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Scotland's Catholics aren't being persecuted Scotland's Catholics aren't being persecuted
(about 11 hours later)
In my cosseted complacency, I had mistakenly believed that modern Scotland was a good place to practise the curious rituals of my cantankerous, old Catholic faith. A tabernacle of saints, sacraments and rosaries cloaked my school days in a pious haze. At any time, Father Damian or Sister Bernadette might provide a welcome distraction from another arid spelling bee with heroic tales of butchered martyrs and a gentle exhortation to keep the faith. And all the while Jesus was reinforcing the creed by granting Celtic lots and lots of league titles and Scottish cups.In my cosseted complacency, I had mistakenly believed that modern Scotland was a good place to practise the curious rituals of my cantankerous, old Catholic faith. A tabernacle of saints, sacraments and rosaries cloaked my school days in a pious haze. At any time, Father Damian or Sister Bernadette might provide a welcome distraction from another arid spelling bee with heroic tales of butchered martyrs and a gentle exhortation to keep the faith. And all the while Jesus was reinforcing the creed by granting Celtic lots and lots of league titles and Scottish cups.
Later at university, there were nice Protestant ladies and wanton atheists; taxpayer-funded Guinness and Spear of Destiny. The sacred safety net of confession was ever-present if resistance to such temporal temptations failed. Later, there would be the privilege of working on some of our finest newspapers amid Tories and Trots, Wee Frees and secular humanists. There were pro-abortionists. My faith's been questioned and challenged but never mocked and always respected. I like being a Catholic in Scotland.Later at university, there were nice Protestant ladies and wanton atheists; taxpayer-funded Guinness and Spear of Destiny. The sacred safety net of confession was ever-present if resistance to such temporal temptations failed. Later, there would be the privilege of working on some of our finest newspapers amid Tories and Trots, Wee Frees and secular humanists. There were pro-abortionists. My faith's been questioned and challenged but never mocked and always respected. I like being a Catholic in Scotland.
Yet I must have been deluding myself. Life, apparently, has not been a bowl of cherries after all. Indeed, so bad has it been for Catholics that Peter Kearney, the Catholic church's director of communications, has drawn vivid comparisons to the discrimination endured by black people in 1950s and 60s America. In a letter to the Glasgow Herald, Kearney said: "In much the same way as America's black citizens in an earlier era were urged to straighten their hair and whiten their complexions to minimise differences with the white majority, many will surely urge Scottish Catholics to stop sending their children to Catholic schools or making public or overt declarations of faith." Jesus, Mary and Joseph! I'd urge Catholics to stop sending their infants to Catholic schools if they were in danger of espousing mince such as this.Yet I must have been deluding myself. Life, apparently, has not been a bowl of cherries after all. Indeed, so bad has it been for Catholics that Peter Kearney, the Catholic church's director of communications, has drawn vivid comparisons to the discrimination endured by black people in 1950s and 60s America. In a letter to the Glasgow Herald, Kearney said: "In much the same way as America's black citizens in an earlier era were urged to straighten their hair and whiten their complexions to minimise differences with the white majority, many will surely urge Scottish Catholics to stop sending their children to Catholic schools or making public or overt declarations of faith." Jesus, Mary and Joseph! I'd urge Catholics to stop sending their infants to Catholic schools if they were in danger of espousing mince such as this.
Kearney has form where the imagined persecution of Scottish Catholics is concerned. Three years ago, he hounded a Scottish football official into resignation for passing on a joke email about Pope Benedict prior to his visit. Admittedly, it wasn't the funniest pope joke I've ever seen, but I still laughed at it when it eventually reached my inbox having toured every office in the country. Two years prior to this, Kearney condemned the, er… hokey cokey. For it seems that this innocent dance routine is nothing less than an ancient and vile Protestant pastiche of the Catholic mass. Behave yourself, Peter.Kearney has form where the imagined persecution of Scottish Catholics is concerned. Three years ago, he hounded a Scottish football official into resignation for passing on a joke email about Pope Benedict prior to his visit. Admittedly, it wasn't the funniest pope joke I've ever seen, but I still laughed at it when it eventually reached my inbox having toured every office in the country. Two years prior to this, Kearney condemned the, er… hokey cokey. For it seems that this innocent dance routine is nothing less than an ancient and vile Protestant pastiche of the Catholic mass. Behave yourself, Peter.
The following Sunday, I was still befuddled with the Saturday drink – and in danger of dodging mass again. So… I put my left leg in, my left leg out; in, out; in, out; shook it all about; I did the hokey cokey and I turned around... And that, indeed, was what it was all about. Last year, Kearney suggested that a homosexual lifestyle can knock years off your life expectancy. And here was me thinking it merely took years off your complexion.The following Sunday, I was still befuddled with the Saturday drink – and in danger of dodging mass again. So… I put my left leg in, my left leg out; in, out; in, out; shook it all about; I did the hokey cokey and I turned around... And that, indeed, was what it was all about. Last year, Kearney suggested that a homosexual lifestyle can knock years off your life expectancy. And here was me thinking it merely took years off your complexion.
