Welcome to St Andrew's Parish, Rothesay
Pope's Prayer Intention for May
Venues for Mass while the Church is closed for rewiring
For Sunday masses we’ll be using Trinity Church.
All weekday liturgies will take place in the Chapel House.
The Diocese of Argyll and the Isles has many parishes in some of the most beautiful parts of Scotland. Mountains, glens, lochs, rivers, and the sea give a dramatic background to our heritage, both past and lived. Many lives continue to give witness to our faith and how it is celebrated here.
Among the Highlands and the Islands is the Isle of Bute with its main town Rothesay and just a few hundred yards from the ferry terminal, is the magnificent Catholic Church of St. Andrew’s. Now just shy of being one hundred years old, St. Andrew’s continues to be the centre of Catholic worship in Bute.
On this website we hope to introduce you to our beautiful Church and parish, showcasing our long history and highlighting some of the many things we do today.
Feel free to browse the menu and explore the site.
5th Sunday of Easter
‘Love One Another!’
As this year’s beautiful season of Easter draws to a close, we are guided to remain focused on Jesus’s central commandment to his followers: ‘Love’. We are loved, forgiven and transformed sinners; called, commanded and commissioned to love others; graced and grounded in the love that has been poured out for us.
This love inspired the Early Church to spread the Good News of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection throughout Asia Minor (present-day Turkey and Syria). Paul and Barnabas supported and appointed leaders to keep the flame of God’s love alive in these early church communities (First Reading).
Beautiful prophetic visions attributed to St John, writing from the same area, describe how lovingly God is wedded to us. He has chosen to dwell amongst us and is making all things new in this love (Second Reading).
Today’s Gospel proclaims a simple, joyful central message. Jesus gives his followers, gives us, a ‘new commandment’: ‘Love one another, as I have loved you.’
The Psalm for this Sunday joyfully celebrates life graced by our God of compassion and love. God’s compassion is for all creatures, and his everlasting kingdom is rooted in love.
This overflowing banquet of love is the source and sustenance of our hope as we journey onwards as Pilgrims of Hope. Let us pray in this Jubilee Year that we will be inspired to care for each other and for all creation with compassion and love, strengthened by Jesus’s love for us.
(With thanks to St Beuno's Outreach)
ARTWORK
Maestà Altarpiece, Siena Cathedral
