Indian missionaries come to Scotland

A Scottish diocese is welcoming priests from the Indian subcontinent, because according to its bishop Scotland is now “mission territory”.

Three priests from the missionary order, Heralds of Good News, will work in the Diocese of Galloway. It is understood that Indian priests will also be working in the Dioceses of Motherwell and Aberdeen.

The Bishop of Galloway, William Nolan, insisted that the priests were not coming to Scotland to plug gaps in the priesthood. “They are not coming to increase the variety of Mass times or to help us avoid travelling a few miles further in order to attend Mass. They are a missionary order and they are coming because they see Scotland as mission territory ... where the faith is tired and the faithful lack the enthusiastic joy of the first Christians – an enthusiasm and joy that we see in the Church in many Third World countries, where the faith is young and alive.”

The bishop’s views were echoed by Fr Mushtaq Azad, a Pakistani-born priest who for 13 years served the parish of Campbeltown in Kintyre, close to where St Columba began his mission.

Asked if there was an irony in priests from the subcontinent coming to Galloway, close to where St Ninian began to evangelise north Britain, Fr Azad, who now serves a multinational parish in Rotherhithe, east London, said: “Not at all, quite the opposite. This is an affirmation of the universality of the Church and its key concept, faith. The Church in Scotland needs new energy, and that energy comes from Africa, India and Pakistan, and from Latin America.”

The priests coming to Galloway are from the Mary Queen of Apostles Province of the Heralds of Goods News who are based in Poolangulathupatti, Tamil Nadu.