October 2012 - Archdiocese of Glasgow

WELCOME ARCHBISHOP PHILIP TARTAGLIA FLOURISH • 15
I put my trust unconditionally
in Jesus Christ our Lord
My dear brothers and sisters, I
want first of all to associate
myself most closely with
Archbishop Conti’s welcome to everyone
here at the beginning of this
solemn liturgy and to thank you all
warmly for being here today.
I have said how much of an honour it is
for me to be appointed Archbishop of
Glasgow in my home city and my home diocese.
I sense the honour all the more keenly
when I remember that this is a truly historic
See whose origins go back to St Mungo, the
founder of the Church here and the patron of
the city in the sixth century.
To be the Successor of Mungo brings me
to my knees in humble prayer and calls me
anew to faith and to holiness.
A visible and tangible reminder of the history
of this diocese is provided today by the
principal chalice being used at the altar for
the liturgy of the Eucharist.
It was gifted by Pope Pius IX in 1859 to
Bishop Alexander Smith who was
Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of the Western
District. It has been provided for this Mass
today by the Franciscans of the Immaculate
Conception, a congregation of religious
women founded here in Glasgow, to whom
Bishop Smith gave the chalice.
And even though Bishop Smith never succeeded
to the office of Vicar Apostolic, his
chalice is a reminder of the times when the
Catholic Church in Scotland did not have a
Hierarchy, it having been extinguished in
1603 with the death in Paris of James
Beaton, the exiled Archbishop of Glasgow.
The Archdiocese of Glasgow was then vacant
until the Restoration of the Hierarchy
in 1878 and the accession of Archbishop
Charles Eyre, who was the first of the modern
Archbishops of Glasgow.
To offer the precious blood of Christ in
Bishop Alexander Smith’s chalice, given
to him by Pope Pius IX, is to acknowledge
that Jesus is the same heri, hodie et semper
– yesterday, today and forever – the
Lord of history and Lord of his Church.
And it is a reminder that apostolic succession
through history is not about an empty
fascination with the past nor about boastful
claims to legitimacy, but rather about faithfulness
to Jesus Christ and the transmission
of the fullness of faith in him, a faith which
projects us through time to the challenges of
today and tomorrow, and the new evangelisation,
which will be my primary focus as
the next Archbishop of Glasgow.
Today is the Feast of the Birthday of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. For me this is a most
suitable day to take office as Archbishop of
Glasgow.
I believe that my lovely Mum, Annita,
dedicated me to Mary not long after I was
born and in my life I have always been
keenly aware of the maternal love and protection
of the Blessed Virgin.
In fact, it was on this day, Our Lady’s
birthday in the year 2005, while I was
Rector of the Scots College in Rome, that it
was communicated to me by Cardinal
Giovanni Battista Re, who was then Prefect
The proposal the Church makes to the world today
is not an idea, or a plan or a policy, but a person –
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of Mary.
And when that proposal is made persuasively and
well to people of goodwill, they often find that their
minds are drawn to the truth of God and their
hearts are touched by the love of God. That is why
we must never lack in trust, in commitment and in
enthusiasm for the Gospel of Jesus Christ
of the Congregation for Bishops, that the
Pope Benedict XVI had appointed me
Bishop of Paisley.
And, as I have recounted elsewhere, I received
the news from our own Apostolic
Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, represented
here today by the chargé d’affaires,
Mgr Brian Udaigwe, that Pope Benedict
XVI had appointed me to be Archbishop of
Glasgow as I was leaving the Marian sanctuary
of Lourdes, after a diocesan pilgrimage.
And so today, again, I happily and
thankfully place myself and this
Archdiocese under the maternal protection
and patronage of Mary, the Mother
of the Lord.
In today’s Gospel, we hear how Mary received
the news that she was to become the
Mother of Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, a
proposal to which Mary generously consented.
But for all that this Gospel passage recounts
what we call the Annunciation to
Mary, it is much more about Mary’s child.
The passage begins, “This is how Jesus
Christ came to be born”. And in the passage,
Mary’s child is said to be conceived by the
Holy Spirit. He was to be called Jesus because
he is the one who is to save people
from their sins. In fulfilment of the
prophecy, the Virgin Mary conceived and
gave birth to a son, who would be called the
Emmanuel, God-with-us.
And this is what the apostolic succession
of one bishop to the next is really all about:
faithfully and fully according to the apostolic
tradition, in communion with the See
of Peter, everywhere and always, in season
and out, proclaiming, explaining, defending,
elucidating and constantly bringing to peoples’
lives the mystery of Jesus Christ –
Jesus Christ who came into the world, suffered,
died and rose again so that we would
have life and have it to the full, now and in
the world to come.
So, I think it is very important to stress
that the proposal the Church makes to the
world today is not an idea, or a plan or a
policy, but a person.
That person is Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, born of Mary.
I personally believe that that this proposal
remains exciting and endlessly relevant for
the world in which we live.
And when that proposal is made persuasively
and well to people of good will, they
often find that their minds are drawn to the
truth of God and their hearts are touched by
the love of God.
That is why we must never lack in trust,
in commitment and in enthusiasm for the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I want the whole Archdiocesan community,
my priests and religious, parents and
teachers, to be filled with that commitment
and that enthusiasm for Jesus and for his
Gospel and to radiate the joy which comes
with the inestimable treasure of knowing
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
I want our young people and children
to sense and grasp the beauty and the
wonder of Jesus Christ; to discover with
eagerness and joy the true faith, the sanctifying
and transforming potential of the
sacraments, the teaching and maternal
care of the Church, mater et magistra.
I want us all to embrace the new evangelisation
as the special challenge of our lifetime;
to witness to each other and to the
wider community the saving message of the
love and mercy of God in Jesus Christ in all
its fullness.
We must make it clear that the messages
we communicate to the world about the
common good, about the spiritual health of
our land, about the sacredness of human
life, about marriage and the family, about
the alleviation of poverty and the pursuit of
justice, about care for the marginalised in
our society – all these have but one source,
and He is Jesus Christ, born of Mary, who
has come to us from the Father.
In a time when circumstances have forced
us to reflect upon religious freedom, today’s
Gospel is a timely reminder that Jesus
Christ is our freedom, and the Church will
be truly free to the extent that she depends,
not on alliances with earthly powers, but
solely on Jesus Christ and his Gospel.
And, as I begin my ministry as
Archbishop of Glasgow, I put my trust unconditionally
and only in Jesus Christ our
Lord, born of Mary, and I ask the people of
the Archdiocese of Glasgow, and you, our
fellow Christians who are our honoured
guests here today to do the same.
I ask people of other faiths to drink deeply
of the compassionate wellsprings of their religious
traditions for the sake of us all.
And to all people of goodwill, I ask you to
respond to the profoundest stirrings of your
heart where there moves a spirit of love and
goodness and truth.
And may Mary, the Mother of Jesus
Christ our Lord, whom today we honour on
her birthday, protect and help us always.
Amen.