Scottish Catholic Observer

The recently closed St Paul’s Church in Edinburgh was badly damaged in a fire last night that police are treating as suspicious.

The Fire Service was called to the church on Muirhouse Avenue at 9:30pm last night, with firefighters still battling flames after midnight and one fire engine still at the scene this morning.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Police in Edinburgh responded along with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to the vacant St Paul’s church on Muirhouse Avenue at around 9.15pm following reports of a fire.

“The fire is being treated as suspicious and anyone with any information is asked to come forward.”

A closing Mass of thanksgiving (above) was celebrated at St Paul’s on October 10 by Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh, alongside then parish priest Mgr Brian Halloran. A number of parishioners had taken part in a campaign to keep the church open, with a petition against the plans being signed by more than 400 people and a small group staging a candlelit and silent protest outside the church before the thanksgiving Mass.

The church, which had amassed hundreds of thousands of pounds of debt, was built in 1971 and had featured on the BBC’s Songs of Praise. It had been put on sale for £275,000.

Local residents took to social media to express their sorrow at the news.

On Facebook, Colin Moyes said: “My daughter was Baptised there and my nana Laidlaw spent her life there and had her funeral there. I’d [hate] to think someone did that deliberately.”

Christine Gartland wrote: “My wee boy was christened there six years ago, so sad,” with Jamie Mcvay adding, ‘I was brought up in that church; such a sin, feel empty watching it burn.’

A post on the Save St Paul’s RC Church Facebook page, which campaigned to stop the closure of the church, said: “There are simply no words to describe this scene.”

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Pic: Paul McSherry