Bishop Toal truly is a Good Shepherd!

WHEN a man decides to take up his vocation and become a priest it’s expected of him that he will become a Good Shepherd in the parishes in which he serves. However, for Bishop Joseph Toal, in the very early days of his priesthood, that took on a literal as well as a spiritual meaning!

“In my early years as a priest, I went to South Uist and part of the priest’s life there was tending to the croft and the sheep, and you were expected to help out in some way,” Bishop Toal said. “So, there was a kind of sense there that you had this real flock of sheep and then the ‘sheep’ of the parish as well. That image of being a dual-purpose Good Shepherd has stayed with me and in all seriousness, it applies to you in a big way when you become a bishop. So, my pectoral cross is the same as the one Pope Francis had that shows Jesus the Good Shepherd with the little lamb around His neck, the other sheep in the flock and the Holy Spirit.”

Faith flourishing

That was a homecoming of sorts for Bishop Toal, given that he had an idyllic upbringing in Roybridge—the hometown of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop’s parents—playing Shinty, serving on the altar and enjoying a close-knit, loving family life. It was in that environment that his youthful faith flourished—emboldened by inspirational figures like Bishop Stephen McGill and Mgr Ronald Hendry—and eventually led to him following his vocation, firstly to the Junior Seminary of St Vincent’s, Langbank and then onto St Mary’s College, Blairs, Aberdeen. It’s a time in his life that he not only speaks fondly of, but also one which helped him understand the Church’s mission.

“People were encouraged to be quite idealistic about the Church and about the church's mission,” Bishop Toal said. “I remember that when we did RE in third year at Blairs, we studied Populorum Progressio, Pope Paul's VI’s encyclical on sharing with people and looking after the poorer areas of the world for a year. So, there were things that had made a big impression on me certainly such as the Church's mission in the world, which was highly important, especially serving the poorer parts of the church.

“My recollection is that I learned that becoming a priest wasn’t just about Mass and the sacraments, it was about the wider mission of the Church to serve Catholics and people throughout the world if you could as well. In those days, there was an emphasis on people maybe going on the missions too and many did.

"They had a specific calling and that’s what vocation is, a calling. The Holy Spirit inspires us to think about it this way. I think everybody in the Church should understand that there is a calling to whatever it is that you're doing, whatever vocation you have and the abilities you have, and then you should offer your life to God in that area.”

Saintly influences

While the Holy Spirit has played an important role Bishop Toal’s life as a seminarian, priest and now bishop, he speaks fondly of many of the saints who have also had a positive influence on his vocation. Those he cites are connected to the places that have played a pivotal role in his ministry, such as Argyll and the Isles, where he grew up and was bishop for six years and Spain, where he was Spiritual Director, Vice-Rector and Rector at the Royal Scots College in Salamanca.

"The first saint who comes to mind is one who had her roots in the same place I come from—St Mary of the Cross Mackillop—who was Australia's first saint,” Bishop Toal said. “Her mother and father came from the Lochaber area, where I come from and most people in the area with Catholic connections claimed some sort of link to her. So, it was wonderful to participate in her Canonisation in Rome in my early days as bishop. She was a wonderful lady too and she made a great impression on the Church in Australia in the 19th century.

“I spent a good part of my life in Spain too and the area we were in, was close to Avila, so St Teresa of Avila was an inspiration. I also followed St Ignatius of Loyola and his spirituality, which was very helpful at one stage in my life, especially when I later became the Spiritual Director of the college in Spain.

"Coming from the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, our patron is St Columba, who is influential too. It was lovely on occasions to be able to go to the island of Iona and spend some time there. He is an inspiring saint, especially his missionary appeal and the work he did in Scotland, along with others as well, the early Scottish saints.”

Tending to the flock

Having these spiritual guides throughout his service to the Church, coupled with his missionary outlook, have been hugely beneficial, especially when serving as a priest and bishop in the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles. It wasn’t just about tending to the sheep, but also learning Gaelic, travelling far distances to meet with people and priests and the loneliness that sometimes comes with being in a more isolated parish.

“The bishop at the time, Bishop Colin MacPherson, gave me very wise advice,” Bishop Toal said. “He realised that I was going away from home and that there would be difficult moments, but he implored me to go and visit people in their homes and to make that part of my life as a priest. He was right and it was great. Certain people were very interested and very interesting, and they wanted to meet the priest and be friends with you. Time didn't matter too much there either, which was lovely.

“I really enjoyed being with people of all different age groups. When I was in Benbecula, there were quite a lot of youngsters around and I enjoyed being part of their lives at youth clubs and things like that. I remember going on a pilgrimage with some of them to Rome. There was always a lot of youth activity happening and I was still young then. I've always thought that I was taken away from the parish, when I was still quite young. That was 1999, so it's a long time ago now—27 years—so that sort of connection with people in the parish has been a bit broken. There's a wee bit of regret about that to be honest.”

