Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Official Report
746KB pdf
Time for Reflection
Good afternoon. The first item this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is Father Gerard McNellis, the parish priest at St Laurence’s in Greenock.
Father Gerard McNellis (St Laurence’s, Greenock)
Presiding Officer, members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you for the opportunity to address you today.
Toast. Pupils at our local school, All Saints primary school, make toast every day. Guided by a classroom assistant and squeezed into 15 minutes of playtime, they sell this toast to their fellow pupils. With the profits—they must clear £11 each week—ingredients are bought to make soup: fresh vegetables, stock and ham hock. Another classroom assistant takes the pupils in groups of four, so that they all get a turn, and teaches them how to make home-made soup—chicken and rice, lentil and, of course, Scotch broth.
Each Friday, the soup is collected by a man from the Inverclyde Homeless Forum, taken away to the forum’s kitchens and served to the homeless, who are guests for lunch. They enjoy the soup, and they are delighted to know that it has been provided by local primary 7 pupils.
These pupils, from the east end of Greenock, have not been born with every advantage in life but, through this project, they are learning valuable lessons. The project teaches the pupils something about commerce, something about nutrition, something about cooking and, perhaps most of all, something about caring for others. What we teach our children and what our children learn are important.
I am reminded of the words of Pope Benedict XVI:
“Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.”
A modern Scotland, served by a Scottish Parliament, that tackles the challenges of the present while preparing for the challenges of the future can learn so much from the traditions of the past. It warms our hearts to hear of our young people helping those in need, but their care for others is not isolated. It was evident in our past, it is a reality of the present and, especially with the encouragement of you, our elected representatives, it will continue in the future.
My prayer for this Parliament is that you will always keep it in mind that
“Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.”