down memory lane
This letter to parishioners appeared in the ‘Solemn Opening’ booklet on the opening day of Saint James the Greater in 1961.
It gives me great pleasure to introduce this commemorative booklet, which I warmly commend to the parishioners of Saint James’s and indeed to all who are interested in the story of the Church in Monkland.
The Cistercian monks whose name is perpetuated therein can never have imagined that their sowing would yield the rich, if belated, harvest of our own day. What prayerful gratitude is due to them and their successors, without whose labour and sacrifice we should not now be enjoying the fruits of their apostolic zeal!
In remembering them all on this auspicious day, may we be strengthened in our resolve that such a goodly inheritance shall be handed down to our children not only intact but enhanced by our own unshakable fidelity to the Faith of our Fathers!
There is no need for me to declare my special interest in the first church of Saint James in this diocese. Father Peter McCann, his assistant priests, and the faithful flock have every reason to be proud of a noteworthy achievement. I offer to them all my congratulations and pray that our great Patron may secure for them the abundant blessing they so well deserve.
His Lordship The Right Reverend James D. Scanlan,
Bishop of Motherwell, 1961