 Catholic Church in Scotland | |
|---|---|
 Crucifixion of Saint Andrew, byJuan Correa de Vivar (1540–1545) | |
| Classification | Catholic |
| Orientation | Latin |
| Scripture | Bible |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Governance | BCOS |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| President | Hugh Gilbert |
| Apostolic Nuncio | Miguel Maury Buendía |
| Region | Scotland |
| Language | English,Latin |
| Founder | Saint Ninian,Saint Mungo,Saint Columba |
| Origin | c. 200s:Christianity in Roman Britain c. 400s:Medieval Christianity |
| Separations | Church of Scotland |
| Members | 841,053 (2011)[1] |
| Official website | bcos.org.uk |
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TheCatholic Church in Scotland, overseen by theScottish Bishops' Conference, is part of the worldwideCatholic Church headed by the Pope. Christianity first arrived inRoman Britain and was strengthened by the conversion of thePicts through both theHiberno-Scottish mission andIona Abbey. After being firmly established inScotland for nearly a millennium and contributing enormously toScottish literature and culture, the Catholic Church was outlawed by theScottish Reformation Parliament in 1560. Multiple uprisings in the interim failed to reestablish Catholicism or to legalise its existence.[2] Even today, thePapal Jurisdiction Act 1560, while no longer enforced, still remains on the books.
Throughout the nearly three centuries ofreligious persecution anddisenfranchisement between 1560 and 1829,[3][4] many students for the priesthood went abroad to study while others remained in Scotland and, in what is now termedunderground education, attended illegal seminaries. An early seminary upon Eilean Bàn inLoch Morar was moved during theJacobite rising of 1715 and reopened asScalan seminary inGlenlivet. After multiplearson attacks by government troops, Scalan was rebuilt in the 1760s by BishopJohn Geddes, who later becameVicar Apostolic of the Lowland District, a close friend ofnational poetRobert Burns, and a well-known figure in theEdinburghintelligentsia during theScottish Enlightenment.
The successful campaign that resulted inCatholic emancipation in 1829 helped Catholics regain both freedom of religion andcivil rights. In 1878, theCatholic hierarchy was formally restored.[5] As the Church was slowly rebuilding its presence in theGàidhealtachd,the bishop and priests of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, inspired by the IrishLand War, became the ringleaders of adirect action resistance campaign by their parishioners to theHighland Clearances,rackrenting,religious discrimination, and other acts widely seen as abuses of power byAnglo-Scottish landlords and their estatefactors.
Many Scottish Roman Catholics in the heavily populated Lowlands are the descendants ofIrish immigrants and ofScottish Gaelic-speaking migrants from theHighlands and Islands who both moved into Scotland's cities and industrial towns during the 19th century, especially during the Highland Clearances, theHighland Potato Famine, and thesimilar famine in Ireland. However, there are also significant numbers of Scottish Catholics ofItalian,Lithuanian,[6]Ukrainian, andPolish descent, with more recent immigrants again boosting the numbers. Owing to immigration (overwhelmingly whiteEuropean), it is estimated that, in 2009, there were about 850,000 Catholics in the country of 5.1 million.[7]
TheGàidhealtachd has been both Catholic and Protestant in modern times. A number ofScottish Gaelic-speaking areas, includingBarra,Benbecula,South Uist,Eriskay, andMoidart, are mainly Catholic. For this reason, Catholicism has had a very heavy influence upon Post-ReformationScottish Gaelic literature and the recentScottish Gaelic Renaissance; particularly throughIain Lom,Sìleas na Ceapaich,Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair,Allan MacDonald,Ailean a' Ridse MacDhòmhnaill,John Lorne Campbell,Margaret Fay Shaw,Dòmhnall Iain Dhonnchaidh, andAngus Peter Campbell.
In the2011 census, 16% of thepopulation of Scotland described themselves as being Catholic, compared with 32% affiliated with theChurch of Scotland.[8] Between 1994 and 2002, Catholic attendance in Scotland declined 19% to just over 200,000.[9] By 2008, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland estimated that 184,283 attended Mass regularly.[10] Mass attendance has not recovered to the numbers prior to theCOVID-19 pandemic, though there was a dramatic rise between 2022 and 2023.[11]
Christianity may have been introduced to what is now Scotland by soldiers of theRoman Legions stationed in the far north of the province ofBritannia.[12] Even after the 383 withdrawal of the Roman garrisons byMagnus Maximus, it is well documented in sources aboutSaint Mungo, StNinian, and in locally composed works of earlyWelsh-language literature, likeY Gododdin, theBook of Taliesin, and theBook of Aneirin, that Christianity survived among the Proto-Welsh-speaking kingdoms in Scotland, which are still referred to inModern Welsh as theHen Ogledd (lit. "the Old North"). Like it's faithful, however, Christianity was slowly driven westward withrefugees from theAnglo-Saxon invasion of Britain.[13] ThePicts, Anglo-Saxons, andGaels of modern Scotland, who were traditionally tribal peoples, were mainly evangelized and converted between the fifth and seventh centuries by Irish missionaries such as StsColumba andBaithéne, the founders and first two abbots ofIona Abbey,St Donnán ofEigg, and StMáel Ruba, a monk fromBangor Abbey who became the founder ofApplecross Abbey inWester Ross. These missionaries tended to foundmonastic institutions, which expanded to include schools, libraries, and collegiate churches whose priests both evangelized and served large areas.[14] Partly as a result of these factors, some scholars have identified a distinctiveCeltic Church, to which Catholics, Protestants,MiaphysiteOrthodox, andEastern Orthodox, have all claimed in historical debates to be the only legitimate heirs. In the Celtic Church, attitudes towardsclerical celibacy were more relaxed, a differing form of monastictonsure was used, the use ofprayer beads known as thePater Noster cord as a means of "prayer without ceasing" preceded the invention of therosary bySt Dominic, and the lunar method was used forcalculating the date of Easter. During the 1960s,Frank O'Connor explained that the reason why, on both sides of theIrish Sea,abbots were often more significant than bishops is because a Church governed by anEpiscopal polity, "in a tribal society was a contradiction in terms. No tribe, however small or weak, would accept the authority of a bishop from another tribe; but with a monastic organisation, each tribe could have its own monastery, and the larger ones could have as many as they wished."[15]
