The Catholic Church has insisted that no-one will be financially excluded from the Pope’s visit to Glasgow this autumn, saying parishes will use innovation and imagination to meet costs.Amid concerns parishioners were being asked to pay £20 by the back door to attend the September 16 Papal Mass at Bellahouston Park, the church stressed it was for individual parishes to decide how to raise money for transport, the cost of staging the event and individual pilgrim packs.
The church has repeatedly claimed it will cover the “pastoral” elements of the first state visit by a pontiff to the UK, with the costs of the audio-visual equipment and stage alone exceeding £1 million. A special collection was held in parishes throughout Scotland in May. Yesterday’s assurances came amid fears that poorer churches and parishioners might be excluded after parishes were told they would have to pay the equivalent of £20 per head for transportation and entry.By the middle of next week, the Catholic Church in Scotland will have a definite idea of uptake of places, with a potential surplus expected to be taken as evidence that many pilgrims have decided not to attend on cost grounds. Tickets are being allocated on the basis of numbers who regularly attend Mass. Parishes in economically deprived areas where worshippers could struggle with a £20 charge could use church reserves or fundraising to meet the costs, with help from benefactors from within the church and subsidies from other parishes not being ruled out. In a letter to all priests in the Diocese of Paisley, Bishop Philip Tartaglia urged them to spread the cost across all parishioners in a way that would ensure that all those who wish to attend can do so regardless of their means.Tartaglia added: “I think it is fair to regard your parishioners who go to Bellahouston Park as in some way representing your parish. I accept that you may not be able to meet the cost of your allocation from your ordinary parish budget. I therefore encourage you, and so many of you are so good at this, to organise a fundraising event or events to meet the cost of your allocation. “I believe your parishioners would readily see the appropriateness of this so that the people from the parish can go to Mass with the Holy Father.” The church said transport to Bellahouston had been designed to be as “geographically cost-neutral” as possible, with travel from Edinburgh costing the same as from Elgin. However, with most Catholics in Scotland living in the central belt, there is some concern that those living nearest Bellahouston are subsidising pilgrims from further afield. One senior source within the church said: “There’s no doubt priests will recognise a parishioner expecting to go but who is financially struggling. “There are avenues to help pay for the odd person who wants to go but can’t afford it. Ultimately it’s up to the priest as to how his parish meet the costs but there will be a determination that those who want to go will go.” St John’s Parish Church in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, has been allocated about 440 places from a regular Mass attendance of 1800. Parish priest Father Stephen Bailey said the £8800 his church would be expected to contribute would come from a mix of individual payments and fundraising from social events.Bailey said: “There’s no way a family of, say, two parents and four children would be expected to pay £20 a head.” SIC: HSUK