Scottish Catholic Observer

In St Andrews and Edinburgh Archdiocese the six traditional deanery areas of the archdiocese have been chosen as sanctuaries of mercy, including St Francis Xavier in Falkirk, St James in St Andrews and St Margaret in Dunfermline, making them sites of pilgrimages throughout the year.

In Glasgow Archdiocese meanwhile, the parish of the Immaculate Conception in Maryhill celebrated the beginning of the year with pipers and support from school caritas pupils as the multicultural parish put the words of Pope Francis into action.

In Argyll and the Isles Diocese, St Mary’s in Fort William held their own Holy Door Rite at the start of the extraordinary jubilee year.

One notable celebration took place at St Mary’s Church in Inverness, where Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen (above) joined parishioners for the opening of the most northerly Holy Door in the UK.

Aberdeen Diocese, which covers Inverness, the Northern Isles and most of the North of Scotland, is Europe’s largest diocese by square miles, with the Highland Deanery alone—Caithness, Sutherland, Ross-shire and most of Inverness-shire—covering a greater land mass than Belgium.

At the church’s Holy Door opening, Bishop Gilbert echoed the message delivered by Pope Francis at the beginning of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

“Remember, as we pass over the threshold of the Holy Doors, we receive God’s mercy and compassion, and as we go out through these doors, we are expected to share that mercy and compassion with others,” he said.

Catholics are encouraged throughout the Year of Mercy to go on pilgrimage to the sites of Holy Doors, which will allow them to receive plenary indulgence once a day.

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—This story ran in full in the December 25 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.