Oblate News

Celebrating 50 years of St John Ogilvie’s Parish

Est. 1970 in Wester Hailes in Edinburgh

Celebrating 50 years!  St John Ogilvie’s, 1970-2020

The following article is adapted from the longer Anniversary Booklet produced by the members of St John Ogilvie’s Parish, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh

Commemorating 50 years of St John Ogilvie’s parish will bring back many wonderful memories for many people of the parish. We want to share some of our memories with you and to give you a flavour of our history, particularly our early history.

We are a small but active Roman Catholic parish situated in the South-West of Edinburgh. We serve the areas of Baberton Mains, Calders, Clovenstone, Dumbryden, Hailesland, Murrayburn, Sighthill, Westburn and Wester Hailes.

Much of the early history of the parish was recorded in our Silver Jubilee booklet which was published in 1995. The booklet was edited by Fr John Lee who, at the time, likened the development of the parish to weaving a tapestry. He recalled that on a visit to a parishioner’s house he had watched her as she patiently weaved many different coloured threads in and out of the cloth. He noticed that the many threads used, and the intricate stitching were all brought together to form a beautiful picture. Father John concluded that such was the life and work that had gone on in this parish during its early days. The parishioners working together in many ways to form a living, vibrant community that grows and develops with each stitch that is added.

So, where was the first stitch in the development of St John Ogilvie’s parish woven? The parish was founded in 1970 in what was then the new housing estate of Wester Hailes. This was only a few months after the first houses in Wester Hailes had become occupied. Very little housing had been built at that time but plans for the area envisaged that the population  would in a short time rise to around 20,000.

“The parish of St John Ogilvie’s was established in 1970. Fr John McQuade SJ was appointed first parish priest. Fr John set about building a community and a church. In 1980, the Jesuits withdrew Fr John for another ministry in northern Scotland.
In June 1980, an agenda item on the AGM of the Oblate Provincial Assembly was “Wester Hailes.” This was the first time most Oblates had heard of the new development on the west of Edinburgh. Cardinal Gordon Joseph Gray approached the Provincial with the request for two Oblates to serve this new mission. Cardinal Gray was familiar with the pastoral care offered by the Oblates, his family had been domiciled in the Parish of Star of the Sea Leith which has been served by the Oblates since 1859.
In the 1970/80’s many Religious Orders and Congregations made fundamental options to return to their roots, as missionaries, to focus on foreign missions and specialise in new ministries. The Oblates were part of that reflection. World conditions keep changing with the times, movement of populations have brought to our doorstep those we used to call “Foreign Missions”. The debate in the Oblate Provincial Assembly of June 1980 was prolonged, by no means rubber stamped, but eventually was adopted on a simple majority vote. The Oblates made a positive response to the invitation of Cardinal Gray.
Over the years the Cardinal had always joined the Oblates in Leith to celebrate their Feast Day on the 8th of December. I expect this contributed to our decision in favour of Wester Hailes.”  
– Fr Tony Quinlan PP St John Ogilivie

“I remember well the excitement among us students when the Oblates took on responsibility for the parish of St. John Ogilvie, Wester Hailes during 1980. We were just ordained and anxious to know who would be appointed to this new mission. Peter Clucas got the prize much to the envy of those who were ordained with him. With Tony Clancy as Parish Priest, they then headed for Wester Hailes to engage in this New Mission which had been established as a parish in 1970. Since then, many Oblates of Mary Immaculate have served the people of Wester Hailes. It is a wonderful occasion to celebrate fifty years of service to the Mission of the Church. During these times much has changed. The Church faces new challenges. The local faith community needs to provide its own leadership. People need to come forward and offer their service in all aspects of Church Life. This parish has been strong in Lay Leadership over the years. There has always been a strong emphasis on Justice and Peace.”
– Fr Oliver Barry OMI, Provincial

With there being no church building at the time, Mass was celebrated in parishioners’ houses and in the near-by St Cuthbert’s church. Later, and until 1978, services were held in two local schools.In those early days, as noted in the booklet, many parishioners were involved with fundraising in many varied and unique ways to build a church in the parish. New groups and organisations were formed and a vibrant parish came to life. And as Wester Hailes continued to grow in size, so did the parish.

1976, John Ogilvie was canonised a saint, and from that point onwards, the parish became known as St John Ogilvie’s.

The parish has a long and rich history, with fond memories of the papal visit of John Paul II in 1982, and the canonisation of the founder of the Oblate Community, St Eugene de Mazenod, in 1995, the same year the parish celebrated 25 years – the silver jubilee.

The year 1995 was also an epoch-making time for the Oblate Congregation as on 3rd December 1995, Blessed Eugene de Mazenod, Founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, was Canonised and became St Eugene. As was the case when St John Ogilvie was Canonised, the Canonisation of St Eugene was also a time of great joy for parishioners.

And so began the second half of the tapestry as we moved into 1996. The Oblates continued to serve St John Ogilvie’s with the arrival in 1998 of Fr Tom Scully (RIP) following the departure of Fr Joe Daly and Fr Leo Philomin. What particularly marked Fr Tom’s short time in the parish was the formation of a group specifically dedicated to justice, peace and integrity of creation.

