Welcome to the website for the Parish of Saint Bridget's, Baillieston in the City of Glasgow. Saint Bridget's is a Roman Catholic Parish in the Diocese of Motherwell.  LATEST UPDATE- SATURDAY 2nd JANUARY Number of visitors to our site up in December - 22,917 Number of visitors to our site in 2009 - 394,798
Recent updates -
Bulletin for the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord Felix sit annus novus (see below) See new "CARE" page Update from our Pilgrimage to Lourdes On Receiving the Sacrament Who wants to be a Priest?
FELIX SIT ANNUS NOVUS
(Another year has just ended and a new year begun)
We may ask: what will the New Year turn out to be? Will it bring me joy and happiness? And will I see the end of it? We are well aware that only God has the answer to these questions, for life is full of surprises and the future is known to God alone. Nevertheless, one thing is certain: the New Year is before us and it is still empty but is full of promises and new possibilities. It is up to us how we fill it with good works and make something beautiful out of it, in keeping with the words of scripture: ‘…whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all’ (Gal. 6:10). Hence, what matters most is not what the New Year will bring us, but what we make of it.
You might well ask what am I doing with my life? Or what am I really seeking in life? These are simple yet fundamental questions that we all have to ask ourselves time and again. I think an answer to the foregoing questions is largely determined how we strive to seek meaning and purpose in life.
We all are moving through life like pilgrims heading towards our final destination. Our stay here on earth has a clear beginning and a definite end. Thérèsa of Lisieux—the great Christian writer of the nineteenth century—helps us to rightly understand our pilgrim character in her writing. She writes: ‘I know that the country in which I was born is not my homeland. I know that there is another homeland to which I aspire incessantly. It is not a fabricated story; it is a true reality, because the king of that bright country has come to live for thirty-three years in this dark country of ours’. In the words of Thérèsa, the purpose of our pilgrimage here on earth is to come to our true home. Therefore, as pilgrims, our vocation is to race toward that finishing line, the prize that God calls us to receive up there in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14).
Truly, each year is God’s gift to us, and so is this New Year. Everyday of it is precious. Keeping our pilgrim character in mind, let us be determined to spend this year in God’s love – asking Him to help us to refresh our efforts to make of ourselves the kind of people He wants us to be.
A very happy New Year to you all!
Rev. Jose Cirilo Rodrigues
On Receiving the Sacrament
It is a matter of personal choice for the Latin rite faithful whether they receive the host at Holy Communion in the hand or on the tongue, and whether they receive the sacrament in ‘the more perfect form’, the Precious Blood as well as the Body of Christ. It can be an aid to their devotion to read what the great St Cyril of Jerusalem had to say about it in his 4th –century instructions to the newly-baptised:
When you approach, do not go stretching out your open hands or havinyour fingers spread out, but make the left hand into a throne for the right which shall receive the King, and then cup your open hand and take the body of Christ, reciting the Amen.then sanctify with all care your eyes by touching the Sacred Body, and receive it. But be careful that no particles fall for what you lose would be to you as if you had lost some of your limbs.
Tell me, if anyone had given you gold dust, would you not hold fast to it with all care… [Ordinary leavened bread would have been used in St Cyril’s time] Then, after you have partaken of the Body of Christ, approach the chalice with the Blood without stretching out your hands, but bowed, in a position of worship and reverence, and repeat the Amen and sanctify your self by receiving the Blood of Christ. Should your lips be still moist then touch them with your hands and sanctify your eyes and your forehead and the other senses.
This passage probably had some influence on the liturgists who reformed the Latin-rite Mass in the 60s, and on the bishops who gradually approved of the custom of receiving Communion in the hand. Fear of irreverence was probably
responsible for the change to receiving in the mouth (about 9th century) and the later gradual withdrawal from the people of the chalice of the Precious Blood. We can be glad that all now have the choice of receiving the Host in the more ancient way, and the chalice if they wish. But all the more we should care for reverence towards the Blessed Sacrament. For instance, those not receiving from the chalice should nevertheless not walk past but pause in reverence and perhaps bow - the Precious Blood in the chalice is Christ Present just as much as the hosts in the Tabernacle, and should be recognized in the same kind of way. J McI
Who wants to be a Priest?
The Priests for Scotland Newsletter tells us something about the people applying to start studying for the priesthood this year. Such information is perhaps more to the point, especially for those thinking about the priesthood, than barren statistics about priest-numbers.
‘There are currently fifteen applicants going forward from the Seminary Applicants Year and asking for admission to seminary this September. These applicants range from eighteen to fifty years of age. This year four of the fifteen are below the age of twenty-one, a further five are under thirty, two of them are under forty, and three of them are over forty.
Eleven of the fifteen applicants have been to University. Not surprisingly fifteen of the fifteen regularly use the internet.
There are in addition three others who will also go forward for interview for acceptance by their dioceses although, because of their own particular circumstances, they have not taken part in the Seminary Applicants Year. This means that a total of eighteen men will be interviewed for seminary and hope to begin their studies this September. They are collectively an impressive group, many of whom have been considering the call to diocesan priesthood for some time. If accepted as candidates for seminary they will be joining the current group of twenty-two seminarians who are studying to be priests in Scotland.
Typical of applicants, most of them witness to the influence of others, particularly priests, in leading them to make application for seminary. Many of them have come to interest themselves in diocesan priesthood as they have come to know diocesan priests.
It is always tempting on Vocations Sunday to play the numbers game and wonder whether priesthood has gone out of fashion. To adopt this position would be to turn our backs on the witness and courage of those who step forward. To be a priest in Scotland is a life worth living. Our applicants and seminarians recognize this and step forward with courage and vision. We should rejoice in them and encourage others to join them.
from Priests in Scotland Newsletter April 2009
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Address Saint Bridget's Parish 15 Swinton Road Baillieston Glasgow G69 6DT 0141 771 1058
Parish Priest Monsignor John McIntyre Email johnmcintyre@stbridgetsparish.fsnet.co.uk
Assistant Priest Our new assistant Priest will be joining us in October
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