Also, despite a shared belief in theReal Presence in theEucharist, the veneration of theBlessed Virgin, and shared use of theEcclesiastical Latinliturgical language, as is documented byprimary sources such as theStowe Missal, there were often significant differences between theCeltic Rite and the mainstreamRoman Rite[16][17] and evidence of a distinctive form ofCeltic chant in Latin, which is most closely related toGallican chant, also survives in liturgical music manuscripts dating from the period.[18] TheCuldees, aneremitical order fromGaelic Ireland, also spread to Scotland, where their presence continued at least into the 11th-century. In his life ofSaint Margaret of Scotland,Turgot of Durham,Bishop of St Andrews, wrote of the Culdees, "At that time in the Kingdom of the Scots there were many living, shut up in cells in places set apart, by a life of great strictness, in the flesh but not according to the flesh, communing, indeed, with angels upon earth."[19]
At the same time, theerenagh system inGaelic Ireland of hereditary lay administration ofChurch lands by family branches deliberately appointed from within thederbhfine of localIrish clan chiefs led to notorious abuses; like monasteries warring against each other and the infamous Irish "royal-abbot" of Cork andClonfert Abbeys,Fedelmid mac Crimthainn, who personally led armies into battle against otherIrish clans and abbeys and routinelysacked andburned other monasteries.[20] Due to the close ties between the Church in both countries, the erenagh system also spread toGaelic Scotland, with at least some similar results. For example, during the 11th-century reign of the Scottish High KingMacbeth, whichwas later fictionalized byWilliam Shakespeare, the High King's greatest domestic foe by far proved to be his own uncle,Crínán of Dunkeld, the warrior-abbot ofDunkeld Abbey,Mormaer of Atholl, the legitimately married father of the late High KingDuncan I, the grandfather of KingMalcolm III of Scotland, and progenitor of the Scottish RoyalHouse of Dunkeld.[21][22][23]
Despite the ongoingreligious persecution and expulsion from their monasteries and convents of "Romanists" likeSt Mo Chota, who opposed how much the Celtic Church had been, "absorbed by the tribal system" and lost its independence fromcontrol by local secular rulers,[24] at least some of these issues had been resolved on both sides of the Irish Sea by the mid-seventh century.[16][25] After the conversion, successful war for political independence fromNorway, and increasingGaelicisation ofScandinavian Scotland and theIsle of Man underSomerled andhis heirs, the Roman RiteDiocese of the Isles under bishops appointed by theHoly See became the dominant religion.[26]
During the reign of King Malcolm III, the Scottish church underwent a series of reforms and transformations. Through the influence of hisHungarian-born wife,St Margaret of Scotland, a clearly defined hierarchy of diocesan bishops and parochial structure for local churches, in line with the queen's experiences in Continental Europe, was developed.[27] Following the 1286 extinction of the RoyalHouse of Dunkeld and the subsequent invasion of Scotland byEdward Longshanks, thepolitical purge of Scottish clergy from the hierarchy, religious orders, and parishes, and their replacement by English clergy was one of the root causes of theScottish Wars of Independence and is part of why so many of the Scottish clergy defied the pro-English policy ofPope John XXII and signed theDeclaration of Arbroath. Following theBattle of Bannockburn, large numbers of new foundations, which introduced Continental European forms of reformed monasticism, began to predominate as the Scottish church re-established its independence from England and developed a clearer diocesan structure, becoming a "special daughter of the see of Rome" but lacking leadership in the form of archbishops.[28] During theLate Middle Ages, similar to in other European countries, theInvestiture Controversy and theGreat Schism of the West allowed the Scottish Crown, likeScottish clan chiefs using theerenagh system during the time of theCeltic Church, togain greater influence over senior appointments to the hierarchy and two archbishoprics had accordingly been established by the end of the fifteenth century.[29] While some historians have discerned a decline of monasticism in the Late Middle Ages, themendicant orders offriars grew, particularly in the expandingburghs, to meet the spiritual needs of the population. New saints and cults of religious devotion also proliferated. Despite problems over the number and quality of clergy after theBlack Death in the fourteenth century, and the efforts ofHussite emissaryPavel Kravař to spread doctrines consideredheresy; theRenaissance in Scotland also saw wider availability of books, including theClassics and newer works ofearly modern Scottish literature, due toAndrow Myllar andWalter Chepman'sintroduction of theGutenberg Revolution to Scotland in 1507. Theprinting press also helped spread the "New Learning" known asRenaissance humanism, which was also embraced and spread by many Catholic clergy. This is not to say that everything was perfect, however.
The tradition of Crown-appointed "lay abbots" was reintroduced during the reign ofJames III of Scotland, with similar results to the time of the Celtic Church. KingJames V even appointed five of his illegitimate sons, with the assent of theHoly See, to the wealthiest abbacies in the Kingdom. According toGeorge Scott-Moncrieff, "Such men were naturally opposed to administrative reform and as naturally enthusiastic for a revolution that would make them absolute possessors of property to which otherwise they would only claim the life-rent..." For this and similar reasons, many Scottish Catholic priests and monks who were also Renaissance humanists, such as ArchbishopAndrew Forman,Quintin Kennedy, andNinian Winzet, "felt bitterly the failure of their fellow clergy to live the life they proclaimed", and called for an internal restoration ofChristian morality, that would later be dubbed theCounter-Reformation. Similar critiques and calls also appear in theMiddle Scots poetry ofMakarsWilliam Dunbar andRobert Henryson.[30] Therefore, the Church in Scotland remained relatively strong and stable until theScottish Reformation in the sixteenth century.[29]
_at_the_entrance_of_St_Salvator%2527s_Chapel.JPG)
Scotland remained a Catholic country until the arrival ofProtestant theology in books smuggled from abroad, beginning in the early 16th century. As often happens in cases ofreligious persecution of any kind, efforts by the Hierarchy of the Church to enforce the traditional principle of Canon law that "error has no rights" and treat Protestantism as a criminal offense triggered a widespread public backlash. Particularly due to the greater availability and affordability of paper and books, the trials and executions of Protestant martyrs were widely publicized by theprinting press and helped spread Protestantism even further. In particular, after he was sentenced to death for his belief inLutheranism following an Ecclesiastical trial presided over by ArchbishopJames Beaton andburned at the stake at St. Andrews in 1528, it was said that the "reek [that is, smoke] of MasterPatrick Hamilton infected as many as it blew upon".[31] Other similar cases had very similar results.
