MISSIO Scotland National Director, Fr Vincent Lockhart offered his congratulations to Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh after Pope Francis recently appointed him to the Dicastery for Evangelisation.
Joining him in the Vatican department is Mr John Docherty, the former head-teacher of St Ninian’s High School in East Renfrewshire. The archbishop will commence a five-year term as a Member of the First Section of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, while Mr Docherty begins his own five-year term as a Consultor of the same department.
The Dicastery for Evangelisation is a new department of the Roman Curia formed by the merger of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of New Evangelisation in 2022. It is responsible for the fundamental questions of evangelisation in the world and according to its Constitution, ‘is presided over directly by the Roman Pontiff.’
“I was surprised and honoured to be asked to become a member of the Dicastery for Evangelisation,” Archbishop Cushley said, in reaction to his appointment. “As this dicastery is an important part of the recent curial reforms of the Holy Father, I look forward learning more and to contributing whatever I can to the fundamental questions of proposing the Good News in today’s world and its many contexts.”
Responding to his appointment, Mr Docherty added: “I am both honoured and deeply humbled to be invited to serve the Church through the Dicastery of Evangelisation. I hope that my experience of working within Catholic Education will be of value in assisting Pope Francis’ mission to put evangelisation at the centre of our lives. I look forward with great enthusiasm to the challenges that lie ahead.”
In his words of congratulations, Fr Lockhart spoke of the ‘invaluable experience of evangelisation issues,’ that Archbishop Cushley—the current President of the Board of Missio Scotland—will bring to the role, while also thanking him for the ‘great support’ he has given to the Scottish branch of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
“Missio Scotland is delighted that Archbishop Leo Cushley and Mr John Docherty have been appointed members of the Dicastery for Evangelisation,” Fr Lockhart said. “Archbishop Cushley has invaluable experience of evangelisation issues from his time in Africa, particularly in Burundi, and the immense challenges facing the Church in the western secularised world as Archbishop of Edinburgh. As President of the Board of Missio Scotland (The Pontifical Mission Societies) he has given us great support and guidance in our work. He and Mr Docherty have our congratulations and prayers.”
