Roman Catholic Diocese of Galloway

Diocese of Galloway

*Dioecesis Candidae Casae o Gallovidianus*
Diocese of Galloway; Dioecesis Candidae Casae o Gallovidianus
	St Margaret's Cathedral, Ayr
	Coat of arms
Location
Country	Scotland
Territory	Covers the council areas of Dumfries and Galloway, South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and mainland North Ayrshire and Cumbrae
Ecclesiastical province	St Andrews and Edinburgh
Metropolitan	St Andrews and Edinburgh
Coordinates	55°26′55″N 4°37′49″W / 55.44868°N 4.63039°W
Statistics
Area	9,332 km2 (3,603 sq mi)
Population; - Total; - Catholics	(as of 2019); 520,260; 41,353 (7.9%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	4 March 1878
Cathedral	St Margaret's Cathedral, Ayr
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Francis Dougan
Metropolitan Archbishop	Leo Cushley
Vicar General	William McFadden
Website
	www.gallowaydiocese.org.uk

The Diocese of Galloway (Latin: Dioecesis Candidae Casae o Gallovidianus) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Scotland. The pre-Reformation Diocese of Galloway, founded by Ninian in the fifth century, had broken allegiance with Rome in 1560, and disappeared in 1689 in the (official) Church of Scotland but continued in the Episcopal Church of Scotland. The modern Roman Catholic diocese incorporates the local authority areas of Dumfries and Galloway, South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and parts of North Ayrshire, (Cumbrae). The bishop's cathedra is at St Margaret's Cathedral, Ayr.

The diocese was re-established by the Catholic Church on 4 March 1878, with its cathedral in Dumfries and its territory covering the sparse and rural counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Wigtownshire and parts of Ayrshire. Following the reorganisation of the Archdiocese of Glasgow in 1947, parishes to the north of Galloway were transferred to it from Glasgow, creating a significant population centre for the first time around the town of Ayr. In response to this development Bishop McGee moved his residence from Dumfries to Ayr, and following a catastrophic fire at St Andrew's Cathedral in May 1962, it was decided that the Good Shepherd Church, Ayr should also become the diocesan cathedral.^[2] The third and present cathedral, following the closure of Good Shepherd Cathedral in May 2007, is St Margaret's Cathedral in Ayr.

The eighth bishop of the diocese was William Nolan, since 2022 the Archbishop of Glasgow.

Bishops

Past and present ordinaries

(The following list is included in, but is not the only part of, post-Reformation bishops in the above-mentioned main article.)
The following is a list of the modern Bishops of Galloway:^[3]

John McLachlan (appointed 22 March 1878 – died 16 January 1893)
William Turner (appointed 16 June 1893 – died 19 January 1914)
James William McCarthy (appointed 25 May 1914 – died 24 December 1943)
William Henry Mellon (succeeded 24 December 1943 – died 2 February 1952)
Joseph Michael McGee (appointed 19 July 1952 – retired 4 April 1981)
Maurice Taylor (appointed 4 April 1981 – retired 7 April 2004)
John Cunningham (appointed 7 April 2004 – retired 22 November 2014)
William Nolan (appointed 22 November 2014 – installed as Archbishop of Glasgow 26 February 2022)
Francis Dougan, (appointed 22 December 2023, ordained 9 March 2024).^[4] ^[5]

Coadjutor Bishop

William Henry Mellon (1935-1943)

Parishes

The following is a list of current and former churches within the Diocese of Galloway:^[6]

Ayr, St Margaret's Cathedral
Ayr, St Paul's, Belmont^[7]
Ayr, Good Shepherd Cathedral, Whitletts (church closed)
Annan, Saint Columba
Ardrossan, Saint Peter-in-Chains [1]
Auchinleck, Our Lady & St Patrick
Beith, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour
Castle Douglas, Saint John the Evangelist (church closed)
Catrine, Saint Joseph (church closed)
Cumnock, Saint John the Evangelist
Dalbeattie, Saint Peter [2]
Dalry, Saint Palladius
Darvel, Our Lady of the Valley (church closed)
Drongan, Saint Clare (church closed)
Dumfries, Saint Andrew [3]
Dumfries, Saint Teresa
Galston, Saint Sophia [4]
Gatehouse of Fleet, Church of the Resurrection (closed February 2020)
Girvan, The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Hurlford, Saint Paul
Irvine, Saint John Ogilvie
Irvine, Saint Margaret of Scotland (Closed)
Irvine, Saint Mary
Kilbirnie, Saint Brigid
Kilmarnock, Saint Joseph
Kilmarnock, Saint Matthew
Kilmarnock, Saint Michael (church closed 2017 and demolished )
Kilmarnock, Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Kilwinning, Saint Winin
Kirkconnel, Saint Conal (church closed)
Kirkcudbright, Saint Andrew and Saint Cuthbert
Langholm, Saint Francis of Assisi (church closed)
Largs, Saint Mary, Star of the Sea
Lockerbie, Holy Trinity
Maybole, Our Lady and St Cuthbert
Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour
Moffat, Saint Luke
Mossblown, Saint Ann
Muirkirk, Saint Thomas, Apostle
New Abbey, Saint Mary [5]
Newton Stewart, Our Lady and Saint Ninian
Prestwick, Saint Quivox
Saltcoats, Saint Brendan (closed)
Saltcoats, Our Lady, Star of the Sea
Stevenston, Saint John
Stewarton, Our Lady and Saint John (closed 2019) [6]
Stranraer, Saint Joseph
Troon, Our Lady of the Assumption and Saint Meddan [7]
Waterside, Saint Francis Xavier
West Kilbride, Saint Bride
Whithorn, Saint Martin and Saint Ninian [8]
Wigtown, The Sacred Heart (no Sunday Mass)

References

^ Diocese of Galloway Statistics
^ "The History of St Andrew's Church" (PDF). standrewsdumfries.org.uk. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
^ "Diocese of Galloway". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
^ "Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland". www.bcos.org.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "New Bishop of Galloway to be ordained at Ardrossan church later this year". Cumnock Chronicle. 9 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
^ "Diocese of Galloway". www.gallowaydiocese.org.uk/parishes/4590439073. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
^ "Scotland's Churches Trust". Scotland's Churches Trust. 24 September 2017.

External links

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Diocese of Galloway". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.