Archbishop joins parishioners in Kilsyth

Since becoming Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in 2013, Leo Cushley has been keen to visit the 109 parishes of the Archdiocese upon a Sunday in order to provide both solicitude and support to his priests and their parishioners.

On Sunday he joined parish priest Father Daniel Doherty to take the Mass in Kilsyth, which happened to 
coincide with the start of Catholic Education Week.

Fittingly, pupils from the local Catholic schools – St Maurice’s High and St Patrick’s Primary – were both present in numbers.

Following the Mass, lunch was served in the parish hall and Archbishop Cushley was keen to express his thanks to all those who made the visit such a success.

He said: “It was lovely to visit the good people of St Patrick’s in Kilsyth, to offer Sunday Mass for them and then to spend some time socialising with them afterwards – it all made for a very happy Sunday afternoon indeed.

“St Patrick’s is a parish not only with a venerable history but also, it seems, with a bright future as it continues to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to all the people of Kilsyth.”

2018 marks the centenary of the 1918 Education Act, which saw Catholic schools transfer from Diocesan control to State governance.

Archbishop Cushley discussed the importance of a Catholic education for putting children on the right path.

He said: “Knowledge isn’t enough – you can know lots of cool things and still be bad.

“What you have to add to that, what we hope to enrich during their time at Catholic schools, is a sense of right and wrong, to make the right choices and make them for the right reasons, such that they become good habits.”