Scratch a Highlander and You'll Find a Rebel
- savewestmaboubeach
- Oct 22
- 2 min read
Letter to the Editor by Marjorie MacDonald-Pura The Inverness Oran - October 22, 2025
Dear Editor,
My brother Bernie (aka Fr. Bernie) was 18, I was seven years old, and he was driving me to church when I threw a gum wrapper out of the car window. Bernie pulled the car to the side of the road and made me walk up the hill to retrieve the wrapper. I then got the first of many lessons about being a good steward to our beautiful yet fragile planet.
Fr. Bernie travelled the world and witnessed the results of the nations that were good stewards and those that were not. Nations that destroyed natural habitats all for "eco- nomic development." He witnessed poverty, contaminated soil/water, disease, and the early warning signs of global warming. He saw how all these environmental outcomes impacted the lives of so many innocent children and the broader community.
He made West Mabou his home and he fell in love with West Mabou Beach. Many a sermon was created as he walked the beach taking in the spiritual nature of the dunes and surrounding forest. He was so proud when this property became a provincial park knowing that status would protect this wondrous place for all to enjoy forever. Living by the old Scottish saying, "Scratch a Highlander and you'll find a rebel," Fr. Bernie became that rebel when he heard the government was in a negotiation with a multi- billion-dollar private corporation that would take public land for a for-profit private golf course. This was the land that was previously taken from landowners for the sole purpose to protect West Mabou Beach and the surrounding dunes and forests. Those families willingly surrendered their own property knowing that the beach and land would be protected in perpetuity. What happened to that noble pursuit? My brother along with wonderful friends and neighbors fought these threats three times with environmental facts, the law, love of a sacred land and they won. No means no!
In 2023, when "no is no" was clearly not enough, Fr. Bernie, sick and riddled with cancer, would not give up on this community and the provincial park. He died believing that good can come from good intentions.
It is 2025 and we are here once again. Although our family continues to come home to Mabou, Fr. Bernie is no longer with us. He so loved West Mabou, and it was painful for him watch and hear how this issue divided this community. He knew there were no do-overs. One chance to get it right or wrong. Please keep him in your hearts as you fight once again.
This once little seven-year-old girl who learned her lesson will leave you with a quote from Pope John Paul II. "The earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for us future generations."
Respectfully,
Marjorie MacDonald- Pura Exeter, NH
On July 29, 2024, members of the community gathered to dedicate a special bench at West Mabou Beach Provincial Park in Father Bernie's honour: "Friend and Protector of West Mabou Beach Provincial Park. He lived his faith through endless acts of kindness."
