Scottish Catholic Observer

Youth rally at Murrayfield

By Bishop Vincent Logan

May 31, 1982, is a day I will never forget. The memories of that day will simply live with me forever as one of the highlights of my life and of my priestly ministry.

It was the day Pope John Paul II came to Scotland and was greeted by thousands of young Scottish Catholics at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium.

The visit to Great Britain by the Holy Father had hung in the balance because of the conflict in the Falklands. It was only at the last minute, thanks to the intervention in Rome of among others Cardinal Gordon Gray and Archbishop Thomas Winning, that it was decided the visit would go ahead.

What excitement there was among the whole Catholic community in Scotland to know that the Holy Father would walk among us in our own country.

I had been Bishop of Dunkeld for just over a year, having been ordained bishop in February 1981. I was at that time the youngest member of the Scottish hierarchy, aged just 40. As a result, my fellow bishops chose me to celebrate the Mass for our young people at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium before the arrival of Pope John Paul II.

I was very touched to be given such an honour by my brother bishops. I will never forget walking out into the stadium and seeing, and hearing, all these young people, so excited and so eager to welcome Pope John Paul.

The noise was incredible, but nothing compared to the levels that would be reached when the Holy Father finally entered the stadium.

The bishops had gone to Edinburgh Airport to meet the Holy Father and it was just an incredible moment when he emerged from the plane. Then, of course, as he always did at that time, he knelt down and kissed the ground.

That was a very moving moment for all of us. Here was our Pope, on Scottish soil, an event of which we had hardly dared dream.

As I say, I was privileged to celebrate the Mass, with eight of Scotland’s youngest priests, for our young people before the Holy Father arrived. The sight that greeted us as we processed out was incredible. There were banners from dioceses, schools, the yellow and white of the Papal flags. It was just a sea of colour.

I can remember, in preparing for the Mass, thinking that it was like a meeting of St Peter and St Andrew. Peter had come to meet his brother in faith Andrew. And our young people, from every part of Scotland, had travelled to spend time with the successor of Peter.

The singing of the young people was tremendous, most uplifting, so full of energy. Yet it was still Mass, and they were most reverential. The noise could be deafening at one point, but then they were so still and prayerful when the Liturgy demanded it. It was an exuberant preparation for the long-awaited visit of Pope John Paul, but it was also prayerful, and I shall always remember that.

After Mass had ended, they just kept singing and singing. Their sheer exuberance, their energy, their faith, was just a joy to behold.

Then, of course, the moment we had all been waiting for, as the word spread that the Popemobile was arriving, and at last, hours after we had first gathered in the stadium, Pope John Paul arrived.

I didn’t think the cheers of 50,000 young Scots could have got any louder, but they did. The stadium just erupted as he entered. The pipe band played their hearts out walking round the stadium, but they were completely drowned out by the noise as endless chants of John Paul rang out.

We bishops felt like cheering as well, but we managed to maintain our dignity and contented ourselves with clapping.

Eventually, the Holy Father joined us on the podium and when Cardinal Gray began his introduction saying he presented the young people of Scotland to the Pope, the cheering broke out again.

But that was nothing compared to the rapturous reaction that greeted the Pope’s greeting to the crowd. There was no roof, but it surely would have been lifted off had there been one, for they cheered his words with such gusto.

The Pope just stood there patiently, smiling, clearly delighted by the warmth of his welcome. He had an instant rapport with the young people. They loved him, and he clearly loved them in return.

And they listened to him. For his speech to them dealt with all the difficult issues which many of them were facing, or would face. He taught them and gave them a valuable lesson in the values which they needed to sustain them through life, the values of the Gospel.

He was a consummate communicator and he certainly reached out and touched the lives of all of us who were there.

Even now, 30 years on, I meet people like myself, who were there then, and, not so young now, we still recall with great joy the immense privilege that was ours to be part of that great day when Peter met Andrew, when Pope John Paul II came to Scotland, came to Murrayfield and made his home in the hearts of 50,000 young Scots.

Talking to his God

By Liz Leydon

News of Pope John Paul II’s Beatification on May 1 came as no surprise to leading Scottish businessman Sir Tom Farmer.

“Pope John Paul II was a leader in everything,” he said. “An example to all people. This was a man who made such a difference in the world by his example and strength. His Faith never wavered.”

Sir Tom met the late Holy Father for the first time during John Paul II’s visit to Scotland in 1982.

“I received a phone call from Cardinal Gordon Gray who was preparing for the Pope’s visit,” the Edinburgh-based businessman said. “The cardinal told me ‘I need somebody to be by my side [during this time], would you do that?’”

As a result of agreeing to this request Sir Tom was privy to the massive team effort from clergy and laity surrounding the 1982 Papal visit, and again in 2010 when Pope Benedict XVI came to Scotland.

In 1982 Sir Tom attended a number of the events organised for the Papal visit. He told the SCO he will never forget the atmosphere and the echoes of Our God Reigns as the Holy Father drove into Murrayfield Stadium for the youth rally.

“It made the hair stand up on the back of your neck,” he said. “It is a day than many, including my daughter, say they will never forget.”

Pope John Paul II stayed for two nights at the cardinal’s residence in Edinburgh during his visit in 1982 and Sir Tom spent each day there until late in the evening.

“It was a tremendous experience,” he said. “And my path crossed with the Holy Father’s several times.”

One memory that stands out for him is when Pope John Paul II made an impromptu visit to the kitchen at the cardinal’s residence. Nerves got the better of the young religious sisters there, caught off guard. However, according to Sir Tom, Sr Zeta, the cardinal’s housekeeper and a nun of considerable years, said: “Sisters, behave yourselves, after all he is only some mother’s son.” It was a comment that made the Holy Father laugh out loud.

“Experiences like that made people warm to him throughout the world,” Sir Tom said. “He was not aloof.”

He was in the presence of Pope John Paul II on a number of other occasions, including during the Scottish bishops’ ad limina visits to Rome and when Cardinal Keith O’Brien was elevated.

Sir Tom and his wife Anne were present for a Mass the late Pontiff celebrated in his private chapel with the Scottish bishops, joined by the priests and seminarians from the Pontifical Scots College in Rome.

“We were made to feel so welcome, it was just like visiting a grand living room,” Sir Tom said.

And while acknowledging Pope John Paul II was a man who ‘knew how to present himself’ as leader of the universal Church, he also recalled seeing a different side to him at prayer.

“This was a man who became immersed in conversation with his God,” Sir Tom said. “When he was saying his prayers nothing else mattered.

“From his hand to his forehead, or from the expression on his face, you knew he was talking to God.”

In addition to moments of levity, and periods of prayer, Sir Tom also recalled more painful memories as, towards the end of his life, Pope John Paul II remained steadfast and determined to be with his people even as his health failed.

“I saw the emotion which people felt in the last few months of his life when, in spite of everything, he struggled to be with them even when he was in a wheelchair,” he said.

And when news of Pope John Paul’s death on Saturday April 2, 2005 reached Edinburgh, Sir Tom and his wife decided to visit St Mary’s Cathedral to pray. When they arrived they found the cathedral full, with many of those congregated young people who had stopped in on their way to a night out. The late Mgr David Gemmell had bathed the cathedral in candlelight, Sir Tom said ‘and the young people just sat there and I thought to myself now that is something. This shows the inspiration he was and the affect that Pope John Paul II had on everyone, young and old.

He was a truly great Pope

By Ian Dunn

SCIAF’s chief executive Paul Chitnis only had three brief encounters with Pope John Paul II but they all left a lasting impression on him.

The first occasion came when he was still a young man.

“It was when the Pope came to Britain in 1982, at the open air Mass at Coventry,” he recalled. “My sister was one of the people being confirmed by Pope John Paul and I was her sponsor so I was on the altar as well.”

That remarkable day remains etched on his mind.

“I remember how blue the sky was,” he said. “It was a beautiful day. And I remember how the excitement just built and built as we waited for him to arrive.”

One element of that Papal visit that had a real impact on him was the speech that the late Holy Father gave at St Joseph’s care home in Rosewell when he urged all Catholics to love and assist the handicapped.

“I do remember being very struck by that,” he said. “And I later went on to work with the disabled a great deal at a charity so in a way it steered my life.”

His next encounter came in Rome, many years later.

“Myself and my wife and my daughter who was only a few months old at the time had gone over to Rome for Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s ordination as a cardinal,” he said. “We were held up with our daughter and by the time we got to St Peter’s Basilica for the service it was late and we had to take a seat right at the back.”

What seemed unfortunate would turn out to be a blessing.

“I was a bit annoyed because we couldn’t really see anything as the place was packed and we were so far back,” he said. “But at the end of the Mass the Pope came down past him on his mobile throne.”

It was an opportunity that he simply couldn’t pass up.

“I went forward holding my daughter, and I leant over a group of continental women and I held her up and though the Pope was very frail, he raised his arm up straight and blessed her. It was quite a moment.”

Though his daughter was too young to remember the incident he thinks it will still be important to her.

“It’s a great thing to be able to tell her when she’s older that she was blessed by Pope John Paul,” he said. “Because he was a truly great Pope.”

Their final meeting came in 2003.

“I was again in Rome, this time with SCIAF, for a meeting in the Vatican with African Bishops and other international development agencies,” he said. “And afterwards we were ushered into another room to wait to meet him.