Despite also facing considerable popular opposition, theScottish Reformation was effectively completed when theScottish Parliament broke with the papacy andestablished aCalvinist confession by law in 1560. At that point, the offering or attending of theMass was outlawed.[32] The subsequentsuppression of monasteries, ban onreligious orders, and, most particular, theiconoclasm andbook burnings atmonastic libraries that often accompanied them has recently been criticised, even by non-Catholic historians, as the destruction of Scotland'scultural inheritance.[33][34]
Although illegal under thePapal Jurisdiction Act 1560 and other similar legislation, Scotland did not become "atheocratic state on the model ofCalvin'sGeneva",[35] and an underground Catholic Church continued to survive and command the loyalty of at least half the population in Scotland.[citation needed][when?] According to historianGeorge Scott-Moncrieff, "The collapse of the secular clergy, many of whom renounced their vows andmarried, while three bishops apostatised and the rest retired in confusion, left only a few who travelled through the country disguised as laymen trying to succour whom they could."[36]
In 1565, for example,John Knox relates that for one hour and four hours on two separate days underground priest Sir James Tarbet was tied to theMercat Cross, Edinburgh and pelted with eggs after being caught saying theTridentine Mass, which had been criminalised five years previously.[37]
James VI and his heirs, however, had intended for theChurch of Scotland ("The Kirk") to embrace theElizabethan religious settlement,High Church Anglicanism,Royal Supremacy, andepiscopal polity. This led to long-term internal battles between Episcopalian and Presbyterian factions over control of the Kirk, the religious persecution of whichever faction had fallen from power, and the ultimate formation of a separateScottish Episcopal Church. Persecution of Catholics, however, continued under both Episcopalian and Presbyterian governance.
Even so, the remaining domestic clergy played a relatively small role and the initiative was often left to lay leaders. Wherevernoble families, locallairds, orScottish clan chiefs illegally offeredreligious toleration Catholicism continued to thrive covertly, as underClan Donald inLochaber,Eigg, andSouth Uist, underClan MacNeil inBarra, under theChisholms andFrasers ofStrathglass, or in the north-east underClan Gordon. In these areas Catholic sacraments were administered by disguised and outlawed priests, but with relative openness.[38] Members of the nobility, who were often closely related, are believed to have been reluctant to pursue each other over matters of religious dissent. An English report in 1600 also alleged that a third of nobles and gentry were still Catholic in inclination.[39]
For example, in his efforts to enforce the King'sreligious settlement asBishop of the IslesJohn Leslie sometimes ran into opposition from the localScottish nobility (Scottish Gaelic:flath). This was particularly true during the Bishop's efforts to shut down the illegal and underground pastoral work in his Diocese byFranciscan missionaries dispatched from the similarly undergroundCatholic Church in Ireland during the 1620s and '30s.[40]
Upon 9 September 1630, Fr. Patrick Hegarty, OFM, was arrested uponSouth Uist by a posse ofpriest hunters commanded in person by Bishop Leslie, but before the Bishop could deliver Fr. Hegarty for trial, however,Raghnall Mac Ailein 'ic Iain (Ranald MacDonald ofBenbecula), the uncle of the thenChief ofClan MacDonald of Clanranald and great-great-grandfather to Scottish Gaelicnational poetAlasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, intervened and relieved the Bishop and his posse of their captive. The incident infuriatedKing Charles I, who sent a furious letter about it toPrivy Council of Scotland on 10 December 1630 and was followed by unsuccessful efforts to summon the Highland nobleman toInverary for criminal prosecution.[41]
In most of Scotland, Catholicism became an underground faith in private households and secret parish communities, connected by ties of kinship. This reliance on the household meant that Scottish laywomen often became vitally important as the upholders and transmitters of the faith, such as in the case of Lady Fernihurst in the Borders. They transformed their households into centres of religious activity and created safe houses and secret chapels forpriests.[38]
After thereformed kirk took over the existing structures and assets of the Church,the 1567 overthrow ofMary, Queen of Scots, and thedefeat of the armies seeking her restoration during the 1570s, the Vatican reclassified Scotland as a missionary territory and therefore subject to theCongregation for the Propaganda of the Faith. The leadingreligious orders of theCounter-Reformation, theDominicans and the newly foundedJesuits, initially took relatively little interest in Scotland as a target of missionary work and their effectiveness was at first severely damaged by Vaticanbureaucracy and, especially by territorial rivalries against each other, secular priests, and other religious orders. The initiative was taken by a small group of Scots connected with theCrichton family, who had supplied the bishops ofDunkeld. They joined the Jesuit order and returned to attempt conversions. Their focus at first was mainly on evangelising the nobility and courtiers, which led them into involvement in seeking to end the religious persecution of the Church through a series of complexregime change plots and political entanglements, which were covertly opposed from London byLord Burghley and SirFrancis Walsingham. The majority of surviving Scottish laity, however, were long ignored.[38]
Some, including members of theScottish nobility, converted openly to the Catholic Church despite the risks involved. For example,Banffshire aristocratJohn Ogilvie (1569–1615) went on to be ordained a priest of theSociety of Jesus in 1610. He was arrested by theAnglo-Catholic Archbishop of St. Andrews,John Spottiswoode and, in a deeply ironic parallel to the religious persecution of the PresbyterianCovenanters during the later events known asThe Killing Time, Ogilvie was hanged for refusing to take theOath of Supremacy and declare that the King was Supreme Head of the Church atGlasgow Cross on 10 March 1615. A further reason, according to Thomas Wynne, was that Archbishop Spottiswoode, like many other adherents ofLaudianism at the time, had allegedly been accused ofCrypto-Catholicism by his enemies in both the Church of Scotland and at Court and chose to use Ogilvie's trial and execution to prove the falseness of the accusations.[42] Ogilvie, who was canonised byPope Paul VI on 17 October 1976, is often assumed to be the only Scottish Catholic martyr of the Reformation era.[43] Nevertheless, the longevity of the Catholic Church's illegal status had a devastating impact on the numbers of the laity. Even so, a significantly large Catholic population, served by outlawed "heather priests",[44] continued to exist. This was especially the case in theDoric-speaking Northeast and the more remoteGàidhealtachd areas of theHebrides, theNorthwest Highlands, and inGalloway.[45]
Numbers probably reduced in the seventeenth century and organisation deteriorated.[46]
