Events
Novena of prayer following the death of Pope Francis, 26th April - 4th May
Launch of the Virtual St Magnus Way
This event has been POSTPONED. New date to be announced.
Parish Visit to Bottelare, Diocese of Ghent, 4th - 9th October 2024.
A group of fifteen parishioners went from Shetland to Belgium in October for the unveiling of a monument to Fr Theophilus Verstraeten, first resident Catholic priest in Shetland after the Reformation. A fuller explanation of this memorial will be found in the "Monument" tab elsewhere on this website.
Bottelare church is an impressive building, dating back to the eighteenth century. It owes something of its grandeur to the shrine of St Anne (just glimpsed to the right of the pier carrying the monument) which was a place of popular pilgrimage.
On the Monday, many of the group visited the nearby city of Bruges. Neil and Simon are pictured here outside the chapel of the Beguines.
Still full of tourists, even in October!
Feast of St Joachim and St Anne, 26th July.
We are grateful to the staff of the Shetland Archives for allowing us to use this drawing, made c.1850, of the Lerwick shoreline.
It shows the two lodberries which jutted out from Clark's building (now Pete's Cafe in Commercial Street). They lie near the centre of this extract, to the left of the ship in the foreground. The first Catholic chapel occupied the right hand lodberry and was dedicated to St Anne. The chapel was reached from the beach. Immediately to the right, and slightly set back, is the Zetland Hotel which was later bought by the Catholic Church. The second Catholic chapel occupied an upper room in this building with access from Queen's Lane. It was also dedicated to St Anne.
2022 Scottish Census statistics for Orkney and Shetland: Religion
On 21st May 2024 further information was published from the 2022 Scottish Census. This section reports on religion and ethnicity.
Our Catholic population has grown slightly, relative to the 2001 census, in both Orkney and Shetland. The totals we have now are 650 for Shetland and 586 for Orkney. As a percentage of the population of Shetland (2.83% in Shetland and 2.67% in Orkney) we are much more sparcely represented than on the mainland (13.3% Catholics in Scotland as a whole).
There are few adherents of non-Christian religions in Shetland (1.53%): 87 Buddhists; 8 Hindus; 4 Jews; 42 Muslims; 137 pagans and 73 from other religions. These figures pale into insignificance in comparison with the 62.75% (14,424 people out of the total Shetland population of 22,986) who declared themselves to have "No Religion". This is much higher than the Scottish national figure of 51.1% (37.2% in England and Wales).
A summary of the figures will be found in the PDF below:
scottish-census-2022-religion.pdf
Link to official Scottish Census website.
Launch of Windows Fund, Pentecost Sunday, 19 May 2024
Most of the stained glass windows in our church are over 100 years old and in urgent need of repair since the lead has become brittle and the supporting iron work is corroding. A recent meeting of the parish Finance Committee decided to replace the eight nave widows with new leaded glass at a cost of about £20,000 per window. The work will probably take three years to complete.
Work has already begun on releading the small windows in the porch, sacristy and apse.
We are today launching a Windows Fund to cover the costs of this project. As with the Monument Fund last year, the main collection point will be the candle stand by Our Lady’s statue. Work has already begun on the conservation of the smallest windows and we are seeking diocesan approval to make plans for the second phase, which is the replacement of the eight large windows in the body of the nave. In all, we are looking at costs of about £200,000.
We welcome enquiries from individuals or groups who would like to sponsor an entire window as a memorial to loved ones. A guide price for a personalised window is £30,000.
Northern Pilgrims' Way, Caithness
A new pilgrim route has been established between Tain in the Scottish Highlands and St Magnus' Cathedral in Orkney. The organisers are inviting those interested to take part in a short online survey. The Shetland churches have also been discussing a pilgrim way in Shetland which would link up with the St Magnus Way in Orkney.
Link to Northern Pilgrims' Way website.
Ian McGrath,R.I.P.
Ian (John) McGrath died peacefully at home in Mossbank on 14th August 2023. He was 87. May he rest in peace!
Summer Pilgrimage to Aith, 18th August 2023.
This year the annual pilgrimage was to Aith on the west side of Shetland. We had Mass in the old cemetery near Michael's Wood where a Catholic chapel had stood in the middle ages. Mary Nicolson was buried here in December 1860 (see blog).
In the afternoon we walked up Aith Voe to Queensetter and Millburn to find the ruined crofts where Mary Nicolson had lived. The heather is now in full bloom.
Our goal was to find the house where Fr Bernard Bernard had sought out Mary Nicolson on a wild autumn day in October 1860.
It was pretty windy even in August so we transferred our picnic lunch to a convivial indoor setting.
August 2023, World Youth Day, Lisbon
Sarah, one of our parish catechists, has joined the WYD gathering at Lisbon. She is pictured here with Bishop Hugh and the group from Aberdeen Diocese.
26th - 29th July 2023, Tall Ships Race.
Lerwick was host to more than 30 sailing ships for four days in July as part of an international race from the Netherlands to Norway. Parishioners were involved in many capacities!
There was also a separate programme for the North Isles, where several of the boats put in during the "cruise in company" stage of the race. Events focused on Cullivoe, Yell, which is one of our regular Mass centres.
Via di San Francesco, 22nd September - 4th October 2022
A group from the parish walked from the sanctuary of La Verna, where St Francis received the stigmata, to Assisi on the northern half of the "Way of St Francis".
We arrived in Assisi on the eve of the Feast of St Francis and joined Masses in the basilica and with the Poor Clares at Santa Chiara.
One of the surprises of the journey was finding the tomb of the wolf of Gubbio, tamed by St Francis.
