By SCMO in News Releases, Blogging | 03rd June 2019
3rd June 2019
Homily delivered by Bishop Joseph Toal, Bishop of Motherwell, during the Funeral Mass for Bishop Emeritus Joseph Devine, at Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral, Motherwell on Monday 3rd June 2019
A few moments ago, we listened to a beautiful passage from the Book of Revelation, the Apocalypse, and the image of the new eternal Jerusalem from St John’s Vision, gave us a picture of the Church in heaven which then reflects onto its structure here on earth. The temple is the Lord with the Lamb by his side - through the Lamb worship and glory is offered to God and all the sacrificial offerings due to God and expressed in the one eternal offering of the Lamb. The new Jerusalem has 12 gates with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel above them and the 12 foundation stones with the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb inscribed upon them. We sense in St John’s vision the central place of the Old and the New Testaments, the Old and the New Covenants. In the dispensation of the New Covenant the community of faith stems from the Apostles of the Lamb and the testimony they lived and died for. Just as their place of honour is acknowledged eternally in the heavenly city so their position as the first witnesses to the faith and upholders of the full tradition of that faith falls to their successors here on earth - the bishops of the Church. It is a very high calling we have received as bishops and one in which we depend on the grace of the Holy Spirit and the gifts given to us to lead the Church in our own Dioceses. It is proper therefore today at his Funeral Mass to give thanks to God for Bishop Devine’s ministry as the Bishop of Motherwell and all it entailed through his 30 years of ministry in this Diocese, and his earlier years as Auxiliary in Glasgow Archdiocese. A lot of responsibility is placed upon a Bishop’s shoulders, as he strives to be moulded in the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and it is proper to be grateful for all the good done while a...
By SCMO in News Releases, Blogging | 01st June 2019
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
From a like to an Amen–
From social network communities to the human community
In his message for World Communications Day this year, Pope Francis returns to the theme of the internet and the world of social communications, reminding us that no matter what technology might offer us the human person does not want to be left isolated and alone. I urge you to read his text in full, which is available on the website of the Catholic Media Office at www.scmo.org.
In his letter, Pope Francis draws our attention to an ambivalence in social media that we have begun to experience ourselves. We appreciate greatly that online sources represent an extraordinary possibility of very speedy access to knowledge and information. Just think, for instance, of how we use the internet to travel. At the same time, we have also awakened to the fact that through social media we may beexposed to disinformation and to the conscious and targeted distortion of facts. Hence, the widely used term ‘fake news’. Sadly, it seems, the shared data that helps us to connect can all too easily be manipulated in order to gain political or economic advantages.
As Pope Francis points out, this is a complex scenario. The Holy Father advises that the positive potential of social media is based upon two of its original reference points: the net and the community.The internet was invented to connect human beings together in a supportive network and in a closercommunity. A community that is life-giving and healthy will be animated by feelings of trust. It will pursue objectives that benefit everyone. The responsible use of language and means of communication will be pivotal to the good of the community linked by internet and social media.
As we now know, however, online identities and communications are all too often based on opposition to the other, on de-legitimising the other, and on severely limiting their freedom of speech. We have...
By SCMO in News Releases, Blogging | 31st May 2019
Friday 31 May 2019
Call Notice – You are invited to send a reporter/photographer/camera crew
The Mortal Remains of Bishop Emeritus Joseph Devine will be received into the Diocesan Offices in Coursington Road on Sunday 2nd June at 9.00 am, where they will remain until 5.00 pm, to allow the faithful to pay their respects.
His remains will be received into the Cathedral of Our Lady of Good Aid for the Service of Vigil and Reception that same day at 5.00 pm.
The Requiem Mass will take place in the Cathedral on Monday 3rd June at 12 noon, when the Principal Celebrant will be Bishop Joseph Toal, who succeeded Bishop Devine as Bishop of Motherwell.
All of Scotland’s 8 Diocesan bishops are expected to attend together with Bishops from England and Ireland. The Moderator of the Church of Scotland’s Presbytery, Rev Kevin McKenzie, will attend together with Canon Andrew Sheriden of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Among the guests will be: Council leaders from North and South Lanarkshire, Members of both the Scottish and Westminster Parliaments and the Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire.
ENDS
Peter Kearney
Director
Catholic Media Office
5 St. Vincent Place
Glasgow
G1 2DH
0141 221 1168
07968 122291
pk@scmo.org
www.scmo.org
Notes to Editors
A picture of Bishop Devine is available to download here https://flic.kr/s/aHsmDUVnif.
Biography
Born in Glasgow 7th August 1937;
Educated at St. Ninian’s Primary School, Kirkintilloch, St. Mary’s College, Blairs, St Peter’s College, Cardross.
Ordained priest in Glasgow, 29th June 1960.
Studied in Scots College, Rome (Ph.D., 1964, Gregorian University, Rome)
Served as:
Private Secretary, Archbishop of Glasgow, 1964-65
Assistant priest, St. Robert Bellarmine, Glasgow, 1965-67
St. Joseph’s, Helensburgh, 1967-72
On staff of St. Peter’s College, Cardross, 1967-74
Assistant chaplain, ...
By SCMO in News Releases, Blogging | 24th May 2019
Death of Bishop Joseph Devine
24 May 2019
Tributes have been paid to Bishop Joseph Devine, former Bishop of Motherwell, who died on Thursday 23 May at Wishaw General Hospital, aged 81.
Bishop Hugh Gilbert, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland said:
“On behalf of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland I would like to offer Bishop Devine’s family our deepest and most prayerful sympathies. During his active years as a bishop, he made a lasting and significant contribution to work of the Bishops’ Conference. I will pray for the repose of his soul and celebrate Mass for him today (Friday 24 May).”“We ask God to grant him eternal rest after his distinguished ministry as a priest and bishop in Scotland – and give thanks for all that he did for the Church in our country over the past 59 years of his priesthood. May God rest his soul.”
Bishop Joseph Toal, Bishop Devine’s successor as Bishop of Motherwell said:
“All in the Diocese of Motherwell feel the sadness of the death of our Bishop Emeritus, Rt Rev Joseph Devine, yesterday evening. He served as Bishop of Motherwell for 30 years, and for 6 years before that as Auxiliary Bishop of Glasgow Archdiocese, so we acknowledge and give thanks to God for his faithful and very full ministry as a bishop and priest.”
“I heard of the news of his death in Wishaw General Hospital as I was about to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation, something which Bishop Devine celebrated hundreds of times, and it is for this that many in the Diocese remember him best. Through his years as Bishop, Bishop Devine served the Catholic Church in Scotland through his full participation and valued contribution to the work of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, particularly in regard to Catholic Education.”
“Although he was very ill through the last days of his life he was still very alert and very much himself. I suspect he would have liked to have lived another couple of days...
