25 years ago communism collapsed in Europe, brought down by the masses – masses acting similarly to those who had come together to establish it as a political system at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time communism seemed to address the widespread social injustice and exploitation of capitalism, and offered a vision of equal rights, justice and liberty…

A couple of weeks ago, at about nine o’clock in the evening, my doorbell rang. A man in his mid-twenties was looking for help to get back home by bus to somewhere down in Fife. He said he was stuck in Buckie after the friends he came to visit had departed before his arrival. He needed twenty-odd pounds for bus…

On a fairly regular basis I find myself on the receiving end of a bit of praise for what I’ve done, or said, or been. It’s very flattering, and undoubtedly very pleasant. Who wouldn’t like to hear nice things about themselves? We all need appreciation; we all want at least to be noticed. The down side to hearing all that…

We don’t have to be very sharp to notice that our congregation is rather rich: together we have quite a lot of silver. Sometimes it’s covered, sometimes dyed, and sometimes invisible like mine, because I’m clean-shaven and my hairdo is very short. In other words, our congregation is not particularly diverse age-wise. We are not unique here; it’s the same…

Sometimes I’m being accused. Of leniency. Of being too soft with lapsed Catholics, when they request baptism for their child, or their wedding, or a Catholic funeral for a deceased relative. Sometimes practising Christians seem to expect me to adopt a stricter and tougher approach, leading either to the refusal of requests from the lapsed or to the extraction of…