The JPIC group was formed in 1998. Over the years since then, through the efforts of the JPIC group, we have become an Eco-Congregation, a Fairtrade Parish, supporters of various organisations helping the poor, homeless and prisoners, and campaigners against injustices of one kind or another. We engage in rallies, campaigns and even protests. A major event for the parish was the “Make Poverty History” rally of 2005.

Fr Tony Quinlan arrived to the parish in 2004. Although then a newcomer to the parish, Fr Quinlan knew something about our history as he had been the Oblate Provincial when we celebrated our Silver Jubilee. There was a lot going on in the parish when he arrived even for a parish with two priests. Fr John McFadden continued as Prisons’ Chaplain and Fr Tony became Chaplain to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.

Volunteering is at the heart of St John Ogilvie’s. The Catechetical Programme, Liturgy, secretarial, financial management, husbandry, Justice & Peace, Safeguarding, etc are all carried out on a voluntary basis. We also cultivate an economical (some say frugal) lifestyle. As well as that, over the years the parish has seen a huge variety of initiatives, including most recently St John Ogilvies’ Got Talent in 2019.

Below, you can read about the memories of two individual parishioners. The first has been here since the very start of the parish, though she was only a baby at the time, the second is a “relative newcomer”. We thank them both for their contributions to the booklet and for sharing their memories with us.

Here is a short excerpt from the booklet from two members of the parish which give a flavour of what parish life in St John Ogilvie’s is like:

“As I grew up and got married and moved away to Kirkliston in 1995, I continued to travel in to Mass at St John Ogilvie’s as it always felt like family to me. When my first child Rebecca was born in 1997, we found out that she was not going to survive, and Fr Joe Daly baptised her in St John’s Hospital. I always remember when he was leaving the parish, he took me aside and promised me that he would come back to baptise my next child and that it would be a happy occasion. He was as good as his word and he came back when Cameron came along in 1999. He showed me and  Allan great kindness during this time and offered us great comfort.  I have been a member of the JPIC group for a few years now along with Trish Muirhead and Trish Middlemist where we tried to raise awareness of global issues as well as issues close to home. I have been asked in the past why I travel into St John Ogilvie’s. It’s an easy answer – I have never felt the same sense of “belonging” when I have attended Mass in churches closer to where I live, and I have always felt drawn back to St John Ogilvie’s.
St John Ogilvie’s has always played a large part of my life through good times and sad times and hopefully for many happy times to come.”
– Elaine, Golden Jubilee Memories

“The culture of diversity and inclusiveness of the parish is reflected in the members of the parish pastoral council. As small as anyone might think our parish is, she is a worldwide church with large heart; our members cut across almost every continent of the world and this reflect how we all have been made welcome by the parish.
Though I’ve been married for about ten years earlier legally, the simplicity and approachable nature of Fr Tony helped me to regularize my marriage in the church on the 13th of October 2014. I’ll be eternally grateful to all the parishioners for attending and making our day beautiful and fun. My wife Sola wasn’t a catholic by birth, she went through the sacramental programme with the help of Fr Tony in the parish.”
– Adeolu Michael and Family 

“As you give thanks to God for the many years of grace-filled service of your pastors and the enthusiasm and hard work of yourselves and the many Catholics who have gone before you, I ask St John Ogilvie, your patron, to continue to inspire you to courageously hold on to our faith and to stand up for the truth. With every prayerful good wish, I am pleased to impart my blessing to all of you.”
^{– + Leo Cushley, Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh}  

John Ogilvie was born near Keith in Banffshire of a Calvinist family. As a very young man, he was sent to the continent to be educated. While he was there, he became a Catholic. He joined the Jesuit order in 1608 and was ordained in Paris. He returned to Scotland disguised as a soldier. He was arrested in 1614 in Glasgow. He was put on trial, condemned and put to death on March 10th, 1615. He is a martyr of the Counter-Reformation. John Ogilvie was beatified in 1929 and canonised in 1976. Upon being arrested, John Ogilvie was never under any illusion of the fate that awaited him. He never lost his serenity nor his strong but typical Scottish sense of humour. The strength of his mind, the fruit of many long hours spent in prayer, could not be broken by his captors and interrogators. Shortly before his death, John Ogilvie pledged his loyalty to the King but made it clear that he was being executed for his religious convictions. He pardoned his persecutors and, praying till the end, he underwent his ordeal courageously and with great peace of mind.

What can we learn today from the life and death of our parish patron? The Scotland of today with its political stability, rule of law and a strong sense of Christian ecumenism is vastly different from the time of Ogilvie. His was a time of violence, of political unrest, of bigotry and brutal religious persecution. But it was also a time when many of various religious persuasions gave their liberty and lives for what they believed. The example of his life and death is an encouragement for all who take their faith seriously in a present climate heavily marked by indifference. In this our Jubilee Year, we honour our Patron by showing in our everyday lives our commitment to love his and our God. The heroic behaviour of John Ogilvie bears outstanding witness to the power of the Spirit who, in accordance with the promises of the Lord, will never fail those who, in the difficulties of life, try honestly to carry out the will of God.

Please enjoy the slideshow of images from the recent celebration: