Scottish Catholic Observer

The bishop told the SCO that a plan for a chaplaincy office near the UWS Paisley campus were ‘motoring’ along and that Bishop Joseph Toal of Motherwell was also working on a plan for a chaplaincy near its Hamilton campus.

A spokesman for Glasgow Archdiocese said they were actively pursuing a plan for a new city centre chaplaincy that would serve students of Strathclyde University, Glasgow Caledonian University and the  City of Glasgow College

Bishop Keenan said he thought bringing the Faith to Catholic students was vital.

“I wanted to set this up in Paisley for all the students of the diocese,” he said. “We’ve raised funds for a space near the campus for the next two or three years and the students are already setting up a Catholic society.”

Though the diocese hasn’t yet had a formal meeting with the UWS management the bishop, who was Glasgow University chaplain for many years, said he hoped the new chaplaincy would be  ‘for all the students of his diocese.’

“He also said that in his sort time in Paisley, what he would seen had convinced him the Catholic students of the diocese would respond well to this idea.

He intends for Sr Maria McGuire and the recently ordained Fr Martin Delaney of Motherwell Diocese to serve the new UWS chaplaincy.

He explained that although the UWS had a interfaith chaplaincy, they hadn’t had a catholic chaplaincy until now because of their diffuse campus and recent emergence as a university and as they grow the ‘Church would grow with them.’

Gabriele Franchi de’ Cavalieri, the president of the Scottish Network of Catholic Students, said this was an attempt to replicate ‘a positive model of Catholic chaplaincy that has been successful at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.’

Mr Calvalieri said the network had had a big impact since launching last year, bringing Catholic students from across Scotland together.

— [email protected]

PIC: PAUL McSHERRY

—This story ran in full in the March 13 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes