If your Latin isn’t quite up to it, the above might be roughly rendered as ‘a bit too much of a good thing’
Which means that I have just come back from two days of College of Bishops meeting in Pitlochry – which is as good as any gathering of friends is likely to be. Unless you spoil it by having a massive Agenda. But we were at least in the rather sumptuous Atholl Palace Hotel because we had just hosted the biennial meeting of the Celtic Bishops.
Like many things Celtic, you might reasonably ask what it is – which is the bishops of the Church in Wales, the Church of Ireland and the Scottish Episcopal Church. So it was definitely a cheerful gathering. We were addressed by Professor David Brown of the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts and Chaplained by Revd Roger Quick, Rector of our congregations centred on Pitlochry. Having moved from Ireland to Scotland, I am very aware of how little ‘in depth’ knowledge we have of one another. But there is actually considerable commonality – not least in the area of shifting identities and relationships. We invited local MSP, John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth, to come and address us.
And before all that, I spent Monday taking Bishop Ashoke Biswas of our link diocese of Kolkata in the Church of North India around part of the diocese. We’re gradually developing a link – it takes a while – but it promises well.