Keeping in Touch

St Fillan’s and St Margaret’s

Feast of All Saints

Dear Parishioner

Five years ago, I came to St Fillan’s and St Margaret’s and celebrated my first public masses for you on Sunday 1st November, the Feast of All Saints ( I actually physically arrived on Hallowe’en, and I am sure it was a bit of a fright for you, but you have mostly recovered). Since then, we have all seen a number of changes in the parish: people have come and gone, we have gotten to know each other, and I have made Crieff my home.

Who would have thought that the next time we celebrated the Feast of All Saints on a Sunday, the world and our country would be living with a pandemic which has cost lives, hurt so many people, frustrated all of us at times, and curtailed our lives?

However, we are the communion of saints, and it has been faith affirming and heart-warming for me to hear the stories of how people have helped each other, and how you have grown in your appreciation of God’s goodness. We are a communion of saints, but a communion here on earth in need of some kind of physical communication and outreach to each other. The importance of keeping in touch has seldom been more important, particularly as the pandemic persists, and meeting together as a community will not take place in the usual way for quite some time.

These last few months have shown me (if I needed reminding) that I can only do so much, as time and energy are limited goods, and I have other diocesan duties, of which you are aware and have very kindly accommodated over the last five years. With this in mind, we have formed a small group of people, in addition to the Visitors’ Group, to communicate with folk and to see how they are doing.

It is important, though, that people feel comfortable about being contacted by someone other than the parish priest, and this of course is a privacy issue. So, I am writing to you to give you the opportunity to say whether you would rather not be contacted by anyone other than the parish priest, or you would like your contact details deleted from the parish records.

No one will be contacted until we have consulted with you and have advertised the group over the next couple of weeks. Furthermore, all contact details will continue to be subject to the diocesan privacy policy. People have the right to withdraw their contact details at any time.

I wish you every blessing and the spirit of perseverance over these coming months.

Yours Aye