The Bishops' Conference of Scotland (BCOS), under the trust of the Catholic National Endowment Trust, and based in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, is an

episcopal conference An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to ...

for archbishops and

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. The conference is primarily made up of the presiding bishops of Scotland's eight

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

s as well as bishops who have

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

. , the president of the conference is Bishop Hugh Gilbert of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen.

Agencies

The BCOS is organised into several agencies. These are: The Commission for Doctrine and Unity, The Communications and Press and Media Relations Office, The Commission for Catholic Education and Scottish Catholic Education Service, The Justice and Peace Commission, operating using the name Justice and Peace Scotland, The Heritage Commission as well as some other offices. The Conference is also a member of several international organisations including the Council of European Bishops' Conferences and the

Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union, formerly the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, ( la, Commissio Episcopatuum Communitatis Europaeae; COMECE) is the association of Catholic Church e ...

. Before 1980, the organisation first registered with

Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government with responsibility for the regulation of charities in Scotland. OSCR is the independent regulator and registrar for more than 24,000 Scottish c ...

and stated that its objective was to "promote, establish, develop, expand, contribute to, support and maintain facilities, projects, schemes and institutions of all kinds having a religious, educational or charitable purpose for the benefit of the community throughout Scotland; and in addition for the benefit of students for the priesthood at home and abroad including the maintenance of the following colleges, all now closed; (a) St. Mary's College, Blairs,

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area incl ...

; (b)

St. Peter's College St, St. or Saint Peter's College may refer to: Places of education sorted by location Australia *St Peter's Catholic College, Tuggerah, New South Wales * St Peter's College, Adelaide, South Australia * St Peters Lutheran College, Brisbane, Queensl ...

, Cardross,

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

; (c) St. Andrew's College, Drygrange,

Melrose Melrose may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Melrose, Scottish Borders, a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland ** Melrose Abbey, ruined monastery ** Melrose RFC, rugby club Australia * Melrose, Queensland, a locality in the South Burnet ...

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and ...

."Catholic National Endowment Trust, SC016650
from OSCR, retrieved 15 June 2016

Ecumenical relations

The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland is a full member of Action of Churches Together in Scotland. The BCOS sends a representative to the Ecumenical Relations Committee of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

and is always invited to send a delegate to the

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivra ...

Member bishops

*Archdiocese of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh ** Archbishop Leo Cushley *Archdiocese of Glasgow ** Archbishop Emeritus Mario Conti ** Archbishop William Nolan *Diocese of Motherwell ** Bishop Joseph Toal *Diocese of Paisley ** Bishop John Keenan *Diocese of Galloway ** Bishop Emeritus John Cunningham ** Bishop Emeritus Maurice Taylor *Diocese of Argyll and the Isles ** Bishop Brian McGee ** *Diocese of Aberdeen ** Bishop Hugh Gilbert ** Bishop Emeritus Peter Moran *Diocese of Dunkeld ** Bishop Stephen Robson

References

External links

Official website

GCatholic.org website {{Authority control

Bishops' Conference Organisations based in North Lanarkshire Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Christian organisations based in Scotland 1878 establishments in Scotland 1878 in Christianity Religious organizations established in 1878

Agencies

Ecumenical relations

Member bishops

See also

References

External links