Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As I begin this period as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Motherwell, I ask your prayers for me and all with whom I will be involved during the coming months.  Hopefully my time as Administrator will be short-lived and you will soon have a new bishop appointed.  We pray also for that intention and for those responsible for his choice.

I know most of the priests in this Diocese and many of the lay faithful also.  I have always been impressed by your communion in the Catholic Faith and your commitment to that Faith in all facets of life, whether in the celebration of the Church’s worship or the practical application of the Lord’s teaching in daily living.  As we look to the future our prayer is also that all the good things we do as Catholics here in Lanarkshire and across Scotland, may continue to bear fruit and be a light and a beacon of hope in our society.

Let us pray that we may be strengthened by the Holy Spirit and ready always to serve the Lord and his Church with our hearts and minds renewed.

God bless you all and this great Diocese of Motherwell

Yours in the Lord Jesus Christ

1. ✤Joseph Toal
   

Apostolic Administrator

Extract from a letter to the Diocese of Motherwell  from Bishop Joseph Toal, Apostolic Administrator

Being ordained as ministerial priests in the Church means not only being sent out into the world to proclaim the Good News as willing servants.  It means also being called by Christ simply “to be with him”. Not simply being prepared to do the work of the Lord, but being prepared also to make space every day in our lives for  the Lord of the work. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, in a talk he gave in May 2005 to the clergy of Rome, had this to say on the subject:  “Spending time in God’s presence in prayer is a real pastoral priority; it is not an addition to pastoral work:  being before the Lord is a pastoral priority and in the final analysis, the most important.”  And speaking on the same theme, on another occasion, he remarked: 

Whenever priests, because of their many duties, allot less and less time to being with the Lord, they eventually lose, for all their often heroic activity, the inner strength that sustains them.  Their activity ends up as an empty activism.  To be with Christ—how does that come about?  Well, the first and most important thing for the priest is his daily Mass, always celebrated with deep interior participation.  If we celebrate Mass truly as men of prayer, if we unite our words and our activities to the Word that precedes us and let them be shaped by the Eucharistic celebration, if in Communion we let ourselves truly be embraced by him and receive him—then we are being with him.

O Jesus, our great High Priest, hear my humble prayers on behalf of your priests.

Give them a deep faith, a bright and firm hope and a burning love which will ever increase in the course of their priestly life.

In their loneliness, comfort them.

In their sorrows, strengthen them.

In their frustrations, point out to them that it is through suffering that the soul is purified, and show them that they are needed by the Church; they are needed by souls; they are needed for the work of redemption.

The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, recently visited Scotland.

He spoke to the priests in Motherwell Cathedral, gave the homily at a Mass for Educators in St Andrew’s Cathedral.

Archbishop Müller also delivered the Cardinal Winning lecture at Glasgow University on the occasion of the launch of the new Saint Andrew’s Foundation.

In addition, the Prefect brought with him a message of encouragement from the Holy Father—reproduced below and across:

Your Excellency

His Holiness Pope Francis was pleased to learn that you are to journey to Scotland for the Cardinal Winning Lecture at Glasgow University, and a meeting with the Catholic clergy.

Just as his beloved predecessor, Benedict XVI, strongly advocated Catholic education in Scotland during Mass in Glasgow in 2010, Pope Francis is happy to add his voice in support of Catholic education in the country. He asks you to convey his greetings to Catholic teachers and to those preparing them at Glasgow University, and his good wishes for the success of the Saint Andrew’s Foundation for Catholic teacher education. He sincerely hopes that the initiative will help promote and improve the quality of instruction - formal, catechetical and above all spiritual - given to future educators in the country's Catholic schools.

In particular, His Holiness asks you to great warmly all the  Catholics of Scotland, especially the priests whom you will meet during your visit. Aware of recent challenges and of the crosses they have patiently borne, His Holiness earnestly

prays for a renewal among them of truth, mutual pardon and charity through fidelity to the gospel message of conversion, for the good of all Scotland‘s Catholics.

Invoking the intercession of Saint Andrew and Saint Margaret,  the Holy Father willingly imparts his Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of courage and strength in the Lord.

Yours sincerely in Christ,

Secretary of State

The Most Reverend Gerhard Ludwig Muller

Prefect

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

VATICAN CITY

Extract from  Archbishop Muller’s talk to Priests

at Our Lady Of Good Aid Cathedral, Motherwell, 14th June 2013

We give thanks for all our priests and congratulate them

on these anniversaries of their ordination:

Canon Ryan, 14th June 1959

Fr Ness, 22nd June 2005

Silver Jubilee

Fr Dominic Quinn, 20th June 1988

Fr Brian Lamb, 26th June 1988