Scottish Catholic Observer

It was indeed a recipe made in Heaven: young Faith in action; a spotlight on the future of the Church; older teenagers switched on to their Faith and to helping others; the Catholic community united in a single cause; generations joyfully together for a glorious Faith-inspired event. Sound familiar? No, this is not a reference to the Papal Visit of 2010, nor to the last week’s 30th anniversary of the arrival of Pope John Paul II in Scotland in 1982, but to an event inspired by the former and, some might even say, with it roots in the latter: the Caritas Award.

The inaugural Pope Benedict XVI Caritas Award, to give the programme its full name, was presented to 450 Scottish secondary school pupils at a ceremony in the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow on Saturday. The recipients had all dedicated themselves during their sixth year at school to growing in their Faith by helping others in their schools, parishes and communities. The programme also invites others to respond to God’s call of love.

The joyful, high profile award ceremony was tinged with bittersweet sadness, however, as the parents of two students—Reamonn Gormley and Joseph Wilson—collected posthumous awards. However, in spite of the lack of coverage of the ceremony itself by the secular media, nothing can detract from the achievements of the young people or the roaring success of the Caritas programme in keeping the legacy of the 2010 Papal visit alive in all of our hearts and minds.

Young people in our society often face prejudice and suspicion but the Caritas Award has given them something of their own to strive towards, to take pride in and to take with them in their transition from their school days to the rest of their lives. It is truly amazing what young people can do for their communities when they are given the chance through encouragement, support, guidance and a framework. And that is exactly what the bishops of Scotland and the Scottish Catholic Education Service have done for Scotland’s youth with the help of schools, parishes, teachers and parents.

It comes as no surprise, then, that Pope Benedict XVI agreed to allow this unique Faith award programme to be named after him. May it indeed flourish.

At the same time as Scotland marked the achievements of its young people at the Caritas Award ceremony, the Holy Father himself was extolling the virtues of Christian love at the Seventh World Meeting of Families in Milan.

Pope Benedict XVI urged the tens of thousands of families gathered in Milan for the event to use their Christian values and strengths to help bring peace, joy and solidarity to everyone in their lives. “It is within a family that one experiences for the first time how the human person was not created to live closed up in himself, but in relationship with others,” the Pope said.

In the words of Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi: “I think this journey of the Pope in Milan was a wonderful occasion for the Pope and for the Church to announce the Gospel of the Family, the Good News about the Family that in the perspective of the Catholic Church, it is really the place of the love, a place of the life.”

Pic Paul McSherry: (From top) At the inaugural Pope Pope Benedict XVI Caritas Award cermony, a posthumous award was given to Reamonn Gormley, accepted on his behalf by his mum, Ann, dad, Jim and brother, Kieran (above) in the presence of Cardinal O’Brien, Archbishop Mario Conti, Bishop Joseph Devine, Ron Lynch, supreme knight of the Knights of St Columba and Harry Welsh, deputy supreme knight. A posthumous award was also given to Joseph Wilson and was gratefully received by his mum, Veronica, dad, Alan and sister, Angela in the presence of the hierarchy and knights