Scottish Catholic Observer

—     By David Kerr

SIR Arthur Conan Doyle—the creator of Sherlock Holmes —was baptised in Edinburgh’s St Mary’s Cathedral in 1859. It probably would not require his famous fictional detective, however, to figure out why the cathedral’s present bishop did not accompany this month’s United Kingdom Government delegation to the Vatican. The answer, in fact, is elementary—they did not invite him.

Hence this article is not entitled ‘the Mystery of the Missing Cardinal’ but, instead, ‘a Catholic Case for Independence.’ Let me explain.

The planning for the visit of UK ministers to the Vatican began well over a year ago. Yet it was only a few days before the delegation left for Rome that Cardinal Keith O’Brien was made aware of its existence.

The ministerial party was headed by Baroness Sayeeda Warsi along with six other UK ministers including the Scotland Secretary, Michael Moore. Accompanying them was Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, President of the Bishops Conference of England and Wales.

On the morning of Wednesday February 15, each minister paired off for bi-lateral talks with their Vatican counterpart. Despite the fact that several of the policy areas discussed are devolved matters—such as climate change, culture and sport—no Scottish Government ministers were invited. Our national interests, therefore, went unrepresented.  What is worse, however, is that Scotland’s cardinal was also missing. Initially the UK government attempted to suggest that the Vatican was to blame for this oversight.

“The decision on who should be part of this visit was primarily for the Holy See and I am sure you will direct your question to them,” Michael Moore, Scotland Secretary, said.

UK Foreign Office officials, however, quickly confirmed this not to be the case. The presence of Archbishop Nichols had been at the behest of Baroness Warsi and not the Vatican. It was the UK Government’s oversight that Cardinal O’Brien was not also invited to accompany the group.

Coming only 24-hours after St Valentine’s Day, the incident encapsulated the lack of love, care and interest London displays towards both Scotland and our Catholic community.

As part of the UK, the Scottish Catholic voice has never been listened to by London’s political elite at Westminster on a whole host of key ethical issues—abortion, stem cell research, gay adoption, nuclear weapons, the Act of Settlement, the list goes on and on.

The reality is that while Scottish Catholics are 16 per cent of the Scottish electorate we only constitute 1.3 per cent of the UK electorate. Hence we are just too remote and too electorally insignificant for the likes of Nick Clegg or David Cameron to care what we think.

Indeed, when Cardinal O’Brien visited Westminster in 2006, David Cameron declined even to meet with him. The Conservative leader then turned down an invitation to attend a parliamentary dinner in honour of the Scottish cardinal. A ‘real discourtesy’ is how one of the cardinal’s advisors described the incident to the press. Any politician interested in the views—or votes—of the Scottish Catholic community would have been there.

Mr Cameron, however, is interested in neither—because he does not have to be. At the 2011 Scottish elections the Conservative Party garnered only nine per cent of the Catholic vote. So by ignoring or even offending Scottish Catholics, the UK Prime Minister stands to lose less than 36,000 votes approximately. To put that in perspective, twice as many people have been to watch the Scottish Premier League’s bottom side Dunfermline Athletic this season.

Compare aand contrast with the events of the first week of October last year. On the Tuesday, Bishop Philip Tartaglia of Paisley wrote to the Scotland’s First Minister to express Catholic concerns over his government’s consultation on same-sex ‘marriage’ as well as the Offensive Behaviour at Football Bill.

Before the day was out, Alex Salmond had phoned the bishop to discuss the matter and invite him to Bute House for talks that Friday. All the relevant government ministers were told to clear their diaries for that day and attend the meeting.

Previous Scottish Governments—including the Dewar, McLeish and McConnell administrations—were similarly more attentive and respectful to the views of Scottish Catholics than Westminster ever has been even when they did not entirely agree with what the likes of Cardinal Winning or Cardinal O’Brien had to say.

Make no mistake. Whatever constitutional future we choose over the next few years, times could get pretty tough for Catholics. All across the western world the march of militant secularism is increasingly threatening hard won religious liberties. Just look at President Barack Obama’s current persecution of the Church in the United States over the issue of healthcare. We just have to pray for the faith, hope and love to stand firm in the storm.

But if we Scottish Catholics are choosing an optimal constitutional environment within which to stand our ground, fight our corner, survive or even prosper there is only one realistic option—independence.

n David Kerr is the Rome correspondent for a US-based news agency. He is also a former SNP parliamentary candidate