About Us

Towards a New Evangelisation

Christianity is primarily an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ. It is in this experience that we discover our greatest happiness, deepest peace and ultimate purpose in life. This is why, upon meeting Christ by the banks of the River Jordan, a youthful St Andrew felt compelled to proclaim enthusiastically:

“We have found the Messiah!”

The purpose of the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh is to present the same person of Jesus Christ anew to the people in our part of Scotland. We aim to propose a 21st-century vision of Christianity that is coherent, compassionate and compelling. As St Augustine says of Christ: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

“Thank you for taking the time to visit the website of the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh.

I hope it will help you to find out more about the life, work and apostolic mission of our Archdiocese; our parishes, our priests and deacons, our schools, our social care, and our people.

Please do get in contact if you wish to know more. We would be delighted to hear from you.”

The Most Reverend Leo Cushley
Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh

Our Story

The city’s great cathedral was consecrated on 5 July 1318 in the presence of King Robert the Bruce.

In the 4th century, a Greek monk named St Regulus was told in a dream to take the bones of St Andrew the Apostle to the “ends of the earth”. This journey ultimately saw his boat washed ashore upon Scotland’s eastern coast at Kilrymont, later renamed St Andrews. St Andrews grew to become one of Europe’s most important pilgrim destinations as well as Scotland’s ecclesiastical capital. The Diocese of St Andrews stretched from Aberdeenshire in the north to Berwickshire in the south.

Established 17 August 1472

Established 17 August 1472: Pope Sixtus IV raises the Diocese of St Andrews, with its roots dating back to the 10th century, to the rank of an archdiocese with Patrick Graham as the first archbishop.

4 March 1878

Pope Leo XIII...

restores the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Scotland with his Apostolic Letter Ex Supremo Apostolatus Apice. The Archdiocese of St Andrews is restyled as the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh with the Most Reverend John Menzies Strain as archbishop and the Chapel of St Mary’s in Edinburgh designated his pro-cathedral.

31 May 1982

Pope St John Paul II...

touches down at RAF Turnhouse in Edinburgh, becoming the first reigning pontiff to visit Scotland. In a series of public events, the Holy Father addresses 45,000 young people at the city’s Murrayfield Stadium, meets priests and religious at St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, and visits St Joseph’s Hospital for disabled children in Rosewell, Midlothian.

16 September 2010

Pope Benedict XVI...

begins his state visit to the United Kingdom in Edinburgh where he meets Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The Pope’s journey through the streets of the Scottish capital is cheered by over 125,000 well-wishers, with the Holy Father sporting a new St Ninian’s Day papal tartan, specially created for the occasion.

Our Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh comprises of the Metropolitan Cathedral City of Edinburgh, the counties of Berwickshire, Fife (south of the River Eden), East Lothian, Midlothian, Peeblesshire, Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire, Stirlingshire (except the parishes of Baldernock and East Kilpatrick) and West Lothian. The estimated Catholic population of the Archdiocese is 115,000.

Our Archbishop

Archbishop Leo Cushley (1961 – ) is the 56th Bishop of St Andrews and 8th Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh. Born in Lanarkshire, Leo Cushley was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Motherwell in 1985. In 1994 he was recruited by the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See, going on to serve in Burundi, Portugal, Southern Africa and the United Nations in New York. From 2009 until 2013, he was head of the English-language section of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State in Rome before being appointed as Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh by His Holiness Pope Francis in 2013.

Our Parishes

It is within the parish that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed…

The primary mechanism for fulfilling the apostolic mission of the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh is the local parish. “A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor (pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop,” (Code of Canon Law, Canon 515 §1). It is within the parish that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, the sacraments are administered, practical charity is performed and the young are educated.

Our Schools

The Catholic school attempts to assist parents in helping their children to grow in knowledge, wisdom and virtue

The Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh contains 10 Catholic high schools and 69 Catholic primary schools. These are operated in partnership with families and local government. “A good school provides a rounded education for the whole person. And a good Catholic school, over and above this, should help all its students to become saints,” said Pope Benedict XVI in his address to school pupils from accross the UK at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, in September 2010. The Catholic school attempts to assist parents in helping their children to grow in knowledge, wisdom and virtue so that our young people develop into adults who are both happy and holy as they fulfil their God-given potential.