Scottish Catholic Observer

Sr Roseann Reddy is well known throughout Glasgow and across Scotland as the founder of the Order of the Sisters of the Gospel of Life and her unceasing work for pro-life causes. However, if not for the last Papal Visit to Scotland her life may have taken a very different turn. Pope John Paul II’s arrival in 1982 changed her life forever.

A new path

“At that time I lived in Bonnybridge in Stirlingshire and I was a parishioner at St Joesph’s,” Sr Roseann said. “I was part of the youth group and I would have been about 18 at that time. I clearly remember the bishops released three themes before the Papal visit. Yes to God, yes to life and yes to each other.”

Those expecting ‘Yes to Life’ to have struck an immediate chord with her may be surprised that it didn’t for someone who is now so associated with the pro-life movement. However she hadn’t given it much thought before the Papal Visit.

“I was quite ambivalent about the whole pro-life thing and would have probably been for a woman’s right to choose if you pinned me to the wall and asked me,” she said. “Not having any idea what that meant of course, but I certainly wasn’t pro-life by any manner of means.

“Myself and the youth group went to investigate the ‘yes to life’ bit so we invited a speaker from SPUC, called Mike Kindle and he came to Bonnybridge and spoke to our youth group. And the message he gave was very thought provoking and helped to change my mind.”

This wasn’t the only change in Sr Roseanne’s life at this time.

“My mum had died in the December of 1981 so it was at a time when I was really thinking about what’s important in life,” she said. “Her Faith was very strong, and she had a very strong prayer life and she was very excited about the Pope coming but obviously she never lived to see it. So the whole thing had a real poignancy for me because of the whole idea of the handing on of the faith.”

It was an incredibly significant thing the Pope did, for me anyway kissing the ground of Scotland, recognising it as a separate country and that I will never forget it.

Through the loss of her mother she also felt a certain kinship with Pope John Paul II.

“Because the Pope’s mother had also died when he was young, and because he came from Poland which to me was very like Scotland because it had a resonance of being a nation that has had to fight hard to be a nation I suppose I always felt there was a bit of a kindred spirit there,” she said.

Murrayfield

Along with the rest of St Joseph’s youth group Sr Roseann had tickets to the youth Mass at Murrayfield and when the day arrived there was huge excitement.

“They had put on a special train and we got on at Falkirk High and off at Haymarket. I remember walking down from the station, just into a sea of people,” she said. “It felt like we were part of the same huge tribe and it was good to be part of the tribe, the tribe was happy because the leader of the tribe was coming.”

Of the Mass at Murrayfield itself she can still picture it clearly.

“From the press reports of the time it seems as if we did nothing but scream but I remember all the things the Pope said and we spoke about them afterwards,” she said. “I remember his smile and us listening to him though we were all very excited.

“The main thing I took away from his words was when you choose for future choose not for yourself alone, that was a real call to not be selfish. When you decide for your future, decide not selfishly, not love or money or power but decide to be there for others, that was quite a concrete thing in my mind.”

Faith foundations

She believes the public expression of Faith during Pope John Paul II’s visit had a lasting impact on Scotland’s Catholics.

“We lived in a village and everyone knew we were one of the Catholic families, so our Catholic identity was part of your DNA, it was a huge part of who you were, there was  still a sectarian thing going on, and though it didn’t really matter in the day-to-day running of life there would be rare occasions when it would rear its ugly head,” she said. “So for us to come and be recognised as a nation proud of our Catholic heritage, meant a great deal to me and I think a lot of other people.”

The joy of the Catholics of Scotland during Pope John Paul II’s visit was part of a much bigger picture to her.

“I was brought up surrounded by people who had a strong Faith, very ordinary people but with great strength and it had cost them to be Catholic,” she said. “It cost people of that generation to stand up for their Faith and bear witness to what they believed in so it meant something to be Catholic when the Pope came, it summed it all up what it meant to us, because we felt different being Catholics but now we felt recognised.”

Bellahouston and vocation

Sr Roseann was lucky enough to also attend the Mass at Bellahouston in 1982.

“What I remember most of all was that when the Pope was leaving we sang Will Ye No Come Back Again. It’s quite a thing to see so many people doing that. I’ve never been in a crowd like that before or since and it was a quite an incredible thing because it was so heartfelt,” she said. “As a young Catholic in the Church we were on a high for a long time after that Papal visit.”

Its effect has clearly lingered to this day.

“It drives me a bit mad, when people say ‘I used to go to Mass on a Sunday and be a Catholic and then I thought about it and I don’t go anymore,’” she said. “Well I thought about it and I gave my life to God as a religious sister. It’s as if their thinking about it is somehow better than my thinking about it. The one thing the Papal visit did, was made me think about things.

“I was a wee girl from Bonnybridge who had hardly been to Glasgow or Edinburgh, and had left school at 15 because that’s what you did. And because this man had come to my wee country, this real superstar had come here, it was just incredible for the confidence it gave us,” she said. “Here is one of the cleverest men in the world, a man who has suffered, and if he has chosen the Church it’s not unreasonable for the likes of me to do that.”

She sees a clear line from that Papal visit to her vocation.

“If you look at what’s really important in life most people would say there’s not much. Your family, your friendships, their beliefs system, whatever it is, most people are not shallow enough to think you can take all this with you, in the end we all wind up food for the maggots,” she said “The Papal visit made me think if you’re going to live, live abundantly, these are my few short years, make them count as he did. Every job I’ve had since that Papal visit has involved working with other people, from that day to this I have always tried to give back some of what I’ve been given which is an incredible amount.”

Excited again

Nearly 30 years later, Sr Roseann is once again excited about the prospect of a Pope visiting Scotland.

“I think ordinary people will give the man a chance because I don’t think ordinary people are cynical about this Pope at all,” she said. “He’s an incredible man, he’s had an incredible life and he’s given his life to the Church, and to the world, because he has worked tirelessly for the good of human life and I think it’ll be a great Papal visit.

“It won’t be the same as Pope John Paul II and it’s not meant to be but I think he will see that we love him, and I hope that it has an uplifting effect on the Church in Scotland.”

Whatever the success of Pope Benedict’s visit, his predecessor’s time in Scotland will never fade from Sr Roseann’s memory.

“One of my favourite memories is of the BBC Radio Scotland reporter reporting on the Pope’s arrival in Edinburgh and he says ‘at 5.55pm a Polish Pope has come and is kissing the ground of Scotland thereby recognising it as a separate nation,’” she said. “Now I have that on tape and I listened to it recently and was moved to tears by it. It was an incredibly significant thing the Pope did, for me anyway kissing the ground of Scotland, recognising it as a separate country and  that I will never forget it.

“It’s funny because I am always getting slagged off for being the oldest person alive because the pro-life initiative is full of young people and young life. But I say I don’t care  how old I am, I saw a Pope kiss the ground of Scotland so I can die a happy woman.”