Scottish Catholic Observer

Summer holidays are a source of great excitement, when we all try to take a break from our usual routine and the lucky ones even get to go away on holiday. There is a feeling for freedom in the air. As some parish priests also get to travel in the summer, it becomes increasingly tempting, for some of us—particularly those with young children, to miss Mass. If the children are playing in the paddling pool on a blistering hot day, it becomes easier to not take them into a hot church when ‘Father [insert name here] isn’t even going to be there to miss us.’

While we all need to take a break from the stresses and strains of modern life at times, don’t take a break from who you are this summer; a Catholic. Think of finding the local chapel at your holiday resort as a new way of evangelising, or finding an oasis of calm to take a real break. Tell your teenagers who are taking their first fledgling steps into adulthood on a holiday with friends to remember who they are.

Some of us will mark this summer on pilgrimages, be it on an organised trips with our dioceses, a personal or family event or a day trip such as travelling to the national pilgrimage in Keith last weekend. For those going on a family beach holiday, however, why not pack holiday reading that will stimulate rather than just entertain? An e-reader does not take up much room and can discreetly contain a Bible, Papal encyclical or even preparatory materials on the Church, family and marriage ahead of the October synod.

If you are not a reader, what better way to make time at the airport or pool fly by than in prayer? For who is not inspired to praise God when witnessing his wonder in the great outdoors? This summer let’s pray for the new bishop of Argyll and the Isles, who is expected to be named in September, and for the new auxiliary bishop of Glasgow, who has also yet to be selected. Let’s pray for the newly ordained priests and all of those who have just celebrated special anniversaries in the last month. In addition, we all have our own special intentions.

Remember, holidays are not the time to escape from who you are but to be the person you want to be. And, with any luck, you will be able to hold onto that holiday feeling and that openness to being Catholic when you return to your everyday lives. We hear of, and unfortunately see, religious oppression and violence against faith regularly in the news.

True freedom, everyday not just on summer holiday, is the freedom to be who you are and worship freely. And we are Catholics in Scotland, a society that needs to respect and protect our beliefs.