I have always found Kearney to be a decent chap and sincere in his beliefs. And I don't believe that he is pursuing some sinister agenda. Some context, though, is required. Kearney and a cabal of other like-minded senior lay Catholics have stealthily attained some of the church's most influential lay positions. This must have happened while the rest of us were trying to avoid being burnt at the stake by raging Protestants and Patrick Harvie.I have always found Kearney to be a decent chap and sincere in his beliefs. And I don't believe that he is pursuing some sinister agenda. Some context, though, is required. Kearney and a cabal of other like-minded senior lay Catholics have stealthily attained some of the church's most influential lay positions. This must have happened while the rest of us were trying to avoid being burnt at the stake by raging Protestants and Patrick Harvie.
Their influence is disproportionate to their salary scale but holds sway because the Catholic hierarchy is lacking in strong leadership. So many new bishops have recently had to be found to replace old or infirm ones that there has been a run on red slippers. There is a power vacuum and into it has stepped this unrepresentative group of Opus Dei types. Lamentably, they have been given licence to speak for my church and have damaged it accordingly. They do not speak for me.Their influence is disproportionate to their salary scale but holds sway because the Catholic hierarchy is lacking in strong leadership. So many new bishops have recently had to be found to replace old or infirm ones that there has been a run on red slippers. There is a power vacuum and into it has stepped this unrepresentative group of Opus Dei types. Lamentably, they have been given licence to speak for my church and have damaged it accordingly. They do not speak for me.
Kearney and others have made much of recently released arrest figures for religiously aggravated offences. These appear to show that Catholics are around five times more likely to be victims in these attacks than other faith groups. Until these statistics are analysed through the prisms of poverty, geography and the distorting effect of Celtic v Rangers tribalism, though, only a foolish man would seek to wield them in support of any theory.Kearney and others have made much of recently released arrest figures for religiously aggravated offences. These appear to show that Catholics are around five times more likely to be victims in these attacks than other faith groups. Until these statistics are analysed through the prisms of poverty, geography and the distorting effect of Celtic v Rangers tribalism, though, only a foolish man would seek to wield them in support of any theory.
Scotland's most eminent historian, Professor Tom Devine, has stated that Catholics in Scotland aged below 55 reached occupational parity with their fellow Scots in the 1990s. Yet occupational parity for this group in the US occurred three generations sooner. Scotland, being much smaller than America, would accordingly always find it more difficult to absorb cultural and tribal enmities and suspicions as easily. In little more than five generations, Catholics of Irish stock in Scotland have become prominent in the law, politics, the media, academia and industry. My country does not have an anti-Catholic problem.Scotland's most eminent historian, Professor Tom Devine, has stated that Catholics in Scotland aged below 55 reached occupational parity with their fellow Scots in the 1990s. Yet occupational parity for this group in the US occurred three generations sooner. Scotland, being much smaller than America, would accordingly always find it more difficult to absorb cultural and tribal enmities and suspicions as easily. In little more than five generations, Catholics of Irish stock in Scotland have become prominent in the law, politics, the media, academia and industry. My country does not have an anti-Catholic problem.
There are many ills in our society that cry out to the Lord for vengeance: urban deprivation, child poverty and the increasing gap under the present UK government between the rich and the poor. These are the sins that demand a response from the Catholic church; not the 400 or so gay couples who want a marriage certificate or the imagined anti-Catholicism of an overwrought imagination.There are many ills in our society that cry out to the Lord for vengeance: urban deprivation, child poverty and the increasing gap under the present UK government between the rich and the poor. These are the sins that demand a response from the Catholic church; not the 400 or so gay couples who want a marriage certificate or the imagined anti-Catholicism of an overwrought imagination.
Nor do I accept that opposition to separate Catholic schools is proof of a bitter agenda. I will defend faith schools always and utterly reject the theory that they foment sectarianism. But it is not unreasonable to question state funding for them in a multicultural society. Perhaps the Catholic hierarchy might consider inviting the other main faiths to join with them in establishing a new class of Christian schools on the new English academy model. It would be a leap of faith, in a manner of speaking, and an initiative worthy of a new Scotland.Nor do I accept that opposition to separate Catholic schools is proof of a bitter agenda. I will defend faith schools always and utterly reject the theory that they foment sectarianism. But it is not unreasonable to question state funding for them in a multicultural society. Perhaps the Catholic hierarchy might consider inviting the other main faiths to join with them in establishing a new class of Christian schools on the new English academy model. It would be a leap of faith, in a manner of speaking, and an initiative worthy of a new Scotland.
It's good to be alive and Scottish in these momentous days. I simply wish that my beloved church would join the debate about our future instead of distorting it.It's good to be alive and Scottish in these momentous days. I simply wish that my beloved church would join the debate about our future instead of distorting it.
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