Looking Back: In Liberated Europe

From November 1944

IN LIBERATED EUROPE

NOW that the Allied Armies have made such sweeping advances on the Continent, a number of the Stations lost to the Continental Mission in 1940 have been recovered. In remarkable fashion, too, they have been quickly brought into action again.

ROME

The first of these was Rome. When our troops entered the city, it was not long before one of our ministers serving with the Huts and Canteens found his way to Via Venti Settembre. To his delight he discovered our church quite intact, although it had been long disused. It was not long before it was again filled with worshippers on Sundays.

An Army Chaplain, the Rev. J. S. MacKenzie, was put in charge, and with the help of the Huts and Canteens ministers he soon had the work in Rome actively begun again. The Rev. R. P. R. Anderson, the regular minister of Rome, who returned from service in Iceland this summer, has since left for Italy.

PARIS

On D Day the Rev. D. C. Caskie, the minister of Paris, was held in internment in St. Denis-sur-Seine, which is just outside of Paris. Within that camp he had organised round him from among the internees a considerable congregation, some of them belonging to his own flock in Paris. They were all set free when the Allies took Paris and advanced beyond it. It happened dramatically, for the German guards simply fled, leaving the internees to do what they liked.

Mr. Caskie made his way back to Paris. He re-opened the church and made contact with the military authorities. Very soon he was found by Professor Dickie, who went there as leader of the Huts and Canteens serving the Army. Through this organisation it was possible to help Mr. Caskie to re-establish himself and his work in the city. He refused to take home leave when he found so much to do among the large number of Allied soldiers to whom an open church and a friendly active minister were a boon. So the Scots Kirk in Paris is again a going concern with its indomitable minister in charge.

BRUSSELS

For four years no reliable information had been received about the Scots Kirk in Brussels. But now it appears that during that time it had been unmolested by the Germans. They had locked it up and there it had stood silent and deserted.

Then came the day when it was obvious that the Germans were about to quit Brussels, and the news came that the British troops were approaching. The neighbours gathered in the street round the Scots Kirk. A locksmith who lived across the way broke into the cellar, climbed up to the little belfry, and set the bell ringing to welcome the re-entry of the British Army into the Belgian capital. The performance was greeted with acclamation by the people round about.

Later they had the same locksmith make a key to open the doors of the church, and set to to remove the grime and dust of four years. Most of them were Catholic, but that did not matter. They were so happy to see the British Army again and this was one way of expressing their high spirits and gratitude.

When the Rev. G. Gordon Cameron arrived with his mobile canteen a few days later, he had a royal reception from these good folks. He held a service in the church on the Sunday, to which they all crowded, and they could not do enough to show him how great was their relief and joy to see the place open once more and in action. It was a clear sign to them that freedom and light had come again after four years’ grim oppression.

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