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The Bishops' Conference of Scotland

The Roman Catholic Bishops in Scotland work together to undertake nationwide initiatives through their Commissions and Agencies.

The members of the Bishops' Conference are the Bishops of the eight Scottish Dioceses. Where appropriate the Bishops Emeriti (retired) provide a much welcomed contribution to the work of the conference. The Bishops' Conference of Scotland is a permanently constituted assembly which meets regularly throughout the year to address relevant business matters.

Members of The Bishops' Conference of Scotland

https://www.holyyear2025.org.uk

Click here to visit the Jubilee 2025 website

The Jubilee Prayer

Father in heaven,
may the faith you have given us
in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,
and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,
your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven. May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth. 

To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever.

Amen

News from the Commissions and Agencies

January 2025
📜HOLY LAND COORDINATION 2025: FINAL COMMUNIQUÉ

✍️Our visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank has concluded with the issuing of the annual Holy Land Coordination Communiqué. The statement for 2025 addresses the announcement of a ceasefire, the impact of both the war and the ongoing occupation on Palestinians in the West Bank, and highlights the invaluable contributions that the Christian communities make to the fields of healthcare and education. It is signed by bishops from the UK, Germany, Spain, USA, and Iceland, including by Archbishop Nolan. Some excerpts from the statement are quoted below followed by a link to read the full text.

💬"We came to the Holy Land, this Jubilee Year, as pilgrims of hope. We came in hope that a fragile ceasefire agreement, announced as we travelled here, would hold. We came looking forward to those, in both Israel and Palestine, who have suffered the atrocities of violence and war, being able to rebuild their shattered lives, to mourn the loss of their loved ones, to come together again as families and to start on the long, uncertain road to recovery..."

💬"The impact of war on the whole West Bank is rarely reported at home. We have
been privileged to listen first-hand to several communities of Christians in the West Bank. To them we wish to say:
'Thank you for the most generous welcome you extended towards us; for helping us understand the extraordinary efforts being made in the fields of healthcare and education to preserve the dignity of all those living in the West Bank. Your communities are a light in the darkness of a suffering Land. We were moved to hear how often Christians expressed their commitment to stay and rebuild the lives of their people...'".

🔗Read the Holy Land Coordination 2025 Final Communiqué in full here: www.theholyland.org.uk/final-communique-of-the-holy-land-co-ordination-18-23-january-2025/

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‘A lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.’ 2 Peter 1:19 We came to the Holy Land, this Jubilee Year, as pilgrims of hope. We came in hope that a fragile ceasefire agreement, announced as we travelled here, would hold. We came looking forward ...
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https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-francis-de-sales/


Saint Francis de Sales was born into a senatorial family where he was destined to work in government positions of authority. Instead, he felt a call to the priesthood and was ordained for the Diocese of Geneva.
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https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-middle-east/2025/01/pope-francis-speaks-to-catholics-in-gaza-parish-after-ceasefire


Pope Francis said the people who have been trapped in a parish in Gaza had a decent meal for the first time in a long time, after a ceasefire was established between Israel and Hamas.
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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/261691/italian-nun-raffaella-petrini-to-head-vatican-governorate


In less than a month and a half, Pope Francis will install Franciscan nun Raffaella Petrini as head of the General Secretariat of the Government of the Vatican City State.
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The Archdiocese of Glasgow Pilgrimage to Lourdes 2025 will take place from 16th to 23rd July, led by the Archbishop of Glasgow, Most Rev William Nolan.

Find all details at: https://joewalshtours.co.uk/tours/glasgow-pilgrimage-to-lourdes/

#Lourdes #Pilgrimage #GlasgowPilgrimage @Archdiocese of Glasgow
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📸 Journals From Jerusalem Day 3

⛪An important aspect of the Holy Land Coordination's annual visit is to celebrate Sunday Mass with a local parish. On Sunday 19th January we journeyed to Aboud, a Palestinian village in the West Bank with nine ancient churches, and where Christians and Muslims live alongside each other. We were warmly welcomed by Father Remon Haddad and the parish community of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows.

🕯️Their pride in their community and love for their faith was a true "light shining in the darkness", the theme of this year's Holy Land Coordination.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 We were delighted to see the flags of the nations represented by the Bishops in the Coordination, which were sourced by the parish for the occasion, carried in the entrance procession by the Palestinian Catholic Scout Association of St John the Baptist.

🤍After mass we joined a parish meeting where locals shared their experiences of life under occupation with the Bishops. One young woman, who works as a nurse in Ramallah, gave a deeply felt testimony detailing how her mother passed away after being refused permission to cross a check point to get to a hospital in Jerusalem.

🙏During mass the Bishops of the Coordination were joined by Bishop William Shomali, Patriarchal Vicar for Jerusalem and Palestine, who said in his homily that the good news of Sunday's gospel passage was Jesus performing his first miracle at the Wedding Feast at Cana but that the good news of today was the agreement of the ceasefire. We pray that this ceasefire does not mean an end to war but a return to how things were before, and instead is the first step on a path that addresses the root causes of the conflict and brings justice and peace for all.























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