“I remember the excitement building again, as we waited for him to come in and Bishop Peter Moran who was with me very kindly gave his seat which was further forward so I would have a chance to meet him.

“When he arrived his charisma was still extraordinary even though he was very frail at that point. I recall at that point people saying it wasn’t good that he remained Pope despite being so unwell but I think he bore it with such grace he set an extraordinary example, and showed that we need to treat people who have disabilities with kindness and love.”

Though their meeting was again brief it was, nonetheless, powerful.

“Just to kiss his ring and briefly meet him was a great honour that will stay with me,” he said. “Because he was a truly great Pope.”

John Paul II ‘captured everybody’s heart’

By Martin Dunlop

A ‘charismatic Pope… who captured everybody’s heart,’ is how Pope John Paul II is remembered by Winnie Tuohy, director of services at St Joseph’s residential care home, Rosewell, Midlothian.

The day the Holy Father came to the small village of Rosewell is one that will never be forgotten by the many people whose lives the late Pontiff touched on June 1, 1982.

St Joseph’s is run by the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, caring for people with learning disabilities, and, although they have now moved to a different site in the village, the memories of that glorious day are still vivid for Ms Tuohy and the many other people who shared in the great joy of the Papal visit.

What made the day even more special for the St Joseph’s community was that Pope John Paul asked, at his own request, that he visit the care home during his trip to Scotland.

Looking back at the events of 29 years ago, Ms Tuohy—who was a nurse at St Joseph’s in 1982—recalled that the Holy Father specifically requested that he should visit a house of the Sisters of Charity while in Scotland, as the sisters had looked after him when he was ill in Poland during his youth.

“We felt very privileged that he would choose to come to a small mining village and spend time with us and we couldn’t believe it when we found this out,” Ms Tuohy said.

For the Pope’s visit, Ms Tuohy was in charge of the first aid team and recalled that ‘thankfully, there were no incidents.’

“There was such an elated mood and everybody was so excited,” she said.

The walls of St Joseph’s are adorned with mementoes of the day the Pope came to visit them and, as Ms Tuohy remembers fondly, he spent as much time as he could speaking to residents and nursing staff as well as sharing a few laughs with some of the children.

“Although he was celebrating Mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow later that day, he was in no hurry and stayed for almost three hours,” Ms Tuohy said. “He was very keen to shake hands with as many people as he could.”

Ms Tuohy recalled a story she felt aptly reflected the Holy Father’s joyous mood in meeting the children at St Joseph’s.

“There was a young boy in the children’s ward whose name was Paul,” she said.

“When the Pope came into the ward, Paul said to him, very naturally: ‘How are you today, John Paul?’ The Pope got such a surprise but he reacted very well as he had such a good sense of humour.”

Pope John Paul was also taken aback when met by two fellow Polish people at St Joseph’s, decked out from head to toe in national dress, but, as Ms Tuohy recalled, he reacted with his usual characteristic wit.

“He spoke so naturally to everybody and he had such charisma,” she said. “He captured everybody’s heart and he was somebody you felt you could relate to. He had the ability to connect with people and he certainly showed that here. Even with some of the people at St Joseph’s who couldn’t communicate well with him he still responded so positively.”

During his visit to St Joseph’s the Pope said private prayers at the hospital chapel and delivered an address to all those gathered, including a media throng, who had their own room set aside at the hospital.

“It was such a buzz and it continued to be that way for such a long time after the visit,” Ms Tuohy said. “It is sad to think that some of the people he met that day are no longer with us but it is good that they had that opportunity in their life to do so.”

In particular, Ms Tuohy mentioned Sr Patricia, the matron of St Joseph’s at the time, who took the lead in escorting the Holy Father on June 1, 1982 and who sadly died not long after the event.

Ms Tuohy said that not only was the visit of Pope John Paul II one of great joy but it also served as the finest endorsement of the sisters’ work.

“Because he had actually requested to come to visit us in the hospital it made it feel like such an honour and the excitement just rippled through everybody that was involved,” she said. “It’s a memory that doesn’t fade and it shows a real respect for the Sisters of Charity.

“The sisters are a community who serve people, not only here, but internationally and respond to need all over the world. Pope John Paul recognised the work of the order and what greater respect can you show than coming to visit the community and see them work directly for yourself?”

As is central to the theme of St Joseph’s, Ms Tuohy happily recalled the joy that the visit of the Pope brought to others, but she does remember with great fondness however, the couple of seconds the Pope spent speaking to her.

“Heading up the first aid team we thought we would be very much in the background but the Pope found us and made a point of speaking to us all individually and saying hello,” Ms Tuohy said. “While I was in the vicinity I heard him saying: ‘God bless you’ to everybody he met. It was very gentle and it is remarkable to think that I have shaken hands with somebody who is on the path to sainthood.”