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DIOCESE
Contents The Sign of Peace
DIOCESE
News from around the Diocese including: ne thing I often heard people say during the
A letter from Bishop Hugh OSB.......................................... 3 'Lockdown' was how much they missed being
able to be spontaneous, to be able to give a
The Catholic Women Organisation......................................7 Orelative or friend a hug or a pat on the shoulder.
OBITUARY It was often these small personal interactions which one
Gerald Cunningham ............................................................12 came to realise are such an important part of being human.
Alasdair Roberts RIP...............................................................13 Even at Mass the ‘Sign of Peace’ still continues to be restricted
Canon Alistair Doyle .............................................................14 to an exchange of nods across the pews, before we turn our
FAITH IN ACTION attention back to the altar. While we may not all be hugely
Singing praises with Aberdeen African Choir ...............15 ‘huggy’ people, myself included, most of us would not have
WITNESS had a huge amount of sympathy for the young lawyer who,
a few years ago, was reported to have written to the pastor of
„Klisze Pamięci. Labirynty” ......................................................17 his Protestant church as follows: "I am writing to complain
" Negatives of Memory - Labyrinths" about the congregational ritual known as "Passing the Peace".
EDUCATION AND FORMATION I disagree with it, both personally and professionally, and I'm
A Word from the Lord...........................................................19 prepared to take legal action to cause the practice to cease. ...It
FAITH AND CULTURE is an invasion of my privacy." The pastor responded, "When
On pilgrimage in the North of Scotland ............................21 you joined the church you gave up some of your privacy, for we
The Legacy of St Fergus the Pict .................................. 22 believe in a risen Lord who will never leave us alone."
I wonder though, if that young lawyer, after a prolonged spell
The Church of St Peter, Aberdeen ...................................... 24 of lockdown, would still be so outraged at his fellow worshippers
Mary is a mother with mothers ........................................ 27 daring to invade his private space? Surely, the truth is that
The Candle, Granny, and the Priest ................................ 28 sometimes, consciously or subconsciously, we put up barriers
The last Barbarians of Europe! .......................................... 30 to protect ourselves and sometimes for good reason – to protect
Huntly church's vibrant music tradition since 1818 ......... 31 us from being hurt, after we’ve been hurt or to protect us from
The Perfect Father ................................................................ 33 feelings such as sadness or resentment or grief that we don’t wish
to be disturbed.
Dishes from the Diocese - Shetland ............................... 34 Unfortunately, while barriers can shield us from our
MISCELLANY vulnerability, they can also close the door to a transforming
ALLSORTS of Everything .................................................... 35 religious experience which is what Advent is meant to be about.
CROSSWORD AND SUDOKU ............................................ 36 Perhaps, during this season, it might be worthwhile to check
our fortifications! Perhaps we need to be prepared to drop the
Andrei Nikolayevich Mironov is a largely barriers which we customarily use to protect ourselves and allow
up self taught Russian artist known mainly grace and the Holy Spirit to enter in beyond the defences and
as a portrait painter, though he considers
allow Advent to begin in us.
Advent is, of course, a time of expectant waiting but also
front Christianity to be the major theme of his work. of spiritual preparation. Hopefully, you will find in this issue
Born in Ryazan in 1975, Andrei moved
something which will help, starting with Bishop Hugh Gilbert's
with his family to Ivdel (Sverdlovsk Oblast)
in 1983 and after military service chose a letter on the following page. There is also Eileen Grant's "A
career in the militia. Word from the Lord" on page 19 in which Eileen reflects on
Mironov is not particularly well known in the West and his a word from scripture which has a special resonance for her.
paintings are mainly to be found in Russia in private collections, in Then, Sr Janet Fearns demonstrates how Jesus blesses us through
the Kashira local museum, in the Monastery of Our Lady of Kazan Mary’s hands on page 27 and on page 33 Fr Peter Barry describes
and in the St. Nicholas Church in Yamskaya Sloboda (Ryazan). how, in his youth, he encountered a priest who he considered to
He became a member of the Moscow Union of Artists be the perfect shepherd and father.
International Art Foundation in 2008. You can see more of his Have a very blessed Advent.
paintings on his website: http://artmiro.ru/
Cowan
Managing Editor Advertising
Deacon Tony Schmitz 07816344241
advertising.lightofthenorth@rcd-abdn.org
Editor
Cowan Watson The Light of the North
07816344241 St Mary’s Cathedral
editor.lightofthenorth@rcd-abdn.org 20 Huntly Street
ABERDEEN
Editorial Advisor AB10 1SH
Dr Glen Reynolds www.lightofthenorth.org
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