Scottish Catholic Observer

The launch of The Catholic App hints at a brighter future for Scottish Catholicism. For starters, this is just a good idea. Anyone who has attempted to Google nearby Mass times will know it is very easy to become lost in a forest of tabs and poorly formatted websites that all seem to give slightly different answers. Especially if you’re on holiday or away from your natural habitat, ensuring you show up at church at the right time can be a penance of its own. This app should provide a simple one stop solution, using GPS technology to highlight the nearest Mass and confession times.

Of course, every diocese will need to sign up, but Scottish dioceses are leading the way, and hopefully those around the world will follow.

It is heartening that this was an idea born in a Scottish diocese and brought to life by a Scottish firm. It is easy to feel the Church is pushing back against the time of the present; this is a great example of how we can use technological progress to help people access the ancient and unchanging mysteries of our Faith.

Good, too, that this is an idea intended to be a legacy of the Year of Mercy. Although it’s early days, that legacy may be a profound one. In years to come, this app may well make the spiritual lives of thousands—even millions—of Catholics that bit easier.

Nicola Sturgeon’s suggestion that she will consider offering Northern Irish women free abortions on the Scottish NHS is an odd one. It is difficult to imagine the Scottish Government reacting particularly well to the UK Parliament interfering in a matter that was devolved to Holyrood. Yet, apparently different rules apply if Edinburgh wishes to muscle in on affairs in the North of Ireland.

The assumption of the Scottish political class that their social liberalism is universal does not speak well of them.