Scottish Catholic Observer

In times of rapid and frightening change the Church provides a welcome solidity. By the time you read this it will have been a week since Britain voted to leave the EU. Since then, the Prime Minister has resigned along with 90 per cent of the Shadow Cabinet, the pound has slumped in value as the markets oscillate wildly and Nicola Sturgeon has said another referendum on independence is ‘on the table.’

Though the world may be going mad around us, we can look to the Lord and know we are part of an unbroken tradition that stretches back 2000 years that is bigger than any of us.

That history is on display in Dundee where we report that Mass was celebrated in the extraordinary form by a bishop in a Scottish Cathedral for the first time since the Second Vatican council. That Mass, in Dundee’s St Andrew’s Cathedral, was also the wedding of Julie Allison and Joseph Geoghegan. We pass on our congratulations and note that the depth of our Church’s history is matched by its breadth.

Despite that history we are not stagnant—the news that Galloway Diocese is to appoint a woman as a chancellor is significant. Change is possible and a greater role for women in the leadership of the Church can only be welcomed.

As the world around us spins ever faster, the strength of the Church is that it carries its history with it, while also turning to face each new day.