The St Mungo Singers combined a day trip excursion to Falkland on 30 September with a Memorial Mass for Fr Willy Slavin in the Chapel Royal, at Falkland Palace. Falkland was where Fr Willy had lived in retirement in a hut in Falkland Forest, and members of the Chapel Royal congregation who knew him joined the choir for the Mass, with Parish Priest Mgr Philip Kerr presiding.
In the beautiful setting of the Chapel Royal, the choir sang a personal farewell to Fr Willy, with his niece, Pauline, singing David Harris’s setting of Ps 83 “How lovely is your dwelling place” which seemed so appropriate. In his homily Mgr Kerr remembered Fr Willy as one who reached out to those in society who felt excluded: he was an example of the church without walls, someone with compassion for others.
After the Mass, some of the fitter members of the choir walked through the Forest to visit Fr Willy’s hut. The rest went for lunch!
Mgr Kerr in the beautiful Chapel Royal
