Years ago, in my second parish, I was extremely fortunate to find a group of young musically talented people. They formed a modern band and after several weeks they started playing and singing modern hymns of worship. Sunday evening Mass, one of the five in the parish, became a Youth Mass. The main difference between this and the more traditional…

Last Sunday I was speaking about people feeling guilty because their adult children were rarely going to church or not going at all. My suggestion was to stop thinking about your past errors – regardless whether they were real or just imagined – and supporting them here and now. Obviously we cannot change the past, but we can and should…

As a teenage schoolboy I was struggling. The end of each school year faced me with a battle to get enough credits to go up to the next year-group. My Achilles’ heel in particular was physics – it was my nightmare for six long years. But, and this is funny, at the same time I was devouring all the available…

A year ago, when I was still working in Elgin parish, Fr Colin decided to begin the introduction of the new translation of the Missal. We ordered special leaflets, got them, and then he took seriously ill. So seriously that he was completely out of action for three months. Suddenly the task of gradually introducing the new translation became my…