Connection and communication

It was touching to hear Bishop Toal speak so candidly about how his ministry has changed and some of the perhaps less understood difficulties associated with that. However, that connection that he had with people in his early days as a priest, whether it be visiting the sick, the elderly, offering comfort at funerals, is something that he feels is crucial for priests to maintain. Having that human element, alongside the spiritual and intellectual is something that fortifies priest and bishop alike.

“The link between a bishop and his priests is vitally important because the bishop depends on the priests in the different parishes and therefore you must give some sort of leadership and support to them,” Bishop Toal explained. “It’s critical that there is unity and a sense of communion between us, especially in terms of presenting the Faith and speaking about the Faith.

“As a bishop it’s great to go out and meet people and be with them and celebrating the Confirmations and the like and going to parishes for other special occasions too. You also have to address things that are more difficult too. Everyone knows the things that have happened in the Church in recent times and therefore you have to deal with people who feel hurt. It's a big challenge for the Church, how we deal with the people who feel wounded and hurt. We have to try and reconcile them and bring them back to be part of the Church.”

A man with a mission

That focus on evangelisation, mission and reaching out, is something that is never far from Bishop Toal’s thoughts and is passionately espoused in his words too. As well as his mission here in the Church in Scotland, he has been fortunate to go on mission to countries such as Ethiopia, Colombia and Ecuador, where he visited the Scottish missionaries, Fr Colin MacInnes and the late Fr Martin Chambers, who were working there. It gave him an insight into spreading God’s Word in the midst of extreme poverty to people who often had little or no knowledge of the Faith at all. It reiterated to him the importance of mission.

“The term mission relates to the command that the Lord gave us to go out and to preach and to Baptise in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” he said. “It's the outreach of the Church from where we are to others. Mission is universal. It's not maybe just about people going away to another country—the traditional idea of mission—but it's being missionary as Pope Francis encouraged us to be, joyful missionaries, wherever we are and whatever situation we're in. We're the witnesses of Jesus and we're on the mission that we've been Baptised into and that we all participate in.

“Everybody plays their part in the mission of the Church. We have to encourage that same idea and that spirit amongst us—all the faithful of the Church. We have to recognise too the priests and religious and those who give their lives to missionary service will maybe go further afield and take on a particular responsibility or task, leading and inspiring others through their work. The universal call to be part of the mission is very important.”

Being the Bishop of Motherwell as he has been for the past 12 years, his Lordship became aware of the storied history that the diocese has in terms of donating to the Missionary Children Society (formerly Holy Childhood). He has also been a joyful witness to the fruit that has been borne by people supporting the work of the St Peter the Apostle Society, with many priests and religious sisters from various countries arriving in Scotland to bolster our parishes.

“I quickly became aware that there was a special generosity in Motherwell Diocese and when I got to know the place a little better, I  became aware too of the different priests and religious who had gone to serve on the missions.

“Nowadays, we’ve gotten more familiar with priests coming from elsewhere to Scotland and there is that sense that for that to happen, someone perhaps went to their country in the first place and now they’re here. So  hopefully people recognise that as a blessing, these priests bringing their own faith and their Catholic ministry to us. We really benefit from that.”

A legacy of support

Bishop Toal is also cognisant of the fact that continuing to support the world of Missio Scotland, the Scottish branch of the Pontifical Mission Societies, not only allows our primary school pupils to continue that fantastic legacy left by their mums and dads, grannies and grandads—of being children helping children—but it also allows us to play our part in the mission of our universal Church, by showing the love and support to our brothers and sisters that they more than reciprocate.

“I feel quite strongly about people supporting the work of Missio Scotland,” Bishop Toal said. “I think it's always been part of the identity of the Church here in Scotland. It grew from being a small Church post-Reformation time to being quite a large community. Within that there was a sense that we came from elsewhere, in terms of our families and so on and there was a great sense then of taking our Faith to other places. I think that was a good thing for the Church here that we had that missionary sensibility and that it was encouraged. I think that should still be the case, that sense of sharing with the Church across the world and recognising that people are still building the Church in certain places and need our support. We should be generous in doing that and thinking worldwide too, rather than just in our own little space here.

“Aside from the fact that Missio Scotland is the Scottish Bishops’ chosen charity for our primary schools, I've encouraged them when they're making their Confirmation to make a contribution to Missio Scotland, via the Missionary Children's Society, so that they're making that link with the universal Church. I think we need to try and encourage our generosity towards our own charity and our own mission and make sure people are involved in that.”

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