Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Benedict XVI has declared the Church ‘exists to evangelise’ as Catholics around the world embrace proselytism as part of the Year of Faith, which opened yesterday.

At Sunday’s opening of the 13th Synod of Bishops in Rome, which focuses on the New Evangelisation, Pope Benedict called on every Catholic to spread the Good News to ‘those who do not yet know Jesus Christ and His message of salvation, and those who, though Baptised, have drifted away from the Church.’

That message has been warmly received in Scotland, which was honoured this week by the selection of one of its own—composer James MacMillan—to play a leading role in yesterday’s Mass at St Peter’s to open the Year of Faith on the 50th anniversary of opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Scottish events to mark the Year of Faith—which aims to ‘arouse in every believer the aspiration to profess the Faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, with confidence and hope’—include a national Mass at Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral in Motherwell on November 4. A number of Scottish dioceses celebrated their own Year of Faith Mass this week.

Scottish honour

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow, present as the synod got underway and at the opening of the Year of Faith, took the time to say he was ‘delighted’ that Mr MacMillan had been chosen to represent ‘the artists of the world’ at yesterday’s Year of Faith launch.

Towards the end of the Mass, the Ayrshire-born composer was presented by the Pope with a symbolic copy of the Catholic Church’s ‘Message to Artists’ composed 50 years ago at the end of the Second Vatican Council.

Mr MacMillan, director of music at St Columba’s parish in Glasgow and composer of the 2010 Papal Mass at Bellahouston Park, said he was ‘honoured and humbled’ to have been chosen.

“I have long been aware of Pope Paul’s message to artists at the end of the Second Vatican Council,” he said. “I have always found it moving. It shows that the Church does not discriminate. It was a message to all artists not just Catholic ones. In it, he said ‘if you are friends of genuine art, you are our friends.’

“This reminds us that the Church’s historic mission is the same as Christ’s, to the whole of mankind. I am excited that the on-going dialogue between the Catholic Church and creative people is continuing and that I can play a part in it.”

Archbishop Tartaglia said that all Scottish Catholics should take pride in Mr MacMillan’s recognition.

“I am delighted that the Holy See has recognised the spiritual and artistic contribution of James MacMillan,” the archbishop said. “It is a great honour for a Scot to represent the artists of the world. I have known James for many years and have admired his work, not least his Mass composed for the Papal Visit in 2010. I am sure Scotland’s Catholics and all who recognise James’s Faith and musical talent will be delighted that he has been honoured in this way.”

Call to holiness, marriage

Archbishop Tartaglia heard the Holy Father’s homily at Sunday’s Mass to open the synod, which was a call to holiness addressed to the whole Church.

“We must look with humility at the fragility, even the sins, of many Christians, as individuals and communities, which is a great obstacle to evangelisation and to recognising the force of God that meets human weakness in faith,” he said. “In every time and place, evangelisation always has its starting and finishing points in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

The Pope’s message stressed that Catholics should also celebrate marriage throughout society, because many places were now rejecting it.

“Matrimony is a Gospel in itself, the Good News for the world of today, especially the de-Christianised world,” Pope Benedict said. “The union of a man and a woman, their becoming ‘one flesh’ in charity, in fruitful and indissoluble love, is a sign that speaks of God with a force and an eloquence which in our days has become greater. Unfortunately, for various reasons, marriage, in precisely the oldest regions evangelised, is going through a profound crisis.

Church began with God

Pope Benedict began the Synod of Bishops on Monday at the Synod Hall at the Vatican by explaining to all present how the question as to whether God is real is as urgent today as it was in the past. “With the Gospel, God broke His silence, He spoke to us and entered into history,” he said. “Jesus is His Word, the God who showed that He loved us, who suffered with us even unto death, then rose again.”

This, the Holy Father went on, is the Church’s response to that great question. Yet there is another question he said: How to communicate this truth to the men and women of our time, that they might learn of salvation? “We cannot make the Church,” he said. “We can only make known what He did. The Church did not begin with our actions but with the actions and Word of God.

Youth message

This message of evangelisation, especially to young people, has been chosen as the theme of the National Mass for the Year of Faith in Scotland, which will take place at the start of next month. The members of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, together with the Papal nuncio, will be in attendance. The focus of this Mass will be on the transmission of Faith by bishops, priests, parents, teachers and catechists and a special invitation is being extended to teachers and parents to take part.

Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen said it would be a ‘Mass for everybody and anybody.’

“But it is especially for teachers, Catechists and those who work with young people,” he told a meeting of the Newman Association in Aberdeen last week. “And it will be celebrated very much with them in mind.”

Bishop Gilbert also said he believed the Year of Faith had received a ‘warm reception’ because there was a profound need for it. “I think it is touching on a fundamental need,” he added. “And so there is an opportunity here for us because we want other people to share in the wonderful gift God has given us.

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