That story began when I was seven years old – or forty years ago, if you prefer to put it that way. Two man-made spacecrafts were launched into space in the August and September of 1977. Perhaps you may remember the old Mini Cooper – that’s one of those was roughly the weight and size of each spacecraft. Yet these…
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How did it come about that you are a believer, a Christian, a Catholic? Some of you will have been born into a Catholic family; some of you will have been raised as Catholics; some of you will have become Catholics later in life. These are the three main avenues, but undoubtedly there are many roads that each one of…
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Five hundred years ago a monk called passionately for reforms of the Catholic Church in order to return it to its evangelical roots. All his ‘Ninety-Five Theses’ were summarily rejected, and the monk in question was urged by Pope Leo X and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to follow suit. He refused and, as a consequence, he was excommunicated…
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Ten years ago, I took part in an introductory weekend course for clergy and religious from abroad who had come to work in Scotland. The main goal of that weekend course was to give us a better understanding of the country, including its historical, cultural, religious and political background. One talk was about the political framework of the UK including…
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Over the last 20 years I’ve seen my fair share of weddings, and I’ve attended a good number of wedding parties in Poland as well as here in Scotland. Generally speaking, weddings in both countries look outwardly pretty similar. There is one significant difference, though. In Scotland there are a couple of complimentary drinks provided at the start of the…