• Sermon - Year B

    4th Sunday of Easter

    My arrival in Elgin in September 2007 slightly stirred up the Polish community, both there and in the neighbouring towns and villages. They welcomed a priest from their homeland, speaking their language, and they expected him to ring-fence their national identity. A surprisingly similar view was held by many members of the local community, clearly expressed in a virtual label…

  • Munros - Outdoors

    Fionn Bheinn

    When I watched the weather forecast I thought it wasn’t fair; it was exceptionally good and warm, and I was stuck away from the hills. Then all bits and pieces fell into the right places and it turned out I was able to hit the road and head into the mountains. I chose a solitary but relatively easily accessible Munro…

  • Sermon - Year B

    Easter

    I believe that the Queen sends special letters to people who are 100 years old; I haven’t got one yet as you can guess. I’m not royalty by any means, but I conceived an idea of sending birthday letters to members of this parish and offering Mass for them around the day. It’s a side-effect of the parish census we…

  • Sermon

    Good Friday

    147 young Kenyans have mercilessly been killed for being Christian. The sacrifice of this Holy Week. 147 mothers and fathers suffering their loss as if standing at the foot of the multitude of crosses carrying the dead bodies of their sons and daughters. Many more friends and family members paying respect to the dead, getting ready to bid farewell. Where…

  • Sermon

    Maundy Thursday

    Some time ago I visited a couple of my friends, a family of mixed nationalities. Both of them spoke French, but I didn’t. The wife and I spoke Polish, but not the husband. He and I spoke English, a language she didn’t speak. So despite knowing three different languages, we didn’t have any common one to be able to chat…