Thank you to those who took part in the Archdiocesan online consultation on Diocesan Structures in Scotland.

The survey ran from 5 June to 26 June 2026 and gathered 146 responses.

Archbishop Cushley is grateful to all who gave their time to share thoughtful reflections on how the Church’s structures can best support her mission.

Please continue to keep this important process, and all those involved in it, in your prayers.

A summary of the principal recurring themes is below.

Question 1: Where do we see good examples of mission in our parishes, deanery, diocese and country?

1. Active Parish Life and Welcoming Communities

Many respondents identified vibrant parish communities as the clearest examples of mission. They highlighted:

• Welcoming and inclusive parishes, especially those serving multicultural congregations.
• Strong parish priests who inspire, teach, and build community.
• Active lay involvement in volunteer roles including lay leadership roles.
• Hospitality through coffee mornings, lunch clubs, social events, and community gatherings.

2. Faith Formation and Evangelisation

A significant number pointed to:

• RCIA programmes and increasing numbers entering the Church.
• Catechesis for adults and children, including Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.
• The Diploma in Catechetics and other faith formation and education opportunities.

3. Youth and Young Adult Engagement

Respondents frequently praised:

• Active young adult groups in certain parishes, chaplaincies, and university communities.
• Children’s liturgy, sacramental preparation, youth groups, and Caritas Award activities.
• University chaplaincies, especially in Edinburgh, Stirling and St Andrews, as centres of growth and evangelisation.

4. Worship, Sacraments, and Devotions

Many saw mission expressed through:

• Reverent celebration of Mass.
• Frequent opportunities for confession.
• Eucharistic Adoration.
• Corpus Christi processions, pilgrimages, and Marian devotions.
• Churches remaining open for prayer and worship.

5. Service to the Poor and Outreach

Numerous examples focused on practical charity including:

• St Vincent de Paul work.
• Food banks, warm spaces, clothing and toy collections.
• Homeless outreach.
• Support for housebound, elderly, lonely, and vulnerable people.
• Fundraising for SCIAF and international charitable projects.

6. Collaboration and Wider Church Initiatives

Respondents appreciated:

• Clustered parishes working together.
• Ecumenical partnerships with other Christian churches.
• Safeguarding structures and diocesan collaboration.
• Shared retreats, pilgrimages, and deanery initiatives.
• Online resources and digital communication connecting rural and dispersed communities.

Other areas highlighted

Respondents also identified challenges:

• Lack of coordination between mission initiatives.
• Perceived over-reliance on maintenance rather than evangelisation.
• Limited awareness of deanery activity.
• Uneven provision of Masses and opportunities for formation.
• Priest workload.
• Concerns that good missionary work is not visible enough.
• Some respondents were unsure what “mission” meant or could not identify examples.

Question 2 “Where does mission need to develop or even begin? What are the barriers to better mission and what can encourage it?”

1. Where Mission Should Begin

Several strong themes emerged:

• Home, family and personal faith were the most frequently mentioned starting points. Many respondents saw mission beginning with prayer, discipleship, parents passing on the faith, and personal witness.
• Parishes were identified as the primary place where mission should be developed through welcoming communities, outreach, formation, and participation.
• Schools were repeatedly highlighted as a crucial mission field, with many calling for stronger links between parishes, schools, teachers, chaplains and families.
• Young people and young families were seen as a priority area, with concerns about losing younger generations from active faith practice.
• Some respondents emphasised evangelisation, catechesis and faith formation, arguing that mission starts with Catholics understanding and living their faith more deeply.

2. Main Barriers to Mission

A wide range of areas were mentioned including:

• Clerical and leadership issues: around inconsistency, engagement, levels of communication, lack of lay leadership and concern over support for priests.
• Declining resources and capacity.
• Insufficient formation and catechesis.
• Cultural and social challenges: including secularisation and declining religious practice.
• Issues of welcome and inclusion.

3. What Encourages Mission?

A. Better Relationships

The strongest recurring theme was:

• Building stronger links between home, school and parish.
• Creating welcoming communities where people feel known, valued and included.

B. Formation and Education

Many called for:

• Ongoing adult faith formation.
• Stronger Catholic education and teacher formation.
• Better RCIA, Bible study, catechesis and missionary training.

C. Greater Lay Involvement

A common theme was:

• Empowering lay people, especially younger adults, women and families.
• Shared leadership through parish councils, ministries and mission teams.

D. Prayer and Spiritual Renewal

Many respondents stressed:

• Prayer, adoration, confession and spiritual formation as the foundation of mission.
• Authentic Christian witness and holiness of life.

E. Outreach and Evangelisation

Suggestions included:

• More youth groups, parish events and social activities.
• Better use of social media and digital tools.
• Outreach to lapsed Catholics, newcomers, schools, the poor, disabled people and wider communities.

Question 3: Does the present structure of eight dioceses in Scotland support mission? Does our diocese already have all that it needs? Would it help if we were to share resources with another diocese or dioceses.

The responses expressed a wide range of views, with the main themes summarised below. Many noted they did not feel qualified to answer the questions being asked around structure in Scotland.

There was repeated emphasis around the test for any structural change is whether it strengthens evangelisation, parish life, pastoral care, and the Church’s mission in Scotland.

1. Support for Greater Resource Sharing Across Dioceses

There was general support for increased collaboration and co-operation between dioceses, including:

• Youth ministry, catechetical resources, and evangelisation initiatives.
• Curia services
• Expertise and best practices.

National or regional events and programmes.

2. Differing Views on Merging Dioceses

Opinion varied on whether Scotland’s eight dioceses should be reduced with comments noted for and against diocesan mergers.

Suggestions ranged from:

• Reducing to 3 or 4 dioceses.
• Merging neighbouring dioceses.
• Creating one national diocese for Scotland with regional structures.
• No mergers – leave as 8 dioceses.

Some respondents felt mergers could weaken rather than strengthen pastoral care. Other respondents commented that some diocesan boundaries should be reviewed/rationalised.

3. Preference for Collaboration Rather Than Structural Change

Some responses noted that:

• The number of dioceses/boundaries is not the core issue.
• Better cooperation would be beneficial.
• Some administrative functions could be streamlined/more centralised.

4. Concerns About Mission and Evangelisation

Some respondents shifted the discussion away from structures and toward mission:

• The Church should focus on evangelisation rather than administration.
• Parish renewal is more important than diocesan reorganisation.
• Youth engagement, family ministry, vocations, and catechesis require greater attention.
• Structural reform was often seen as secondary to spiritual renewal and effective leadership.

5. Importance of Local Communities

Numerous responses stressed:

• The parish is the primary place where mission happens.
• People value local relationships and diocesan identity.
• Larger dioceses could make leadership feel more remote.
• Any restructuring should preserve local engagement and pastoral accessibility.

6. Calls for Better Leadership and Lay Involvement

In some cases, respondents advocated:

• Greater use of qualified lay professionals in administration and management.
• Freeing priests from excessive administrative responsibilities.
• Better communication and transparency.
• More opportunities for the laity to participate in decision-making and mission.

The responses are being carefully considered as part of our contribution to the national discussion being led by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland and is helping to discern how the Church’s structures can best serve her mission in Scotland in the years ahead.