Scottish Catholic Observer

One of Scotland’s newest priests will help Cardinal Keith O’Brien open this year’s New Dawn in Scotland conference.

The week-long third annual New Dawn in Scotland event opens at St Andrews on Monday with Cardinal O’Brien celebrating Mass helped by one of the two priests being ordained in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Conference

New Dawn is a Catholic family conference and invites people from across the Church to join together in prayer and worship. This year’s conference, taking place at St Andrews’ Madras College, has the theme: Is this the time for you to live in your panelled houses, when this house lies in ruins? (Haggai 1:4-10)

Cardinal O’Brien will open the conference by celebrating Mass with Fr John Deighan (above right), who, as the SCO went to press, was preparing to be ordained a priest for St Andrews and Edinburgh Archdiocese at St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh alongside Jeremy Milne.

Margaret Duncan, one of the speakers at New Dawn, who has served the movement in Scotland for a number of years, believes that the presence of Cardinal O’Brien will help bring the conference and Charismatic Renewal ‘into the mainstream.’

“The fact that the cardinal is celebrating Mass with us is very important,” Ms Duncan, a parishioner of St Columba’s Church, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, said.

Speakers

Ms Duncan has had a book about her life story, Freed to be Me, published and she is one of the first Scottish-based speakers to be addressing the New Dawn in Scotland conference, since it was first held in 2010.

Ms Duncan will speak to those gathered at the conference on the subject of reconciliation, and, as a former alcoholic, she explained that joining the Charismatic Renewal movement ‘changed my life.’ She said that, prior to her involvement in Charismatic Renewal, her Faith had become ‘a habit’ and, although she never stopped attending Mass, it ‘did not have an impact’ on her life at that point.

“Some people have a problem with religion and they have many misconceptions about it,” she said. “I want to give people new ideas about religion; religion is relevant in today’s society.”

The five-day New Dawn conference will have a different topic to focus on each day and there will be a wide variety of speakers.

Celebrations

On Thursday, Bishop Joseph Toal of Argyll and the Isles will celebrate an open-air Mass with priests from across Scotland at the ruins of St Andrews Cathedral.

Prior to the Mass, a Rosary procession will leave Madras College at 10am through the streets of St Andrews, a procession that will be led by the holding of a statue of Our Lady of Aberdeen.

Joining those taking part in the Rosary procession and celebration of Mass at the cathedral will be a group of pilgrims who are scheduled to complete The Way of St Andrews pilgrimage walk next Thursday.

The ancient Scottish pilgrimage route has been re-established by churchgoers from St Andrews and Edinburgh Archdiocese—who hope that the walk will one day rival the world famous Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage walk in Spain—and the inaugural walk of the modern era is scheduled to depart from Leith Walk in Edinburgh this Sunday.

Cardinal O’Brien will launch this Sunday’s walk and participate in the first steps with the pilgrims on their way to St Andrews.

Hugh Lockhart, a parishioner of St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh, is part of the group that has helped re-establish the pilgrimage route, and he is looking forward to Sunday’s departure and, ultimately, joining the New Dawn conference next Thursday.

“Let’s hope this is the start of something big,” Mr Lockhart said. “We hope it can become a rolling pilgrimage that people can do in their own time.”

Running parallel to the main New Dawn event next week will be a youth ministry, which is also being held at Madras College. The youth ministry will be in a separate venue within the college and will be open to those aged 16-21. Younger children will also be catered for and will be placed in appropriate age groups.

— For further information about the programme and the New Dawn in

Scotland conference, visit the website: http://www.newdawninscotland.com

—[email protected]