Ayr Cathedral

Ayr Cathedral
Cathedral of Saint Margaret, Ayr
The Cathedral of Saint Margaret, Ayr
Ayr Cathedral Shown within Scotland
55°27′53″N 4°37′36″W / 55.464722°N 4.626667°W / 55.464722; -4.626667Coordinates: 55°27′53″N 4°37′36″W / 55.464722°N 4.626667°W / 55.464722; -4.626667
Location	Ayr, South Ayrshire
Country	Scotland
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	gallowaydiocese.org.uk
History
Former name(s)	The Church of Saint Margaret
Architecture
Status	In Use
Heritage designation	A-Listed Building
Designated	28th July 2007
Previous cathedrals	Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Ayr
Style	Gothic
Specifications
Capacity	500
Administration
Diocese	Galloway
Province	St Andrews and Edinburgh
Clergy
Bishop(s)	John Cunningham
Dean	Christopher Brannan

The Cathedral Church of Saint Margaret, also known as Ayr Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Ayr, Scotland. It is the seat of the Bishop of Galloway, and the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galloway. St Margarets was designated a cathedral in 2007, and is the most recent church to be given status as a Roman Catholic cathedral in the United Kingdom, due to the closure of Good Shepherd Cathedral, Ayr.

History

When the Roman Catholic Hierarchy was restored to Scotland in 1878, the Diocese of Galloway consisted of South Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire. St Andrew’s, Dumfries was chosen as the Cathedral church and parish. In 1947, the Apostolic Constitution, ‘Dominici Gregis’, erected the Province of Glasgow by creating Motherwell and Paisley as the two new suffragan sees. This same document also detached ten parishes in the north of Ayrshire and placed them in the Diocese of Galloway. This change resulted in Dumfries no longer being central to the population of the Diocese as a whole, and convinced the then Bishop, Joseph McGee, that he should move his residence to Ayr, where he could be more available to his people. In the aftermath of the destruction of St Andrew’s Cathedral by fire on 10th May 1961, Bishop McGee petitioned Pope John XXIII (now Blessed John XXIII) for permission to site the cathedral in the town of Ayr and to use Good Shepherd church as his cathedral until such time as a new cathedral could be built. This permission was granted on 12th March, 1962, by a decree issued by the Sacred Consistorial Congregation. During the years that followed circumstances changed and no new cathedral was ever built.

Serious problems developed concerning the fabric of the Good Shepherd building and persistent water penetration. More serious than this, however, was the substantial drop in the numbers of those attending the cathedral – a drop that proved to be ongoing. By September, 2001 Bishop Maurice Taylor had come to the conclusion that Good Shepherd church was no longer a suitable venue for the cathedral. Accordingly, he petitioned the Holy See for permission to transfer the cathedral to St Margaret’s, Ayr, the mother church in the area. The decision taken in Rome, in view of the fact that Bishop Taylor was due to retire, was that any decision concerning the future of the cathedral should be left to his successor. Bishop John Cunningham came to the same conclusion as Bishop Taylor concerning the future of the cathedral. Accordingly, he petitioned Pope Benedict XVI to transfer the cathedral from Good Shepherd to St Margaret’s. The Bishop received an affirmative response and St Margaret’s has been the cathedral since 28th 2007.^[1]

Images

• 

  External View (with Cathedral Hall)

• 

  Galloway Diocese in relation to Scotland

See also

• List of cathedrals in the United Kingdom

References

External links

• Ayr Cathedral homepage

This article about a church or other Christian place of worship in Scotland is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article on a Roman Catholic cathedral is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e