The Diocese of Paisley ( la, Dioecesis Pasletana) is an ecclesiastical territory or

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

of the

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

of the Catholic Church in Scotland. Erected on 25 May 1947 from the

Archdiocese of Glasgow The Archdiocese of Glasgow was one of the thirteen (after 1633 fourteen) dioceses of the Scottish church. It was the second largest diocese in the Kingdom of Scotland, including Clydesdale, Teviotdale, parts of Tweeddale, Liddesdale, Annand ...

, the diocese covers the historic county of

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...

(now the local government areas of

East Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire ( sco, Aest Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975, it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas ...

and

Inverclyde Inverclyde ( sco, Inerclyde, gd, Inbhir Chluaidh, , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the hist ...

) and is in area making it the smallest diocese by area in Scotland. In 2004 the Catholic population of the diocese was 79,400 out of a total population of 342,000 (23.2%). By 2016 membership increased to 88,600 (23,8%) out of a total population of 372,800. The diocese comprises 33

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es served by 30

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

s (2021 figures). The diocese is divided into three

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

namely St Mirin's Deanery (

), St Mary's Deanery (

) and St John's Deanery (

). The mother house of the religious society the

Jericho Benedictines The Jericho Benedictines are a Society of Apostolic Life which is one of the forms of religious congregation within the Latin branch of the Catholic Church. History The Jericho Benedictines began in Paisley, Scotland, during the 1970s, when a gr ...

is in the village of

Kilbarchan Kilbarchan ( gd, Cill Bhearchain) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The village's name means "cell (chapel) of St. Barchan". It is known for its former weaving industry. History ...

, near the town of Johnstone within the diocese. The Diocese is led by the

Bishop of Paisley The Bishop of Paisley is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Paisley in the Province of Glasgow, Scotland. The diocese covers an area of and is the smallest by area in Scotland. The see is in the town of Paisley where the bishop's seat is lo ...

, currently the Right Reverend John Keenan, the fifth bishop of the diocese. The

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metropo ...

of the diocese and seat of the bishop is

St Mirin's Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Mirin in Paisley, dedicated to Saint Mirin the patron saint of Paisley, is the mother church of the Catholic Diocese of Paisley and is the seat of the Bishop of Paisley. History The former parish church of St Mirin ...

in the town of Paisley. The

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

of the diocese is "For the Good of Souls".

60th Anniversary

On 15 September 2008, the feast day of its

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

St Mirin, the Diocese of Paisley celebrated its

Diamond Jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th anniver ...

. To mark the occasion a

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

concelebrated by the

Apostolic Nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international ...

to the Court of St. James Archbishop

Faustino Sainz Muñoz Faustino Sainz Muñoz (5 June 1937 – 31 October 2012) was a Spanish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Nuncio to Great Britain from 2004 until December 2010, having been appointed by Pope John Paul II in 2004. Career Bor ...

, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the

Archbishop of Glasgow The Archbishop of Glasgow is an archiepiscopal title that takes its name after the city of Glasgow in Scotland. The position and title were abolished by the Church of Scotland in 1689; and, in the Scottish Episcopal Church, it is now part of ...

Mario Conti, the Bishop of Motherwell Joseph Devine, the

Bishop of Aberdeen The Bishop of Aberdeen (originally Bishop of Mortlach, in Latin Murthlacum) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Nec ...

Peter Moran, the

Bishop of Galloway The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, was the eccesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7th ...

John Cunningham, the Emeritus Bishop of Paisley John Mone, the Bishop of Paisley

Philip Tartaglia Filippo "Philip" Tartaglia (11 January 1951 – 13 January 2021) was a Scottish prelate who served as a bishop of the Catholic Church. He served as Metropolitan Archbishop of Glasgow from 2012 until 2021. He previously served as Bishop of Paisl ...

and many priests of the diocese took place in St Mirin's Cathedral. Present at the Mass were a large number of civic dignitaries and representatives of other churches in Paisley. Representing Queen Elizabeth II were the

Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire The Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire is the representative of the British Crown covering a lieutenancy area of the county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The Lord Lieutenant deals with many of the ceremonial functions a ...

Guy Clark Guy Charles Clark (November 6, 1941 – May 17, 2016) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter and luthier. He released more than 20 albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet ...

and his deputy James Wardrop.

Papal visit

On 16 September 2010

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

made a brief visit to the Diocese of Paisley when he departed from

Glasgow Airport gd, Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Ghlaschu , image = Glasgow Airport logo.svg , image-width = 200 , image2 = GlasgowAirportFromAir.jpg , image2-width = 250 , IATA = GLA , ICAO = EGPF , type = Public , owner = AGS Airports , hub = *eas ...

, which lies within the diocese to the north of the town of Paisley, for

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

after celebrating Mass at Bellahouston Park in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. There to wish him farewell from Scotland were the Provost of

Councillor Celia Lawson and the

John Keenan.

Bishops

Past and present ordinaries

The following is a list of the Bishops of Paisley: * James Black (appointed 28 February 1948 – died 29 March 1968) *

Stephen McGill The Right Reverend Stephen McGill PSS (4 January 1912 – 9 November 2005) was the sixth Bishop of Argyll and the Isles and second Bishop of Paisley. Early life Stephen McGill was born on 4 January 1912 to Peter McGill and Charlotte Connolly ...

, P.S.S. (appointed 25 July 1968 – retired 8 March 1988) * John Aloysius Mone (appointed 8 March 1988 – retired 7 October 2004) *

(appointed 13 September 2005 - translated to the

8 September 2012) * John Keenan (appointed 8 February 2014)

Paisley Diocesan priests elevated to the episcopacy

* John Cunningham, appointed Bishop of Galloway in 2004 * Brian Thomas McGee, appointed Bishop of Argyll and The Isles in 2015

References

External links

Diocese of PaisleyJericho Benedictine Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paisley Religion in Paisley, Renfrewshire Roman Catholic dioceses in Scotland Christian organizations established in 1947 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century 1947 establishments in Scotland Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Glasgow