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Serra GB focus June 2020 “Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there” (Matthew 19:2) To foster and promote vocations to the ministerial priesthood in the Catholic Church as a particular vocation to service, and to support priests in their sacred ministry. To encourage and affirm vocations to consecrated religious life in the Catholic Church. To assist its members to recognize and respond in their own lives to God’s call to holiness in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. Consider joining our Serran apostolate contact the editor Alex Duncan: [email protected] Under the patronage of the His Eminence Most Reverend Vincent Cardinal Nichols and Most Reverend Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop of Glasgow For more information visit: www.serragb.org.uk 1 From the editor. A Message from Serra International This, Covid-19, this virus has struck at the very heart of the Episcopal Adviser priesthood virtually stopping their normal outreach to the sick, the elderly and the dying. This virus has closed our churches His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins and restricted school attendance. This virus has forced us to during this COVID-19 Pandemic. stay apart, prevented us from having our public celebration of Mass and prevented us from receiving the Eucharist, the healing sacraments of the Sick and Reconciliation, delayed our children receiving their first Holy Communion and Confirmation. It has postponed the joyful celebrations of Baptism and Marriage. Saddest of all it has restricted our capacity to draw close to our families to those who need our care, the sick and those bereaved. It has heightened anxieties and threatened the basic right of some to work and provide food for their families. But it has also brought out the kindness and charity in our neighbours and the people of our country. It is humbling for us to witness the vocation and care of the doctors and nurses who Click here to listen: https://youtu.be/vELNWdp-tug are working in hospitals, care homes and indeed all those who are working to provide the essentials in our lives. Our people Thank you, Your Eminence for your words of spiritual have come together and personally raised funds to support our guidance and encouragement. We need the light of faith NHS and communities. during these dark times. God bless you and keep you safe. I am amazed at the loving response of our young people who A message from the Archbishop of Glasgow are volunteering and reaching out to the elderly, the lonely, Most Reverend Philip Tartaglia: delivering groceries, stocking food banks and offering messages of encouragement and hope. Pray with faith, pray with hope, pray with love. Pray In our parishes technology has given us an opportunity to see with Mary that the Mother of God may intercede for and listen to mass with millions of people across the country us and protect us with a mother’s love in this time of who are gathering for virtual Mass daily. danger.” Our priests remain strong in this crisis, they do need our prayer Mary, Mother of Vocations, Pray for us! and support to be the Good Shepherds to our people, to Saint Junipero Serra, Pray for us! encourage them, to bring hope and consolation to those afflicted by this virus. Being a priest during this Covid-19 crisis. As Serrans our mission is to support our priests and religious in their sacred ministries, we can keep contact with them Mr Ricky Jackson one of our Glasgow Serrans attends the through technology and continue to pray that those the Lord online mass celebrated by Fr James Lawlor in the church of has chosen will find grace, comfort and strength in these very Immaculate Conception, Maryhill, Glasgow. In his homily difficult days. We ourselves are still meeting in prayer through “Being a priest during this Covid-19 crisis” Fr Lawlor social media and technology. addresses “The model of a separated, exalted and elitist We are now some four months into this Covid-19 period of priesthood is drawing its last breath …. It can only be crisis and uncertainty, each time I review this message we Christian love”. have received different guidance as the science dictates. This has always been the reality but more relevant in our daily What is certain, is this crisis is far from over we must continue living through this period of isolation. when we cannot to pray for God’s people, for those deceased, for the safety of physically attend Mass or receive the Eucharist. our families and friends, for our priests and religious who are serving our communities. Fr Lawlor is a past speaker at Glasgow Serra meetings. You Lord, give us the grace to live the questions in the confidence can listen to his homily between the times of 9.40 ----16.55 on that we do not have to have all the answers. the Facebook recording . Fo llow the li nk below: https://www.facebook.com/ImmaculateConceptionMaryhill/vi Prayers during this period of Coronavirus can be deos/627134798133967/?t=912 downloaded from our website at www.serragreatbritain.org.uk Resources 2 Having just celebrated the 75th anniversary of VE Lockdown: Seeds of Hope and Faith day I would like to share with you one story of a priest who gave his life to save others 75 years ago. Sister Clare fcj, of The Faithful Companions of The Angel of Dachau Jesus, is the spiritual Hubert Unzeitig, also known director of novices, and as the Angel of Dachau, reflects on how the a priest of the Congregation of coronavirus pandemic Missionaries of Marianhill. is bringing a new sense Ordained in 1939 and taking of connectedness to her the name Engelmar, was a parish priest in the diocese of local parish. Glöckelberg, Czech Republic and arrested by the Gestapo Like many others around the world I am discovering on 21st April 1941 for the new ways of being church during the lockdown. crime of being a priest and Despite missing receiving the Eucharist I have found preaching against against ‘online Mass’ deeply nourishing. It is amazing to note the Nazis regime, As punishment, Fr. Unzeitig that the number of people participating via social was sent to: Dachau concentration camp, what has been media far exceeds the number who attend daily Mass called the “largest monastery in the world”. Due to the high in person. number of ministers and priests within its walls. He Other churches around the country have experienced learned Russian so he could minister to prisoners from the same phenomenon. Shrewsbury Cathedral, for Eastern Europe. He volunteered to tend to those suffering example, has reported that the online congregation for from typhoid live-streamed services are the largest in its 170 years For several years, Fr. Unzeitig was able to remain in of history. relatively stable health despite the poor treatment he In my parish there is now more interaction between received. However, when a wave of the often-fatal typhoid parishioners because the fact that daily Mass is live fever swept through the camp in 1945, he and 19 other streamed via Facebook allows parishioners to greet priests volunteered to do what no one else wanted to – care for the sick and dying in the typhoid barracks, an almost- each other and to add comments about the service. The certain death sentence in and of itself. He and his parish priest sends an email each day which always companions spent their days bathing and caring for the sick, contains a reflection or a poem or a piece of art. Many praying with them and offering last rites times, these items are contributed by parishioners. He Eventually, on March 2, 1945, Fr. Unzeitig succumbed to also shares updates on the local situation or suggests typhoid fever himself, along with all but two of the other ways of supporting local retailers and often there is a priest volunteers. Dachau was liberated by American puzzle or a quiz to sharpen the mind. soldiers just a few weeks later, on April 29. New things are happening by telephone too. In an attempt to take care of parishioners who may need help In recognition of his heroic virtue, Fr. Engelmar Unzeitig every member of my home parish has been contacted was declared venerable by Benedict XVI on July 3, 2009. by telephone to check that they are alright and if they On January 21, Pope Francis officially acknowledged Fr. Unzeitig as a martyr, killed in hatred of the faith, which need any help in any way. A smaller list of people who opens the path for his beatification, the next step in require regular contact and other forms of help has becoming a canonized saint. He was declared venerable by been complied and the telephone volunteers are taking Benedict XVI on July 3, 2009. care of them. A new sense of connectedness is pervading the On January 21, Pope Francis officially acknowledged Fr. parish and a kind of renewal is happening. Unzeitig as a martyr, killed in hatred of the faith, which We must stay apart and yet are finding new ways to opens the path for his beatification, the next step in stay connected and are enjoying ourselves in the becoming a canonized saint. process. I am sure my parish is not unique and that “Even behind the hardest sacrifices and worst suffering parishes all around the world are experiencing stands God with his Fatherly love, who is satisfied with the something similar. I find myself wondering: good will of his children and gives them and others ……… “If we are seeing new signs of following our faith”.