The Bishops' Conference of Scotland (BCOS), under the trust of the Catholic National Endowment Trust, and based in

Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Airdrie (; ; ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on a plateau 400 ft (130 m) above sea level, 12 miles (19 km) east of Glasgow. , it had a population of 37,130. Airdrie developed as a market town in the late 17th ce ...

, is an

episcopal conference An episcopal conference, often also called a bishops’ conference or conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The fir ...

for

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

s and

bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The conference is primarily made up of the presiding bishops of Scotland's eight

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

s as well as bishops who have retired. As of 2024, the president of the conference is Bishop John Keenan of the Diocese of Paisley.

Agencies

The BCOS is organised into several agencies. These are: The Commission for Doctrine and Unity, The Communications and Press and Media Relations Office, The Commission for Catholic Education and Scottish Catholic Education Service, The Justice and Peace Commission, operating using the name Justice and Peace Scotland, The Heritage Commission as well as some other offices. The Conference is also a member of several international organisations including the Council of European Bishops' Conferences and the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community. Before 1980, the organisation first registered with Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and stated that its objective was to "promote, establish, develop, expand, contribute to, support and maintain facilities, projects, schemes and institutions of all kinds having a religious, educational or charitable purpose for the benefit of the community throughout Scotland; and in addition for the benefit of students for the priesthood at home and abroad including the maintenance of the following colleges, all now closed; (a) St. Mary's College, Blairs,

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

; (b) St. Peter's College, Cardross,

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

; (c) St. Andrew's College, Drygrange, Melrose,

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh () is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. T ...

Ecumenical relations

The Bishops' Conference of Scotland is a full member of

Action of Churches Together in Scotland Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) was a national ecumenical organisation of churches in Scotland, founded in 1990.Douglas Galbraith (editor), ''Church of Scotland Yearbook 2013-14,'' page 31, St Andrew Press, Edinburgh, 2013, It ran ...

. The BCOS sends a representative to the Ecumenical Relations Committee of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

and is always invited to send a delegate to the

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray, ...

Member bishops

*Archdiocese of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh ** Archbishop Leo Cushley *Archdiocese of Glasgow ** Archbishop William Nolan *Diocese of Motherwell ** Bishop Joseph Toal *Diocese of Paisley ** Bishop John Keenan *Diocese of Galloway ** Bishop Francis Dougan *Diocese of Argyll and the Isles ** Bishop Brian McGee *Diocese of Aberdeen ** Bishop Hugh Gilbert ** Bishop Emeritus Peter Moran *Diocese of Dunkeld ** Bishop Andrew McKenzie ** Bishop Emeritus Stephen Robson

Leadership

Presidents

Source: *

Donald Campbell Donald Malcolm Campbell, (23 March 1921 – 4 January 1967) was a British speed record breaker who broke eight absolute world speed records on water and on land in the 1950s and 1960s. He remains the only person to set both world land a ...

(1959–63) * Gordon Gray (1963–85) *

Thomas Winning Thomas Joseph Winning (3 June 1925 – 17 June 2001) was a Scottish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Glasgow from 1974 and President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland from 1985 until his death. Winning wa ...

(1985–2001) *

Keith O'Brien Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien (17 March 1938 – 19 March 2018) was a senior-ranking Catholic Church, Catholic prelate in Scotland. He was the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh from 1985 to 2013. O'Brien was the leader of the Catholi ...

(2002–12) * Philip Tartaglia (2012–18) * Hugh Gilbert (2018–24) * John Keenan (2024–present)

References

External links

Official website

GCatholic.org website {{Authority control

Bishops' Conference An episcopal conference, often also called a bishops’ conference or conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the Bishop (Catholic Church), bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as i ...

Organisations based in North Lanarkshire Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Christian organisations based in Scotland 1878 establishments in Scotland 1878 in Christianity Religious organizations established in 1878