Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,
In traveling one often comes across amazing things that were previously unknown.  On my recent pilgrimage, we stopped at St. Andrews, Scotland.  Now this site is renown for various reasons, all of which were formerly totally unappreciated by me.
Firstly, this is the home of the famous St. Andrews Golf Course, which is the birthplace of golfing.  I must admit that I was in wonder as my fellow pilgrims exited our bus and began taking pictures of what looked to me like a large field of well-manicured grass.  It was a beautiful location right by the sea.
Also at St. Andrews are the ruins of the old Catholic cathedral.  This cathedral was built on the site of an earlier church that had been a place of worship since the 8th century. The story is that Saint Regulus brought relics of Saint Andrew the apostle to this site from Greece.  The cathedral was built in 1158 to honor the relics of Saint Andrew.  The cathedral served as the center of Catholicism in Scotland until the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.  The church was the largest, and would still be the largest, church in Scotland.
The church was “cleansed” of its adornments in 1559 by a Protestant mob incited by a homily given by the reformer John Knox.  From that point it was allowed to fall into ruin.
As I surveyed the remnants of this great cathedral, I thought how sad it is that the Catholic Church in Scotland has come to this.  And yet, in spite of the ruins, I was moved to pray.  The holiness of this place still moved me.
As I explored the town, about two blocks from the ruins of the great cathedral, I came upon a small Catholic church.  I entered, and it was packed with young people singing praise to God.  I saw a young Dominican nun in a habit and asked her what was going on.  As soon as she spoke, I knew she was American; she was a Nashville Dominican.  They have begun a mission in Scotland to renew the Faith there.  They were having a youth rally.
And thus it begins: Out of the ashes the Faith will rise to new life.
Msgr. Cox
http://www.medievalists.net/2013/11/take-a-virtual-tour-of-st-andrews-cathedral-in-the-year-1318/  for a video tour of the cathedral, reconstructed by architects, historians, and computer scientists.

 Reconstructed image of St. Andrew’s Cathedral west door from the cathedral museum and openvirtualworlds.org