The Pope appointedThomas Nicolson as the firstVicar Apostolic over the mission in 1694.[47] The country was organised into districts and by 1703 there were thirty-three Catholic clergy.[48] In 1733 it was divided into two vicariates, one for the Highland and one for the Lowland, each under a bishop. In the Highland District, which had largely been looked after byUlster Irish-speaking missionary priests, aminor seminary was founded by BishopJames Gordon to train native-born priests at Eilean Bàn inLoch Morar. It was moved in 1716 toScalan inGlenlivet, which became the primary centre ofunderground education for Catholic priests in the area. It was illegal, and it wasburned to the ground on several occasions by soldiers sent from beyond the Highlands.[49] Beyond Scalan there were six attempts to found a seminary in the Highlands between 1732 and 1838, all suffering both financially and due to Catholicism's illegal status.[47] Clergy entered the country secretly and although services were illegal they were maintained.[48]
According to a later report by BishopJohn Geddes, as outlawed clergymen of an illegal and underground church denomination, it is understandable why BishopHugh MacDonald, the Vicar General of the Highlands between 1731 and 1773, and the priests of his district would have felt very hopeful aboutJacobitism, due theHouse of Stuart's promises ofCatholic Emancipation,freedom of religion, andcivil rights to everyone who worshipped outside theEstablished Churches of the realm. It is equally understandable why the Scottish Catholic laity, who, "were discouraged and much exposed to oppression", would similarly, "wish for an event that was likely to release them, and put them again into the possession of the privileges of free-born citizens."[50]
Even though many Presbyterians and Episcopalians also fought as Jacobites, aftermath of theJacobite rising of 1745 further increased the persecution faced by Catholics in Scotland.[46]
The repression was particularly intense during (Scottish Gaelic:Bliadhna nan Creach lit. "the year of the pillaging")[51] that followed the defeat of theJacobite Army at theBattle of Culloden.[52]
According to BishopJohn Geddes, "Immediately after theBattle of Culloden, orders were issued for thedemolishing all the Catholic chapels and forapprehending the priests."[53] Historian John Watts confirms that this policy was followed by government troops and that, "In doing so, they appear to have been acting on official orders."[54] "Heather priest" FrAlexander Cameron's biographer Thomas Wynne alleges that these official orders actuallypreceded Culloden, "A proclamation was on 6th December 1745, putting into operation certain laws which were more or less obsolete - the Act ofQueen Elizabeth,cap. 27, and ofJames VI,cap. 3, against Jesuits and Catholic priests. A reward of £100 was offered every such person, after conviction, withinLondon,Westminster,Southwark, and within ten miles of these places."[55]
The Hanoverian atrocities that followed were motivated by whatAmerican Civil War historian Thomas Lowry has termed "the European tradition … that to victors belong the spoils - the losers could expectpillage andplunder",[56] and that enemy civilians are "grist for the mills of more hardheaded conquerors such asGenghis Khan,Tamerlane, andIvan the Terrible."[57]
Also according to Bishop John Geddes, "Early in the spring of 1746, some ships of war came to the coast of the isle ofBarra and landed some men, who threatened they would lay desolate the whole island if the priest was not delivered up to them. FatherJames Grant, who was missionary then, and afterward Bishop, being informed of the threats in a safe retreat in which he was in a little island, surrendered himself, and was carried prisoner toMingarry Castle on the Western coast (i.e.Ardnamurchan) where he was detained for some weeks."[58]
After long and cruel imprisonment with other Catholic priests atInverness Gaol and in aprison hulk anchored in theRiver Thames, Grant was deported to theNetherlands and warned never to return to theBritish Isles. Like the other priests deported with him, Fr. Grant returned to Scotland almost immediately. His fellow prisoner, FatherAlexander Cameron, an outlawed "heather priest" toClan Fraser of Lovat andClan Chisholm, formermilitary chaplain, and the younger brother toDonald Cameron of Lochiel, theChief ofClan Cameron, was less fortunate. Fr. Cameron died aboard the prison hulk due to the hardship of his imprisonment on 19 October 1746.[52][59] During the 21st century, theKnights of St. Columba at theUniversity of Glasgow launched a campaign tocanonize Fr. Cameron, "with the hope that he will become a great saint for Scotland and that our nation will merit from his intercession."[60] They erected a small petition book at their altar of St. Joseph in the University Catholic Chapel, Turnbull Hall. It is one of the necessary prerequisites for Canonisation in the Catholic Church that there is acult of devotion to the saint.[60]
According to historian Daniel Szechi, however, the government's post-Culloden backlash focused upon the Catholic clergy and laity of the Highland District, while leaving the much larger and better organized Lowland District reasonably unscathed.[61]
According to Marcus Tanner, "As theReformed Church faltered in the urban and increasingly industrialised Lowlands,Presbyterianism made its great breakthrough among the Gaelic Highlanders, virtually snapping cultural bonds that had linked them to Ireland since the lordship ofDalriada. The Highlands, outside tiny Catholic enclaves like inSouth Uist andBarra, took on the contours they have since preserved - a region marked by a strong tradition ofsabbatarianism and a puritanical distaste for instrumental music and dancing, which have only recently regained popular acceptance".[62]
The pioneeringVictorian erafolklorist andCelticistJohn Francis Campbell ofIslay (Scottish Gaelic:Iain Òg Ìle) and his many assistant collectors had very different reasons for criticising what they saw as the unnecessary excesses of the Calvinisation of theHighlands and Islands. At the beginning of his groundbreaking collectionPopular Tales of the West Highlands, Campbell and his helpers complained at length that, due to the fear of displeasing the local ministers, elders, and parish school-masters, it had become almost impossible to collectScottish mythology or folklore from theseanchaidhs in Gaelic-speaking regions that had recently converted toPresbyterianism from Catholicism or theScottish Episcopal Church.[63]
Exact numbers of communicants are uncertain, given the illegal status of Catholicism. In 1755 it was estimated that there were some 16,500 communicants, mainly in the north and west.[48] In 1764, "the total Catholic population in Scotland would have been about 33,000 or 2.6% of the total population. Of these 23,000 were in the Highlands."[64] Another estimate for 1764 is of 13,166 Catholics in the Highlands, perhaps a quarter of whom had emigrated by 1790,[65] and another source estimates Catholics as perhaps 10% of the population.[65]
