Last winter my mum suddenly found out that she would be having two weeks off, so I invited her to come over for a wee break. Obviously with my adopted Scottish soul I didn’t want to pay through the nose for her flights, and I didn’t want to waste my precious time checking every possible airline’s website. So I turned…
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Once a month we, the students in the seminary, had a talk by our rector. Every time he was talking about the spiritual life, current affairs and recent happenings. I held a genuine respect for that man, but in his talks he tended to pick up negative examples from seminary life and consequently the overall picture was always pretty gloomy…
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Over the last few weeks we have heard a lot about a Sudanese Christian woman, Meriam Ibrahim, jailed and sentenced to lashes and to death for her alleged apostasy of Islam. Some in the media claimed she had been a victim of jealousy as a successful entrepreneur; others thought she became an object of a power struggle between different political…
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Almost on a weekly basis we can hear about medical developments or discoveries that will eradicate particular illnesses or minimise the likelihood of catching them, or reducing their impact on us. Arguably people now live longer on average, and their relatively good condition allows them to enjoy their lives. It seems we are closing in on the moment, when the…
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At the beginning of the Scottish leg of my priestly career, I was talking to a local man at a reception. In our casual, informal chat I shared my general views on the British and their habits. The first sentence I heard after I’d stopped was: ‘Father, I’m Scottish, not British.’ At that time it was a surprising declaration for…