Growing up in an Irish seaside town, faith and music were as constant as the waves on the sand for the young Michael Ferguson.

But his faith, unlike his music, was rather quiet, writes Martina Purdy.

He was a Catholic in the mainly Protestant town of Portstewart - and has childhood memories of an IRA bomb wrecking the neighbouring town of Coleraine

He came of age during the peace process before crossing the sea to study music at Edinburgh University, eventually earning a PhD.

These days, his faith is far from hidden. “It is visibly Catholic,” said Dr Ferguson, now Director of Music at St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Music

He credits music with keeping him rooted in his faith.

“Growing up in Portstewart, attending my local parish, I was always involved in music and as a musician my earliest roots are in the Church.”

His boyhood hero was John Corrigan, who was both headmaster at St Colm’s Primary School and choirmaster at St Mary Star of the Sea Church.

As a child he would practice piano and sing, copying Corrigan, whose daughter, Briana Corrigan, was part of pop group The Beautiful South.

Dr Ferguson is Director of the Schola Cantorum Choir, pictured with Archbishop Leo Cushley in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

As a student in Scotland however, his passion for music eclipsed his faith.“I kind of went to Mass off and on. And it was really the musical aspects which brought me into the church. I found my way into the choir at St Mary’s.”

Dr Ferguson not only directs the Schola Cantorum Choir and St Mary’s voices choir, he also runs a masters course in Sacred Music at St Andrews University.

His own faith has grown along with his career and personal journey, as a husband to Jessica, and father to Leo and baby Lottie.

He finds great joy and consolation in being in the presence of God through life’s highs and lows.

“There have been a lot of changes in my life but the Cathedral has been a constant element - every once in a while I look at the tabernacle -  it’s been there for more than a hundred years, unchanging in some sense. There is a centredness about it. The same place, the same Lord has been there through it all really.”

Cathedral

The Cathedral is sited on the old Chapel of St Mary’s  which was built around 1813-14.

It became a pro-Cathedral with the restoration of the Scottish Catholic Hierarchy in 1878, before its elevation to Metropolitan Cathedral in 1886 in the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh, which sprung from the ancient See of St Andrews, dated 900AD.

Historic tensions between Catholics and Protestants have given way to a new divide: Christianity versus secularism.

“If you have any faith,” said Dr Ferguson, “and you are open about it, there can be a bit of pushback or prejudice.”

“We are at a point where religion and the observance of religion across the country is in decline across all denominations.

Michael was on piano to accompany Irish singer Dana and the Schola Cantorum at a concert in St Mary's Cathedral in October.

"But I think the Catholic Church is weathering that better than any of the denominations.”

Dr Ferguson cites high attendances at liturgies held at the Catholic Cathedral, both from local residents and tourists. “Obviously we are in the capital here and so we are kind of ‘on the map’ if you are visiting here.”

A milestone in good relations between Roman Catholics and Episcopalians came on 16 September this year, when the St Ninians’s declaration of friendship was signed at Edinburgh’s two Cathedrals, both called St Mary’s.

The Catholic Cathedral has long been the ‘poor cousin’ to its Anglican relation - which dominates the landscape a mile or so west.

By comparison the Roman Catholic St Mary’s was historically hidden in an enclosed street.

But a fresh layout, a modern tram and the development of the retail sector from Princes Street towards the nearby St James' Quarter has brought new life and profile.

“St Mary’s has actually become more opened up,” said Dr Ferguson. “We are in a location where at one point in history we were out of the way, in the background and now we are here in the heart of the town.”

“We try to make events happen that feed into the faith of the community.”

Uniqueness

St Mary’s is building on the legacy of Arthur Oldham - a highly regarded musical director from 1956-1971 who created the Edinburgh Festival Chorus,  and was a pupil of English composer Benjamin Britten, who providentially was born on the Feast of St Cecilia, patron of music (22 November).

“The choir is very well known from that era - looked upon even now as being a golden age.

"But even so, there was always a sense that the music in the Catholic cathedral was sort of not quite at the level that it was elsewhere - especially in the Anglican cathedral.”

He said St Mary’s no longer tries to 'superimpose'  the Anglican model on the cathedral liturgy.

"The cathedral musically speaking is on a journey which coincides with a wider journey of increasing visibility and increasing confidence as Catholics in the midst of Edinburgh.”

“That is where the change has been. We are more confidently Catholic and in some sense, musically speaking, we are more inclined to recognise our uniqueness.”

Last month, St Mary’s welcomed Irish singer-songwriter Dana for an evening of music and testimony, and next month will host a sell-out Christmas concert with celebrated organist Anna Lapwood who is on a UK tour.

St Mary’s annually participates in the Edinburgh Festival of the Sacred Arts to showcase Christian heritage and expression in a city famous for its fringe arts festival.

In August, the Cathedral featured author Ian Bradley who spoke about the spiritual impact of musicals such as Les Misérables.

In the past month, the iconic bronze sculpture of the ‘Homeless Jesus’ by Canadian artist, Timothy Schmaltz, arrived at the steps of the Cathedral (see title image).

It famously depicts the poor Christ, under a blanket, on a park bench and Dr Ferguson is hoping to produce a concert and a documentary film involving the Cathedral choir, the homeless and Christian charities.

Wooing souls for Christ

The Portstewart native was recruited as musical director seven years ago by Mgr Patrick Burke, now chaplain to St Andrews.

He works with a team headed by administrator, Mgr Jeremy Milne, a convert to Catholicism.

Dr Ferguson has helped restructure the musical programme for masses across the parish. “We now have an eight-voice Schola cantorum choir and they are working at a very high level.

"The point of it is to sing music from the treasury of Catholic music all the way from early chant to newly composed work.”

Renowned Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan came on board as patron of music in 2021.

Dr Ferguson believes music has a vital role to play in wooing souls for Christ - at a time when the majority of Scots have turned their backs on church.

Indeed, 51% claim no religion, in the 2022 census.

On visits home to Portstewart, Dr Ferguson is baffled that so many raised in the same culture seem to have “hardly any faith at all.”

“I wonder what might have happened had music not drawn me in.” he said.

“Music has been a kind of life-belt that has just gently pulled me back and kept me tethered, in the best possible way, to the life of the Church.”

This article first appeared in The Irish Catholic on 20 November 2025.