Even though he acknowledges the vitally important role determination to keep the landowning gentry from appointing and removingChurch of Scotland ministers during theHighland andLowland Clearances played in causing theDisruption of 1843, Marcus Tanner also writes, "the Disruption and theFree Church have come in for harsh criticism especially from the political left in recent years. Apart from inflicting a peculiarly censorious and dour version of Christianity on the population, they are charged with imbuing them withultra-Calvinist pessimism and political passivity, and with encouraging them to dwell on trivial points of doctrine while their communities were beinglaid waste by the landlords. There is something in the charge. Few Highland ministers emulated the Catholic clergy of Ireland, who commandeered theRepeal movement in the 1830s and 1840s and theland campaigns several decades on. The Catholic clergy in agitated Irish counties likeTipperary led the agrarian militants from the front, which cannot be said for most Disruption clergy or their successors. Evangelical Presbyterianism counseled submission and acceptance of misfortune. But it was a faith chosen quite voluntarily by the people and if it failed to make them rebels against injustice, it certainly lent them dignity."[66]
While most of the landlords responsible for theHighland Clearances did not target people for ethnic or religious reasons,[67] there is evidence ofanti-Catholicism among some of them.[68][69][70][71][72][73][74] In particular, large numbers of Catholics emigrated from the Western Highlands in the period 1770 to 1810 and there is evidence that anti Catholic sentiment (along with famine, poverty, andrackrenting) was a contributory factor in that period.[75][76]
In an April 1787 letter fromMoidart to theCongregation for Propaganda in Rome, Fr. Austin MacDonald wrote, "On account of the emigration of the people ofKnoydart to Canada, along with their priest; it fell to me in the autumn to attend to those who were left behind, and during the winter to the people of Moydart (sic) as well. Although not less than 600 Catholics went to America, still I administered the Sacraments to over 500 souls who remained. The overpopulation of these districts, together with the oppression of the landlords, are the principal causes of the departure of so many, not only among the Catholics, but also among the Protestants."[77]
InGlengarry County,Upper Canada, aCanadian Gaelic-speaking pioneer settlement was established for Scottish Catholics through the efforts ofBritish Armymilitary chaplain and future Catholic bishopAlexander Macdonnell. The settlement's inhabitants consisted of members of theGlengarry Fencibles, a disbanded Catholic unit of theHighland Fencible Corps, and their families.[78][79]
In addition to Bishop MacDonnell, there were many other "heather priests", such asWilliam Fraser,Angus Bernard MacEachern, and Ranald Rankin, the composer of the famous GaelicChristmas carolTàladh Chrìosda, who similarly followed their evicted and voluntary émigré parishioners into theScottish diaspora during the Clearances.[citation needed]
In 1879, a visitor from Scotland enthusiastically declared that theGlengarry dialect of Scottish Gaelic was better preserved, "with the most perfect accent, and with scarcely any, if any, admixture of English", inGlengarry County and inCornwall, Ontario than inLochaber itself.[80] For very similar reasons, Odo Blundell commented ruefully in 1909 that the language, customs, andoral tradition of once densely populated and overwhelmingly CatholicStrathglass were better preserved inNova Scotia than in Scotland.[81]
After receiving his post following the 1878 Restoration of the Hierarchy and during the last decade of the Clearances, BishopAngus MacDonald of theDiocese of Argyll and the Isles led by example during the height of theHighland Land League agitation. The Bishop and his priests became leading and formidable activists fortenant's rights, reasonable rents,security of tenure,free elections, and against thepolitical bossism, excessive rents, andreligious discrimination that were keeping a majority of the Catholic and Protestant population of the Highlands and Islands critically impoverished.[82][83]
According to Roger Hutchinson, the hostility of Bishop MacDonald and his priests to the absolute power granted to the landlords underScots property law at the time, which Hutchinson inaccurately labels asLiberation Theology rather thanDistributism, was fueled by a deep sense of outrage over the decimation of the Catholic population of the Scottish Gaeldom by theHighland Clearances. A further influence was the knowledge that the roots of the Clearances lay in theClassical Liberalism preached inAdam Smith'sThe Wealth of Nations during theScottish Enlightenment and in that ideology'shostility to, "bigotry and superstition"; which were, in 18th- and 19th-century Scotland, routinely used as shorthand forRoman Catholicism.[84]
Roger Hutchinson further writes that Bishop MacDonald's choice to assign Gaelic-speaking priests from the Scottish mainland to parishes in theHebrides was accordingly no accident. About that time, when the Bishop and his priests were the leaders ofdirect action,rent strikes, and other acts of resistance to theAnglo-Scottish landlords, Fr. Michael MacDonald has since commented, "I think that one of the things that may have influenced the boldness of the priests at that time was simply that they had no relations on the islands who could have been got at by the estateFactor or others."[85]
During the 19th century,Irish immigration substantially increased the number of Catholics in the country, especially inGlasgow and its vicinity, and other industrial communities in the Lowlands of Scotland,[86] but also in many rural communities, where Irish migrants worked asnavvies and farm labourers (seePotato Labour Scandal 1971).[87]
Initially, clergymen from therecusant districts of North-East Scotland played an important part in providing support.[86]
InDumbarton, which in 1820 only had two or three Catholic families, the population was increased by Irish and Highland migration until the first parish church, dedicated to St Patrick, was built in 1830. According to local historian I.M.M. MacPhail, "Before 1830, a few Catholics used to meet in the ruins of the old pre-Reformation parish church ofCardross in the Levengrove policies and later, just before their church was built,the Rev. John Gordon ofGreenock heldservices in an old store in College Street. In 1837, it was estimated that there were 284 Catholics in Dumbarton".[88]
The same community saw regular outbreaks of violence in the pubs on the paydays of local Irish navvies and the first of many seriousanti-Irish riots that negatively affected Dumbarton's reputation after Protestantshipwrights listened to a sermon by visitinganti-Catholic preacher andpolemicistJohn Sayers Orr in October 1855.[89][90] A very similar riot had previously been incited by Orr, whom Tim Pat Coogan has compared to the Rev.Ian Paisley, in Greenock on12 July 1851. When Orr was thrown into prison, his followersalso rioted.[91] Attempts were also made to convert Irish migrants toPresbyterianism by recruiting missionaries like Rev. Patrick MacMenemy, a native speaker ofUlster Irish from theGlens of Antrim, but whose ministerial reputation collapsed following allegations of womanizing in 1885.[92]
TheCatholic hierarchy was re-established in 1878 byPope Leo XIII and six new dioceses were created: five of them were organised into a single province with theArchbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh as metropolitan; the Diocese of Glasgow remained separate and directly subject to the Apostolic See.
