Scottish Catholic Observer

Mungo’s usual home is in St Charles’ Primary School in Paisley, where he helps the children learn about their Faith and connects the school with the pupil’s homes and the local parish. But the toy bear took a holiday to the Holy See this week with Bishop John Keenan.

St Charles’ depute headteacher Yvonne Kinsella explained how the bear ended up sitting in Pope Francis’ lap at the Vatican.

She said the idea for the prayer bear came out of the World Meeting of Families in Ireland in August. Ms Kinsella’s sister-in-law works for Armagh Diocese and she shared the idea for a bear to help pupils with their Faith. St Charles’ duly adopted two cuddly creatures of their own, Mungo and Maggie, who are named after Scottish saints.

The school plans to send the bears on various pilgrimages around Scotland, to Mass with a different child each Sunday and to Lourdes. Maggie already made the trip to Rome with Fr Jim Duggan of St Charles’ Church — with stops at the Basilica in Ravenna and then onwards to Venice — but Mungo has now topped that with his first pilgrimage straight to seat of the Holy Father.

Bishop Keenan is in Rome this week with the rest of Scotland’s bishops for the Ad Limina visit, a pilgrimage bishops are required to undergo to the tombs of the apostles and to report on their respective dioceses to the Vatican.

“I mentioned [the bear] to Bishop John on one of his pastoral visits in June about a way of keeping the Faith alive and linking home, school and parish and he seemed very interested,” Mrs Kinsella said. “In the new term we secured Maggie and Mungo and in order to inform the children more about their Faith we wanted to provide a narrative of the prayer bears and how they are pilgrims learning about their Faith. This in turn would lead to the children learning more about our Faith, a Faith in action.

“I asked our parish priest Fr Jim Duggan to take Maggie to Rome which he kindly agreed to and also asked Bishop John if he would take Mungo to Rome on the Bear’s first pilgrimage. Marianne Boland at the diocese was instrumental in ensuring it all took place.

“We are excited to launch the bears with a real message of Faith in action in our schools, homes and parish. The bears will go home with a different child each weekend with a prayer sheet and Rosary beads and will accompany them along to Mass on Sunday.”

St Charles’ headteacher Grace Hannigan was delighted that Bishop Keenan had shared the bear with the Pope, and she said Mungo would now come back to the school to share with the children his stories of what happened in Rome.

“This is his first trip—I don’t know if it will get any better,” she joked, and she added that the idea behind the prayer bear was to help the pupils develop a better understanding of their Faith.

“It’s about them coming back and sharing stories about where they’ve been with the bear,” she said. “We are very grateful to everything Bishop John has done for us.”