The Scottish leg of my priestly career started in Elgin. The parish priest and I covered a huge area between Lossiemouth in the north, on the Moray Coast and Tomintoul in the south, deep in the Cairngorms. To those unfamiliar with the area, it took an hour to drive between Elgin and Tomintoul along mostly winding roads. I was particularly…
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“Utterly or obviously senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense; laughably foolish or false.” This is a brief definition of the word absurd. It seems to increasingly define our lives’ social, intellectual and political aspects; the dividing lines get sharper and opposite views are dismissed as invalid, worthless or utterly absurd. Consequently, people get entrenched in…
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“Zacchaeus made his appearance: he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man […] but he was [..] short.” This was a concise introduction of today’s gospel’s main character. A bit further down the line, St Luke indicated how Zacchaeus had been seen by his local community, when “they all complained [about Jesus] that He had gone…
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You might remember that in my sermon two weeks ago I told you the story of how I had tried to move the eucalyptus tree to improve visibility at St Joseph’s car park in darkness. This was in reference to Jesus’ schooling on faith and replanting mulberry trees. You might also remember that my attempt at moving the eucalyptus tree…
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The NHS is pretty much constantly in the news these days. Having been tested to its limits and beyond during the pandemic, it now looks like being on the verge of collapse. This is illustrated by the fact that the Royal College of Nursing is balloting all of its UK members for strike action for the first time in its…