party), and although not outwardly sectarian, there was definitely a tinge of that. We participated in the 12th of July, Apprentice boys and some of my relatives were Masons. When I became a Christian I viewed the Catholic Church as heretical, ordinary Catholics conned, mistaken and poorly instructed in their faith. But fast forward 15 years or so from that point and my views on the Church was changing and my ignorance crumbling, but Mary was the final issue. How could she be lifted so high? Queen of Heaven? Idolatry no less, thundered my internal Ulsterman, but one thing niggled me. How does the Unfathomable, Completely Other, Holy God, allow Himself to enter sinful flesh? How does He, who no one can look at - become human flesh? How come He is not born with Sin, through the line of Mary? The answers begin in the Annunciation; ‘Hail Mary - full of Grace’.

The words pronounced by the Angel Gabriel to Mary on that fateful day in cosmic history. That phrase was not a 1st century ‘hey how are you?’ - instead it was a description of an identity, it was a title. This young Jewish woman was not like her friends or family, there was something very different going on in her. We also need to realise that these (and other) Marian elements of the gospels reflect early strands of Christianity and ones that were embraced and carried within the community from those early days in the Upper Room.

When reading Luke’s narrative we see that he was masterfully weaving in the history of Israel into this young woman. The Angel begins the conversation with, ‘rejoice’. This particular phrase in the Greek is found in only 4 places in the Septuagint OT, and they all have messianic purpose. The passage in Luke though is alluding in particular to the Prophet Zephaniah in Chapter 3:14 of his book. As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote in Mary: The Church at the Source:

What in the prophecy is said to daughter Zion is now directed to Mary: She is identified with daughter Zion, she is daughter Zion in person. In a parallel manner, Jesus, whom Mary is permitted to bear, is identified with Yahweh, the living God. P65

As he continues in the book he points out that now that she is identified as Daughter Zion, so she is identified with all the Church. Mary is ‘the mirror’ in which the Church is to look.

The phrase full of grace (sometimes translated ‘highly favoured’) is an odd statement because it was said in the past tense and never said again in the rest of the New Testament:

Pope Pius IX connects this uniqueness to Mary’s Immaculate Conception when he explains that this greeting “showed that the Mother of God is the seat of all divine graces and is adorned with all gifts of the Holy Spirit” (Ineffabilis Deus, 1854). In other words, even before the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her, she already had “a special grace and privilege of God” from the “first instant of the soul's infusion into the body” (Ineffabilis Deus, 1854). This word “full of grace” (kecharitōmenē) means that “the Blessed Virgin was, through grace, entirely free from every stain of sin, and from all corruption of body, soul and mind; that she was always united with God and joined to him by an eternal covenant” (Ineffabilis Deus, 1854). Scott Hahn, https://www.scotthahn.com/blog/fullofgrace.

When I began to see this my opposition to Mary crumbled and my understanding of just how important she is to the Church and God’s plan increased. It opened my eyes to the other portions of Scripture about her and the Church’s understanding of those truths into the doctrines we know today.

Today, on the Feast of the Annunciation draw near to the mystery of God to which our Mother in faith is always leading and always pointing us. Let us pray:

Ouer Laidy o’ Aiberdeen; Praye for us

Ouer Laidy o’ th’ Isles; Praye for us

Ouer Laidy o’ Pluscarden Praye for us

Haily Mither o Gode, Quein o Scots, Praye for us

A Bànrigh na h-Alba; A Mhàthair naomh Dhè, Guidh air ar son

Our Lady of Pluscarden

Picture by Eileen Clare Grant

By Eric Hanna

Unless you have been stuck under a rock for the last couple of weeks you won’t have failed to notice what appears to be the upending of the post-war consensus - its biggest signal being the shocking trouncing, one can say bullying, of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine by President Trump and Vice President Vance at that fateful Oval Office press conference. On the dotted line was the mineral reserves of Ukraine, which is part of the US’s wider battle with China and its near stranglehold on the global supply and processing of critical and rare earth minerals.

This isn’t yet another take on that meeting, what it means for the western alliance or indeed (most importantly) Ukraine but one wonders if President Trump had read Job chapter 28 that morning would he have taken a slightly different position? As you can tell I am no current affairs analyst but it would appear to me Job had already worked out his take on the matter and as I read it this morning (just in case any Presidents are reading this…) I felt I should try and share it.

Job as you probably know isn’t having a great time, when we meet him in chapter 28 he has had to deal with his interminable friends trying to lay all the blame for his misfortunes on himself. Job, is having none of it though. But in chapter 28 he is trying to teach his friends something - that of wisdom.

Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it. Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone. (v1)

Miners put an end to darkness,
and search out to the farthest bound
the ore in gloom and deep darkness. (v3)

Here he begins to describe the search for precious minerals, and how unlike the clear eyed falcon or wandering lion - it is humans that find it. It is only we who can ‘overturn mountains by the roots’, and it is…’hidden things they bring to light’.

Then, as now, the iron, copper, gold and sapphires Job mentions brought wealth and power but in the next verses Job turns it all around and asks;

But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? (v12)

It is not found in earth or in the sea, it is not found in anything we can dig up or produce; he doubles down even more by saying, ‘Abaddon and Death say,
“We have heard a rumour of it with our ears’. (v22)

Like the rest of Wisdom literature in the Bible there is only one place of understanding and wisdom:

‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.’

In the new Great Game, in which all our countries are playing there is no fear of the Lord so there is no wisdom, and is it not an evil to rail against one President, calling him a dictator and saying not a peep about another who truly is a dictator?

In Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy, which is a good companion reader for the book of Job, Lady Philosophy reveals the path our desires take is in:

• Do you want to pile up large sums of money? Where will you get it, if not from those who have it?

• You want honours? How will you obtain them except by begging for them from those who can bestow them, thereby becoming not the proud man you wanted to be but a suppliant, a mendicant?

• You want power? You will lie awake at night worrying about your subjects’ treachery. You want glory and fame? You will be the toy of vicissitude, trying to figure out the mood of the people and drawn this way and that by their fickle preferences.

Everyone talks of peace, whilst building up their armaments but the only true peace we will ever find comes from the Lord, His passion and resurrection. As Christians our duty is to fervently pray for our leaders that the grace of God may breach the hatred in their hearts and allow the sacred heart of Jesus and Mary to take over.

By Eric Hanna

Photograph: "Drift of Harrachov Mine" by alarch is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

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The alarm goes, it’s five-thirty and it’s a morning in the tail end of dark January. I understand our mornings are getting lighter now but January seems darker than December. Why I am up this early? A little over a year ago I decided that I wanted to start an early morning rosary group for men during the week. My idea was to try and catch men before they go to work in a time that has little demand on them -certainly before the scramble of getting kids out to school anyway. I somehow had a thought that it would grow over time into a decent sized group – maybe 10? However, that was rather misplaced and there is after a year only the 3 of us. The getting up is the hard part but once out the door it becomes rather refreshing.

There is something about a church in the dark, it stands figuratively (and sometimes literally) above all the buildings around it, imposing itself on the psychogeography of the place. As I open the door with the cumbersome key set given to me and begin turning on some of the lights, there’s that brief pregnant moment as I walk into the Church and look to our Lord in the tabernacle. I am there alone, and in the silence, I can set myself ready for prayer, to put off all the tasks going through my mind for that day and wait for the men to arrive. One of the nice things about this has been the spontaneous fellowship that occurs, it has become a time not only for prayer but to talk about how we are, what’s happening in our lives and in a way that men often don’t. In that private space before our Lord we have been lowering our guards ever so slightly, which is pretty good for any bloke frankly.

But we are here for the main business of the rosary in this little parish along the Moray coast, with a sleepy assertion to grow in Christ.

In the year since starting we have all come to look forward to these six am rosary sessions, I know I feel much better afterwards anyway. Sacred Scripture teaches us the value of prayer:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:17).

Or as can be summed up by St Pio of Pietrelcina; ‘Pray, hope and don’t worry’.

We additionally have that great rosary warrior - Saint Louis De Montfort:

‘Never will anyone who says his Rosary every day be led astray. This is a statement that I would gladly sign with my blood’. Also; ‘When the Holy Rosary is said well, it gives Jesus and Mary more glory and is more meritorious than any other prayer.’

There is also another language used when thinking of the rosary, which is that of war.

‘Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world’. Pope Blessed Pius IX; and of course St Pio again - ‘the Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times’. But of course, this finds its root in scripture again, with St Paul in Ephesians chapter 6:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints...

The language of prayer and war go hand in hand. There are many purposes and acts of prayer but it is the chief weapon against the evil One and his coterie. It is by prayer we can stand firm against temptation and by prayer said in faith move mountains. It is by a strong prayerful interior life that we proceed closer and closer to the Lord’s sacred heart within us. Prayer interacts in the invisible realm of the Spirit, in the deep places of peoples hearts and from there can truly effect events around us. The rosary is then indispensable for all of this.

