Scottish seminarians’ dispatch from Rome is a hit

BY James Farrell | August 29 | comments icon 0 COMMENTS print icon print

Scottish seminarians’ dispatch from Rome is a hit

There has been a ‘remarkable’ reaction to the Scots College Magazine, says Deacon Charles Coyle of Motherwell Diocese after the second edition of the revamped seminary publication was released earlier this month.

The aim of the Scots College magazine ‘is to give an idea to those at home of what we do here in Rome and to give a flavour of what life is like here,’ said Deacon Coyle, who edits the magazine alongside fellow students in the editorial team. The funds raised from the magazine are donated to a different charity each year, and this year will help the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative in Glasgow.

All of the Scots seminarians are invited to contribute to the magazine, with ‘professors and teachers, students from other colleges and congregations in Rome’ adding to the mix to ‘broaden the range of experiences’ Deacon Coyle added.

“Each year we try to have a certain theme—this year we looked at Humanae Vitae and languages,” Deacon Coyle said. “We have Fr Paul Denney here who studies Scripture and has to do a lot on languages so we had him write about that as well as one of his professors who has written about the Aramaic language.
“The guys write about their own experiences. Some have written on their experiences in the chaplaincies in Edinburgh and Glasgow for example and how they fostered their vocations.”

The most recent edition of the magazine includes an article on an exhibition on the Stewarts and an article written by Mgr Charlie Burns who celebrated his 60th anniversary as a priest this year in Rome.

Amongst the features there is the ‘five minute mitre,’ a quick-fire interview between a seminarian and his bishop that features every year. This year Bishop Joseph Toal of Motherwell Diocese took part in what Deacon Coyle described as a Celtic View-esque interview. “Maybe next year we’ll get a poster of the bishop included for the reader,” he joked.

“It’s been remarkable. The reaction has been great and we’ve had to cut some things out this year because of the amount of work we put in,” Deacon Coyle added. “We encourage people to contact us to let us know what they thought and people seem to enjoy it.”

The magazine can be ordered through your parish priest at the price of £1.50 or directly from Charles Coyle via email: [email protected].