As the Catholic presence in the Lowlands increased and revived, however, there were regular cases of conflict between Highland migrants and Irish immigrants over both cultural differences and control of Catholic parishes, schools, and neighbourhoods. Irish Catholics often complained to theHoly See, particularly after the restoration of the Scottish Hierarchy in the 1878, that Irish priests were only used to organize parishes and schools and then immediately replaced by the bishops withDoric-speaking pastors fromBanffshire and other recusant districts in the Northeast of Scotland. Even though this was intended to assimilate Highland and Irish Catholics into LowlandScottish culture as quickly as possible,[93] the Hierarchy's success in this policy ultimately proved mixed. The urban centers of the Lowlands continue to have branches ofConradh na Gaeilge and remain centers of theIrish language outside Ireland. Also, since the recentScottish Gaelic Renaissance and increasing spread oflanguage immersion schools, for new and emerging dialects likeGlasgow Gaelic. Furthermore, in 1928 theLegion of Mary, aMarian movement recently organized for voluntary service byFrank Duff inDublin, established its first foreignpraesidium (branch) in Scotland.[citation needed]
In the wake of Irish Catholic migration to Scotland, native Scottish Catholics, such as therecusants, supported efforts in education to "denationalise" the Irish, while Scottish-born Catholic clergy also engaged in efforts to suppress Irish radicalism. Other native Scots, such as converts and the Scottishultramontanes worked to foster a "more prosperous, productive and respectableBritish Catholic Body."[94]
Later Italian,Polish, and Lithuanian immigrants further reinforced the numbers. The post-World War II arrival of large numbers ofUkrainiandisplaced persons resulted in the first Scottish parish of theEastern Catholic Churches being founded in 1965:St Andrew's Ukrainian Catholic Church inLeith,Edinburgh.
Mass immigration to Scotland saw the emergence of sectarian tensions. Although the interwar Catholic community in Scotland was overwhelmingly working-class and endangered by poverty and economic crises, it was able to cope with theGreat Depression.[95] This relative immunity was caused by theEducation (Scotland) Act 1918, which made Catholic schools fully state-funded. Michael John Rosie argues that in addition to state-funded education, it was the nature of Scottish Catholicism that "made it less vulnerable to economic dislocation":
Arguably, the Catholic Church was the best-equipped denomination in tackling the adverse effects of economic depression, and does not seem to have suffered serious losses arising from recessionary periods. The Catholic faith is often seen as being invigorated by the combined effects of poverty and discrimination; priests tended to be drawn from the working classes and to relate well to economic hardship amongst their parishioners. Though Catholics moved increasingly during this period into skilled and white-collar jobs, the Catholic community retained a homogeneity which prevented a major social divide emerging between a practising Catholic bourgeoisie and a lapsed proletariat.
— Michael John Rosie,Religion and Sectarianism in Modern Scotland, (2001), pp. 142
This relative economic stability allowed the Catholic community to enter the political and social life of Scotland, sparking outrage among anti-Catholic and unionist circles, most notably theOrange Order'sGrand Lodge.Sectarian violence in Scotland reached its peak in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and Catholicreligious processions were frequently attacked by anti-Catholic andOrange mobs. The Orange Order also frequently and deliberately stagedprovocative marches through Catholic neighbourhoods.
The escalating violence and skirmishes, particularly between pro- and anti-CatholicGlasgow razor gangs, had a profound effect on Scotland as a whole; Rosie remarked that "the level and scale of the violence exhibited between 1931 and 1935 of a much more serious and concerted nature than of any period since the reintroduction of Orange parades in the 1870s".[96] Sectarian violence was so severe that it caused higher policing costs, and local councils were tempted to ban all "religious and pseudo-religious processions" outright. While eventually no such ban took place, tightening restrictions were introduced in order to minimise anti-Catholic violence.[97]
In 1923, theChurch of Scotland produced a (since repudiated) report, entitledThe Menace of the Irish Race to our Scottish Nationality, accusing the largely immigrant Catholic population of subverting Presbyterian values and of spreading drunkenness, crime, and financial imprudence. Rev.John White, a senior member of theGeneral Assembly of the Church of Scotland at the time, called for a "racially pure" Scotland, declaring "Today there is a movement throughout the world towards the rejection of non-native constituents and the crystallization of national life from native elements."[98]
Such officially hostile attitudes started to wane considerably from the 1930s and 1940s onwards, especially as the leadership of the Church of Scotland learned of what was happening ineugenics-consciousNazi Germany and of what thedangers of creating a "racially pure"national church looked like in actual practice; particularly, afterGerman people who were of even partially Slavic,Roma, orJewish ancestry or who were adherents of the traditionalist ProtestantConfessing Church ceased being considered considered "true" members of theVolksgemeinschaft.[99][100]
The era's level of sectarian violence was not to be seen again until theGlasgow pub bombings, a spillover fromthe Troubles inNorthern Ireland, were carried out by theUlster Volunteer Force against pubs frequented by Catholics on 17 February 1979. The Glasgow-based UVF active service unit responsible for the bombings were arrested, convicted and incarcerated.[101][102][103] Experts now believe that only theProvisional Irish Republican Army leadership's veto on bombing operations in Scotland, which were considered counterproductive to many other useful covert operations there, prevented the Troubles from continuing to spill over and further escalating.[104]
In 1986, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland expressly repudiated the sections of theWestminster Confession directly attacking the Catholic Church.[105] In 1990, both the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church were founding members of the ecumenical bodiesChurches Together in Britain and Ireland andAction of Churches Together in Scotland; relations between denominational leaders are now very cordial. Unlike the relationship between the hierarchies of the different churches, however, some communal tensions remain.
