BY Daniel Harkins | November 27 | 
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Masses for Paris in Glasgow, Aberdeen
Archbishop Philip Tartaglia celebrated a Mass of ‘solidarity and hope’ last week in St Andrews Cathedral for the victims of the terrorist attack in Paris that killed 130 people, and Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen celebrated a special Mass in French.
The Glasgow Archbishop, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, said that with the French people we hope for ‘the victory of humanity over inhumanity, of peaceful coexistence over civil strife, of democracy over tyranny, of civilisation over chaos, and of hope over despair.’
The Mass was attended by Dr John Campbell, honorary French consul in Glasgow, who gave a reading in French during the Mass and offered a vote of thanks at the end. Justice Secretary Michael Matheson MSP represented the Scottish Government, with Glasgow Lord Provost Sadie Docherty also in the congregation.
“Sometimes when bad things happen, we need to ask why, and sometimes we ask why in pain and anguish,” Archbishop Tartaglia said. “Sometimes we say angrily to God, ‘Where were you? Why did you allow it?’ But what happened in Paris was not a random tragic accident of the kind we have seen in Glasgow in the last two years, which have left us all bewildered. The difference is that we know the why of the Paris atrocity.
“There is no mystery about it. Men did it. They wanted it. They planned it. They carried it out.
“God does not want that for his children. And so he gave us his Son who, through his death and resurrection, offers us the grace to love one another in peace and to enjoy the fullness of life. Once again this evening Jesus invites us to come to him and to put our trust in him.”
Last Saturday, Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen, where there is a large French community, celebrated a French Mass in St Francis of Assisi. In a homily given at Sunday Mass the previous week to a congregation including some of the French community, Bishop Gilbert spoke about a well-known saying.
“There is a saying that everyone has two countries; their own and France,” he said. “We might feel that particularly at the moment…many of us surely have friends, relatives in France… we want to express our solidarity with them, and as Christians we want to pray for those who have died, and for wisdom and comfort and strength for the living, and pray for peace.”
—This story ran in full in the November 27 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.
Pic: Paul McSHERRY
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