Golden Jubilee of the Church of St. James, Paisley

1. This parish was founded in 1948 and the church was opened in 1957, 50 years ago. The Church was dedicated to the Apostle, St. James the Great, one of the patrons of the Town and of the Diocese of Paisley. The Catholics of the Nethercommon district of Paisley, until that time part of St. Mirin’s Parish, had used a former mill as their church. They now had their own parish and church. Having marked the Golden Jubilee of the Parish with a Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated in February 1998 by my predecessor Bishop John Mone, today I am honoured to mark the 50^th Anniversary of the present Church of St. James, Paisley, in this Mass of Thanksgiving.

2. So today we give thanks to God for 50 years of Christian worship and prayer which has centred on this Church of St. James. We give thanks for the faith of the community which has worshipped here over these decades. We give thanks for the priests who have served in this parish over these 50 years right to the present day, and we thankfully include the service of the Daughters of Charity in the pastoral care and administration of the parish. We thank God with all our hearts for all the blessings and graces which God has granted to this community through the Mass and other acts of worship, prayer and devotion which have taken place in this church.

3. And I cannot think of a message which is more suitable for such an anniversary than the message of today’s Gospel and of today’s readings, the message of the compassion and mercy of God, and of his readiness to forgive. And how fulsomely is that message communicated in today’s Liturgy of the Word. Moses pleads for mercy for the Chosen People after one of their many rebellious moments and God hears his prayer. How many people have knelt in prayer in this church over the last 50 years asking for forgiveness and received it with thanksgiving and joy? For this we give thanks today.

4. And Paul the Apostle, so conscious of the mercy of the Lord in respect of himself, assures us in typical style: “Here is a saying you can rely on and nobody should doubt: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” And how many times over the last 50 years in this Church of St. James have the men, women and children of this parish gathered together for the Mass, for the sacrament of the Redemption, in which they hear the priest repeat for them the saving words of Jesus, “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.” For this too we give thanks today.

5. And Jesus himself lifts up our hearts in the Gospel which contains the moving parables of the lost sheep and the prodigal son which communicate to us the abundant mercy of God who longs to welcome back the sinner and whose whole nature is to love, to forgive, and to show mercy. “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninty-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.” How many times over the last 50 years in this church has a lost sheep and prodigal child encountered the mercy and love of God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and in the embrace of this parish community? How many times in the last 50 years have people gone from this church and were able to bring the mercy and compassion of God to other men, women and children? For this too we give thanks to God today with all our hearts.

6. There is, I think, a deep human need for forgiveness. Many people carry around unresolved guilt for things they have done and which they regret deeply. Although our culture encourages us to forgive ourselves, for some reason thoughtful human beings just cannot do that. They somehow appreciate that sin and forgiveness are realities which transcend the individual consciousness and cry out to God. However many people do not know how to communicate with God and they just carry their guilt which weighs down on them like a heavy burden.

7. My dear brothers and sister, the central experience of the Church and of the Christian people, however, is the mystery of the Redemption, the experience of forgiveness and mercy. We should not sell ourselves short and underestimate the gifts that God has given us and that we have to offer: forgiveness and reconciliation is an experience which enriches our community and can enrich the wider community. As we give thanks to God for 50 years of this church, we can say with certainty that the parish community which worships here is called in the future to be servants of that mystery of forgiveness and reconciliation which we celebrate today in this Mass of Thanksgiving.

 16^th September 2007.