Scottish Church spokesman rips 'deep and wide' anti-Catholic bigotry

November 29, 2010

A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland has said that a “deep and wide” strain of anti-Catholic bigotry still flourishes in that country.

Peter Kearney, the director of the Scottish Catholic Media Office, wrote in the Sunday Times after a prominent soccer referee resigned his post amidst controversy roused by the public disclosure of an email message in which the referee had condemned the Pope as a “danger to children.” Kearney said that the email message showed “deep, wide, and vicious anti-Catholic hostility,” and prompted Scottish Catholics to draw “a line in the sand.”

In his column for the Times, Kearney said that Scotland has a long history of anti-Catholic bigotry, and the email message by soccer official Hugh Dallas was only the “tip of the iceberg.” He insisted that “the bigotry, bile, sectarian undercurrents and innuendos must end.”

Kearney expressed some hope that the number of people willing to tolerate blatant anti-Catholic prejudice may be dwindling in Scotland. He said that the country’s Catholics should no longer be subjected to it.

 

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Further information:

• Church spokesman claims anti-Catholicism in Scotland 'deep and wide (Independent Catholic News)
• Hugh Dallas e-mail 'an example of vicious anti-Catholic hostility in Scotland' (Scotsman)
• Professor: Catholic Church’s attack on bigotry is historic (Herald)