"GK Chesterton once remarked that the Catholic Church was ‘an institution run with such slavish imbecility that if it were not the work of God, it wouldn’t last a fortnight’.
Given the personal and institutional crisis rocking the Catholic Church in Scotland, Chesterton, if here now, might have concluded that God had given up on this northern outpost of faith."
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Cardinal ordered into exile by Vatican | Herald Scotland
CARDINAL Keith O'Brien has been told by the Vatican to leave the UK amid concerns of wreaking further damage on the Catholic Church in Scotland.
Friends of the cleric have said he has been told by Rome to shelve his plans to retire to a church-owned cottage in East Lothian and instead leave the country.
The Herald understands Cardinal O'Brien was given the news yesterday afternoon, three days after being photographed moving his personal belongings from his official residence in Edinburgh to the residence in Dunbar where he had been spending regular weekends over the past few years.
Teuchtar Comments: It is nice to see the Cardinal has so many supporters. The full article goes on to claim:
"A recent petition organised by the parishioners of Our Lady of The Waves in Dunbar saw more than 90% of those attending the Saturday vigil and Sunday mass signing a statement declaring "our support and affection for Cardinal Keith O'Brien".
Sometimes however the good of the wider Church has to take precedence over personal loyalty and affection. This is probably one of these occasions.
SCOTS Catholics are more likely to be poor or in prison than Protestants, a Government study showed yesterday.
They also have a higher chance of being unemployed, lacking qualifications and having long-term illnesses. The study of inequality across Scotland examined how groups cope with the jobs market, justice, crime and poverty.
Forty-two per cent declared themselves to be Church of Scotland compared to just under 16 per cent who identified as Catholics.
But 23 per cent of prisoners are Catholic and 29 Protestant. Last night Peter Kearney of the Scottish Catholic Media Office said: “These statistics highlight very concerning social issues which definitely merit much greater research and analysis.”
Around eight per cent of Catholics were unemployed, compared to just over five per cent identified as Church of Scotland. One in six Protestants lives in the poorest areas of Scotland, while for Catholics, it’s one in three.
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Catholics in Scotland ‘more likely to struggle’ | The Sun |Scottish News
GLENELG, Scotland (CNS) -- At the center of this isolated seaside community, overlooked by shadowy mountains on the nearby Isle of Skye, local fishing folk tap their feet as traditional music echoes from the village inn.
The BBC broadcasts in Gaelic here, and most youngsters have never been to Edinburgh, the Scottish capital 125 miles southeast, let alone to England.
In the fall of 2014, Glenelg's residents will have a chance to express their identity when Scotland votes in a referendum on independence. If Scots opt for full independence, it will end a union going back four centuries.
"Although the church won't be telling people how to vote, some bishops have indicated unofficially they'd have no problem with independence," Father Scott Deeley, assistant chancellor of the Archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, told Catholic News Service.
"Even after the 1707 Act of Union, which united Scotland and England, the Scots kept their own legal system as well as their own separate churches," he said. "So independence wouldn't make much practical difference to the lives of most Catholics."
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O'Brien scandal: Vatican calls halt to new bishops | Herald Scotland
THE Vatican has called a halt to the appointment of any more Scottish bishops until a full investigation into the Cardinal Keith O'Brien scandal is completed by Rome.
In the first known move in relation to the crisis since the election of Pope Francis, Scotland's leading Catholic cleric Philip Tartaglia was given the news at a meeting in the Vatican this week.
Cardinal O'Brien resigned from his position as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh two months ago amid confessions of gay sexual activity spanning decades.
The move by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, one of the front-runners in the recent conclave to elect a new pope, means three dioceses – Paisley, Dunkeld and Edinburgh – will not have their vacancies for a bishop filled.
Another two with ageing bishops, Motherwell and Galloway, will not have their churchmen replaced.
Canadian Cardinal Ouellet is the current prefect of the Congregation for the Bishops, which oversees the selection of new bishops.