The association between football and displays of sectarian behaviour by some fans has been a source of embarrassment and concern to the management of certain clubs. The bitter rivalry betweenCeltic andRangers in Glasgow, known as theOld Firm, is known worldwide for its sectarian dimension. Celtic was founded byIrish Catholic immigrants and Rangers has traditionally been supported byUnionists and Protestants. Sectarian tensions can still be very real, though perhaps diminished compared with past decades. Perhaps the greatest psychological breakthrough was when Rangers signedMo Johnston (a Catholic) in 1989. Celtic, on the other hand, have never had a policy of not signing players due to their religion, and some of the club's greatest figures have been Protestants.[106][107]
From the 1980s the UK government passed several acts that had provisions concerning sectarian violence. These included thePublic Order Act 1986, which introduced offences relating to the incitement of racial hatred, and theCrime and Disorder Act 1998, which introduced offences of pursuing a racially aggravated course of conduct that amounts to harassment of a person. The 1998 Act also required courts to take into account where offences are racially motivated, when determining sentence. In the twenty-first century theScottish Parliament legislated against sectarianism. This included provision for religiously aggravated offences in theCriminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003. TheCriminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 strengthened statutory aggravations for both racially and religiously motivatedhate crimes. TheOffensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012, criminalised behaviour which is threatening, hateful, or otherwise offensive at a regulated football match including offensive singing or chanting. It also criminalised the communication of threats of serious violence and threats intended to incite religious hatred.[108]
57% of the Catholic community belong to the manualworking-class.[109] Though structural disadvantage had largely eroded by the 1980s, Scottish Catholics are more likely to experience poverty and deprivation than their Protestant counterparts.[110] Many more Catholics can now be found in what were called the professions, with some occupying posts in the judiciary or in national politics. In 1999, the Rt HonJohn Reid MP became the first Catholic to hold the office ofSecretary of State for Scotland. His succession by the Rt HonHelen Liddell MP in 2001 attracted considerably more media comment that she was the first woman to hold the post than that she was the second Catholic. Also notable was the appointment ofLouise Richardson to theUniversity of St. Andrews as its principal and vice-chancellor. St Andrews is the third oldest university in theAnglosphere. Richardson, a Catholic, was born in Ireland and is a naturalised United States citizen. She is the first woman to hold that office and first Catholic to hold it since the Scottish Reformation.[111]
The Catholic Church recognises the separate identities of Scotland andEngland and Wales. The church in Scotland is governed by its own hierarchy and bishops' conference, not under the control of English bishops. In more recent years, for example, there have been times when it was especially the Scottish bishops who took the floor in the United Kingdom to argue for Catholic social and moral teaching. The presidents of the bishops' conferences of England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland meet formally to discuss "mutual concerns", though they are separate national entities. "Closer cooperation between the presidents can only help the Church's work", a spokesman noted.[112]
Scottish Catholics strongly supported theLabour Party in the past, and Labour politicians openly courted Catholic voters and accused their opponents such as theScottish National Party of opposing the existence ofCatholic schools. Although ancestrally indigenous Catholics remained deeply committed to the Scottish nation within the British state,[94] the broader population of Scottish Catholics increasingly started identifying withScottish nationalism in the 1970s and 1980s, and switched to the SNP as their preferred party.[110] Scottish Catholics from Irish backgrounds emerged as a staunchly pro-independence group – according to a 2020 poll, 70% of Scots from Irish Catholic backgrounds supportedScottish independence.[110] In 2013, Scottish sociologist Michael Rosie noted that "Catholics were actually the religious sub-group most likely to support an independent Scotland in 1999. This remains true in 2012."[113] Scottish Catholics are also more likely to be in favour of Scottish independence and to support SNP than non-religious voters.[113]
There are four entities that encompass Scotland, England, and Wales.
There are two Catholicarchdioceses and sixdioceses in Scotland; 841,000 people stated they were Catholic:[114][115]
| Diocese | Province | Approximate Territory | Cathedral | Creation | Membership |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01Archdiocese of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh Archbishop Leo Cushley | 04Saint Andrews and Edinburgh | Saint Andrews, most ofFife,Kinross-shire,Clackmannanshire,Stirlingshire,West Lothian, Edinburgh,Midlothian,East Lothian,Scottish Borders | Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption | 011878 | 123,500(2022)[citation needed] |
| 01Diocese of Aberdeen Bishop Hugh Gilbert | Aberdeen,Moray,Highland (except southernInverness-shire,Skye and the islands),The Orkney Islands,The Shetland Islands | Cathedral Church of St Mary of the Assumption | 51,000 (2022)[citation needed] | ||
| 02Diocese of Argyll and the Isles Bishop Brian McGee | Argyll and Bute, southernInverness-shire,Arran,The Hebrides Islands | Cathedral Church of St Columba | 10,000(2022)[citation needed] | ||
| 03Diocese of Dunkeld Bishop Andrew McKenzie | Dundee,Forfarshire, Perthshire and northernFife | Cathedral Church of St Andrew | 63,260(2021)[citation needed] | ||
| 04Diocese of Galloway Bishop Francis Dougan | Ayrshire (exceptArran),Dumfries and Galloway | Cathedral Church of St Margaret | 41,350(2021)[citation needed] | ||
| 05Archdiocese of Glasgow Archbishop William Nolan | 01Glasgow | Glasgow andDunbartonshire | Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St Andrew | 218,170(2021)[citation needed] | |
| 06Diocese of Motherwell Bishop Joseph Toal | Lanarkshire | Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Good Aid | 071947 (from Archdiocese of Glasgow and Diocese of Galloway) | 163,000(2021)[citation needed] | |
| 07Diocese of Paisley Bishop John Keenan | Renfrewshire | Cathedral Church of Saint Mirin | 081947 (from Archdiocese of Glasgow) | 87,940(2021)[citation needed] | |
| 23Eparchy of the Holy Family of London Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski | 23Kiev–Galicia | Great Britain | Cathedral Church of the Holy Family in Exile | 191968 (elevated to Eparchy 2013) | 13,000(2021) |
| 24Bishopric of the Forces Bishop Paul Mason | 24Holy See | HM Forces both in Britain and abroad | Cathedral Church of St Michael and St George | 231986 | |
| 25Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham Bishop David Waller | FormerAnglican clergy, religious and laity resident in England, Wales and Scotland. | Principal Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory | 252011 | 1,950(2021) | |
| 25Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Great Britain Bishop Joseph Srampickal | 25Syro-Malabar Catholic Major Archeparchy of Ernakulam–Angamaly | TheSyro-Malabar Church in England, Wales and Scotland. | Syro-Malabar Cathedral of St Alphonsa, Preston | 252016 | 41,000(2021) |
The Bishopric of the Forces and the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham are directly subject to the Holy See. The Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Great Britain was subject to their own metropolitans, major archbishops, and major archiepiscopal synods.[citation needed]
Between 1982 and 2010, the proportion of Scottish Catholics dropped 18%, baptisms dropped 39%, and Catholic church marriages dropped 63%. The number of priests also dropped.[116] Between the2001 UK Census and the2011 UK Census, the proportion of Catholics remained steady while that of other Christians denominations, notably the Church of Scotland dropped.[117][118][119]
In 2001, Catholics were a minority in each of Scotland's 32 council areas but in a few parts of the country their numbers were close to those of the official Church of Scotland. The most Catholic part of the country is composed of the western Central Belt council areas near Glasgow. InInverclyde, 38.3% of persons responding to the 2001 UK Census reported themselves to be Catholic compared to 40.9% as adherents of the Church of Scotland.North Lanarkshire also already had a large Catholic minority at 36.8% compared to 40.0% in the Church of Scotland. Following in order wereWest Dunbartonshire (35.8%),Glasgow City (31.7%),Renfrewshire (24.6%),East Dunbartonshire (23.6%),South Lanarkshire (23.6%) andEast Renfrewshire (21.7%).
