Scottish Catholic Culture, a sample

Mass today was amazing. I went to the Cathedral of Saint Mary in Edinburgh. The crowd was noticeably younger than in the average American perish, even the more traditional one (and by now it is nearly not ironic that "traditional" means "young" in American parishes).

These people were hip even by European standards and I saw more kids there than in the sum of the whole rest of my Scottish travels (and this time I covered most of the country).

The priest was very bright and his homily was both theologically informed and pastorally challenging. And the challenge was to be more captive to Christ and to critically engage the culture. He addressed Sir Richard Dawkins by name (of _The God Delusion_ fame (Oxford's Alistair McGrath has replied with _The Dawkins Delusion_)). He said he was an intelligent man but that his "Scrrreemin' ahhnd shootin' aboot rreligion ahhnd seeahnce" are based on ignorance of Faith.

The singing was very nice as well. It was a very moving experience and I hope that this sample is somewhat representative.