The recent scandal with Cardinal O’Brien at the centre has attracted the interest of the media to the Catholic Church in Scotland for all the wrong reasons. Sadly, this is not for the first time. Newspapers, radio stations and TV channels have been flooded with breaking news, analysis, opinions and discussions. Certainly the scandal affected many ordinary people; some were…

Many people don’t like Mondays. I do, because it’s my day off. But in February I got scared of them. On my return from a long walk in the wilderness on a Monday I found out that the Pope had resigned; two weeks later on a Monday I found out that the Cardinal had resigned. So, instead of fulfilling my…

On Ash Wednesday we always listen to the same part of Saint Matthew’s gospel, where Jesus speaks about three ways of self-denial: fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Last Sunday’s gospel told us about Jesus’ fasting for forty days in the desert. Today’s gospel speaks about prayer. “Jesus took with him Peter, John and James and went up the mountain to pray.” They…

In the year 2009 I was taking photos of the churches for the diocesan website; among them the unusually splendid, majestic St Peter’s in Buckie. Its tall spires, distinctively dominating the Buckie skyline, looked invincible. But when I became parish priest here it turned out the towers had been all but mighty and invincible. And when the scaffolding was put…

When I came to Scotland six years ago, one of the most noticeable differences between here and my homeland was the slower pace of life. Driving in Poland was like taking part in a continuous hectic chasing race. Here most of the drivers were going within the speed limit. But since then I’ve noticed a substantial change in this attitude:…