In 2011, Catholics outnumbered adherents of the Church of Scotland in several council areas, including North Lanarkshire, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, and the most populous one: Glasgow City.[120]
Between the two censuses, numbers in Glasgow with no religion rose significantly while those noting their affiliation to the Church of Scotland dropped significantly so that the latter fell below those that identified with an affiliation to the Catholic Church.[121]
At a smaller geographic scale, one finds that the two most Catholic parts of Scotland are: (1) the southernmost islands of theWestern Isles, especially Barra and South Uist, populated by Gaelic-speaking Scots of long-standing; and (2) the eastern suburbs of Glasgow, especially aroundCoatbridge, populated mostly by the descendants of Irish Catholic immigrants.[122]
According to the 2011 UK Census, Catholics comprise 16% of the overall population, making it the second-largest church after the Church of Scotland (32%).[123]
Along ethnic or racial lines, Scottish Catholicism was in the past, and has remained at present, predominantly White or light-skinned in membership, as have always been other branches of Christianity in Scotland. Among respondents in the 2011 UK Census who identified as Catholic, 81% are White Scots, 17% are Other White (mostly other British or Irish), 1% is either Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British, and an additional 1% is either mixed-race or from multiple ethnicities; African; Caribbean or black; or from other ethnic groups.[124]
In recent years the Catholic Church in Scotland has experienced negative publicity in the mainstream media due to statements made by bishops in defence of traditionalChristian morality and in criticism of secular and liberal ideology.Joseph Devine, Bishop of Motherwell, came under fire after alleging that the "gay lobby" were mounting "a giant conspiracy" to completely destroyChristianity.[125] Criticism was also levelled at perceived intransigence on joint faith schools and threats to withdraw acquiescence unless guarantees of separate genders having different staff rooms, toilets, gyms, visitor, and pupil entrances were not met.[126]
In 2003, a Catholic church spokesman branded sex education as "pornography" and now disgraced CardinalKeith O'Brien claimed plans to teach sex education in pre-schools amounted to "state-sponsored sexual abuse of minors."[127]
There has also been even worse publicity related to the sexual abuse of minors. In 2016, a headteacher and teacher of the St Ninian's Orphanage, Falkland, Fife were sentenced for abuse at the orphanage from 1979 to 1983 when it was run by theCongregation of Christian Brothers. Fr John Farrell the last headteacher there was sentenced to five years imprisonment. Paul Kelly, a teacher, was sentenced to ten years. More than 100 charges involving 35 boys were made regarding the orphanage, which had been closed down in 1983.[128] In 2019, it emerged that theSuperior General of the Christian Brothers, approved the placement of Farrell at St Ninian's despite previous reports of interfering with boys at a South African boarding school where it was recommended by the Africanprovincial that Farrell should never be placed in a boarding school in the future.[129]
Roughly half of Catholic parishes in the West of Scotland were closed or merged because of a priest shortage and over half have closed in theArchdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.[130][131]
In early 2013, Scotland's most senior cleric, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, resigned afterallegations of sexual misconduct were made against him and partially admitted.[132] Subsequently, allegations were made that several other cases of alleged sexual misconduct took place involving other priests.[133]
At theChristian pilgrimage shrine to 'Our Lady of the Highlands', within the grounds ofImmaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church near the village ofWhitebridge (Scottish Gaelic:An Drochaid Bhàn) and toLoch Ness, a new outdoorMass stone was consecrated by BishopHugh Gilbert of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen in March 2017.[134]
In a 2021 article published inThe Lamp,University of Glasgow student andessayist Jamie McGowan credited "The Outlander Effect", rooted in the enormous popularity ofDiana Gabaldon'sseries ofromance novels and thetelevision adaptation of them, with makingRoman Catholicism, not only socially acceptable, but even into a fashionable element of Scottishnational identity andcultural nationalism.[135] This is ironic, as the television series' historically inaccurate and allegedly negative depiction of 18th-century Catholic "heather priests" and Protestant ministers had previously drawn accusations ofanti-Christianity.[136]
In addition to their efforts to promote Fr.Alexander Cameron for Canonization, theKnights of St Columba's Council No. 1 has also been involved in spreading theLegion of Mary and theSt Vincent de Paul Society to fellow Millennial students at theUniversity of Glasgow,[137] and has launched the annual Brecbannoch Pilgrimage; bearing the relics ofSt Andrew, St Columba, and StMargaret of Scotland, which are on loan fromCarfin Grotto, on foot inside areplica of theBrecbannoch of St Columba toIona Abbey.[138]
2024 Police Scotland data revealed that 33% of all anti-religious hate crimes in Scotland are directed towards Catholics, with Catholics making up just 13% of the population.[139]
In 2020, the Scottish Bishops accused the SNP of "open and vicious hostility" towards Christians within their own ranks, likeLisa Cameron, who dissent from the Party leadership's desired platform on legalized abortion.[140] In 2023, the Scottish Catholic Bishops joined with the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Association of Mosques to express concern about the SNP's recent attacks against the religious beliefs ofKate Forbes, the Party's MSP forSkye,Lochaber, andBadenoch. Forbes, who is aFree Church of Scotland member, was receiving significant attacks for expressing her belief inChristian morality regardingabortion,gay marriage,premarital sex, and other issues. A spokesman for the Scottish bishops said that the attacks against Forbes risked, "permanently damaging the ability of religious believers to enter politics", and further illustrate, "the decline of tolerance for religious views."[141]
In 2025,Lady Elish Angiolini became the first practising Roman Catholic to be appointedLord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the British Monarch's representative to the Assembly.[142]
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