Our rosary ends, it is nearly seven o’clock and I am locking up the church, saying goodbyes. I believe all I said above, but as is often the case it is invisible and quiet and it is in hindsight that we can see – ah, that prayer affected me or this situation. It is also minus 5 outside and I am hurrying home to start the day, walk the dog, get ready for work – all the mundane things, but the time of prayer I just finished has done something to transform all that.

By Eric Hanna

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One of my favourite Sundays in the year is the 3^rd in Ordinary time – the Sunday of the Word of God. St Jerome’s famous quote about scripture is true; if we don’t know scripture, we won’t know Christ. But how often do we just let the words of scripture fly over our head? However the reading for this Sunday should make us stop and think. It comes from Nehemiah chapter 8, which is part of one of our most neglected books. It sits in a strange time as well. It appears to come near the beginning of that long period between the Jews return from exile right until the birth of John the Baptist; of God’s seeming silence. Most of the minor prophets appear in the period in and just after the exile but then no more is heard from God. More than 70 years before the moment recorded in chapter 8, Jerusalem had been destroyed, the Temple of Solomon turned to rubble – the siege by the Babylonians caused great suffering and death and whoever remained was deported to their city. But, decades later, the Persian King – Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return and helped to fund the rebuilding of Jerusalem and their precious Temple.

Nehemiah, a Jewish servant in the court of Cyrus was sent to oversee the work, along with a scribe, Ezra, the priestly class of the Levites and all those who would return. Then we read of when the Law was read out to the whole people – the Law which had been rediscovered in the ruins of the Temple. What is most fascinating about this day was the reaction of the crowd. The law caused in their hearts a deep repentance, you could say, a revival. In the run up to this and indeed beyond – Nehemiah faced opposition from Jew and non-alike. His demands were strange, he chastised his people for setting their lives up first, building homes and businesses. He said they were forgetting why they had come – the rebuilding of Jerusalem and most importantly the Temple. But the Jews that had been dragged off as slaves 70 years previous were different in certain respects. This period of their history probably saw the beginning of the permanent institution of the synagogue. This means of worship, which may have had a looser and older history prior to the Babylonian captivity was supercharged once the temple had been removed from them. The Torah became the focal point now, not the holy of holies where the Ark had once resided. They had even been encouraged by the great Prophet Jeremiah who told them to settle down wherever they were, make lives for themselves and wait on the deliverance of God – a new Exodus to the promised land.

So now upon their return you can imagine the pattern in which they had been formed would continue. But Nehemiah was not settling for this. He was not against building homes or businesses; it was about the priority of the people. Whose Kingdom are they building? To whom would their first fruits go?

However, in the wonderful pattern of Scripture, this moment in history was a repeat of the first Exodus. The first exodus saw the people leave the land of slavery, and then given the covenant on mount Sinai by Moses, and the detailed laws of Deuteronomy. We see the intricate construction of the Tent of Meeting where the Ark of the Covenant was to reside – where God would come to earth. Now in this new exodus, we see the building of the temple, the return to the promised land and now we needed the law.

Ezra read the law, the Levites explained it; and the people wept. This is a picture of the Church, for we have the law of the Spirit of life, contained within the Gospels and the Epistles. But we also have tradition and the magisterial acts of the Church to interpret it for us. In Jerusalem the people wept and had a moment of revelation of collective sin. What is the key to a holy life? True repentance, a true metanoia that reorients our lives. Are we open to the Spirits prodding and challenge? Do we allow God in? There is a cultural slur in regards Catholics and sin – ‘Catholic guilt’. Often lain at the door of Irish Catholicism in particular, the oppressive guilt that crushed and controlled. However the scriptures tell us that awareness of sin was not designed to destroy people, but bring people to repentance turning to Him. When we turn, we are not turning to a Father who wishes to punish, but like the father in the parable of the two sons – He runs to us.

This was exactly what Ezra finished on. For he told them to not weep, but to go and enjoy the feasts and thank God announcing a jubilee.

In 2025, our year of Jubilee, why not take the time to be challenged and open like never before.

By Eric Hanna

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I don’t tend to watch horror films; I think there is enough horror in the world frankly – why purposely watch someone’s most darkest imaginings? However, Vampires, or a term used by Bram Stoker in Dracula – Nosferatu (meaning undead) has always held a fascination with me. I must admit here that I did indeed watch Buffy in my teen years. Thankfully I missed the Twilight craze though!

I haven’t watched too many Vampire films since but the other night I decided to go and watch the 2024 Robert Eggers film, Nosferatu, starring Wilhelm Defoe, Lily Rose-Depp, Nicholas Hault and Bill Skarsgard – mostly because of the excellent Defoe and Skarsgard I have to say.

Nosferatu is a remake of the famous 1922 silent film which, after released was pursued in the courts by Bram Stokers widow as a rip-off of Dracula, and in fact was nearly entirely lost as the studio sought to destroy the film later. Vampire films, especially Dracula remakes often show a suave charismatic figure as the infamous Count – think of the Gary Oldman or Tom Cruise version. However, the Nosferatu version of Dracula in both 1922 and 2024 shows an almost half rodent half dead humanoid. His instincts are closer to animal but with a dark twist. In one scene, Nosferatu calls himself ‘an appetite, nothing more, nothing less’. He does not turn others into Vampires, he consumes them. This is no angsty Twilight series film or flabby action-gothic Underworld. The Count not only walks in darkness but is that terrible kind of darkness that seems suffocating, which the film portrays superbly.

At the start of the film, we meet a young newly married and very much in love, Ellen and Thomas who are setting up home. Ellen though, we already know has a dark secret – when she was young, and in misery, seeking affection and tenderness she called out for it, and in the dark, she was answered and in her dreams each night she would be stalked and brutalised by it. However, now married, she seems free of it. Her Thomas puts all her dreams down to fancies and past melancholies – this is after all 1838. Science, industry and market economics has begun replacing the old superstitions and ways of doing things. This is repeatedly sounded throughout the film but becomes more like desperate plea’s as it continues. It begins with Thomas being sent to the far-off Carpathian Mountains to meet the strange Count Orluk who wishes to buy a mansion in the fictitious German city of Wisborg. There the Count reveals himself as a Vampire and tries to consume Thomas –, but Thomas is not the centre of the Counts obsession, or indeed the hero – it is Ellen. For it was he that she called to as a girl, and for her the Nosferatu is coming. Like all good horrors we have the ominous ‘he is coming’ line turn up to prime us for terror.

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Eggers version follows the Count as he is transported on a boat across the Baltic sea along with a vast number of deadly rats that will bring plague to Wisborg. Bear in mind the world was still reeling in 1922 from the 1918 flu. What are our protagonists to do? In steps a disgraced Professor, played by the excellent Wilhelm Defoe, having been lauded but now dismissed for becoming more enamoured with Alchemy and the Occult. Of the themes in this film the tension between modern rational thought and older fears and beliefs is perfectly combined in this professor. Indeed, one of his great lines when arguing about the existence of the Nosferatu is when he says we are blinded by our gaseous science. In another great line he tells us that we to see the evil to understand it, we could not look away or rationalize it sophistically.

But what really fascinated me was how the Nosferatu could be defeated. It was not going to be wooden stakes or serums; it was through the woman Ellen. She had to realise her powers, not in terms of magic but in terms of her ability to hold the obsession of the Vampire, for we realise that for all his deadly terror and powers, he was in effect at her mercy. It is only at the end she acknowledges this and willing submits to him as a sacrifice. His appetite was his undoing, and her sacrifice saved Wisborg.

I came out of the film thinking of and thanking Our Lady. There is an inference here, but a perversion of it – the opposite in fact. A modern feminist take on Mary and her story of the Virgin birth is one of a Male power forcing itself upon her. In this retelling, Mary had no agency and could only accept her fate. Here in Nosferatu we see this theme, but Ellen’s fate is not to meekly acquiesce; she must learn that as Female, she has the power to undo the destruction wrought by the Male.

However, this was not what happened with Mary. Her Yes was not the acceptance of a sexualised divine fantasy. God was not obsessed with her, and He is not an appetite for He needs nothing. Mary understood her role was indeed a part of the salvation of the world, her Yes was joyful, if probably perplexed. She was not simply a carrier but an integral part of the incarnation through which none of us could be saved. For those reasons she was crowned Queen of Heaven and given special place and role in all our lives.

The film is creepy and chilling, rather than scary- its not a blood fest. But one of the things that makes it so disturbing is that it holds up a mirror to ourselves. Like in the Matrix when Smith described humans as a virus, so here we are confronted with all that our desires have wrought. Whether they be about persons, or power or things and the associated damage we do – what can release us from that slavery as portrayed by the Vampire in his obsession with Ellen? The film uses fire as a sanctifying force, as does God. But His fire is that of the Holy Spirit who refines us into pure Gold. His fire is so we can live in the Beloved. Being released from slavery is the yes of Mary everyday to Him.

I won’t go too much more into the ending of the film, although I have done a good job of spoiling it for you if you are yet to see it. I would recommend seeing it, but unlike most horrors out there, its not the blood or terror of the monster that it leaves you with – it’s the questions about humanity and the sources of evil.

By Eric Hanna - Editor