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Fault lines have been appearing in almost every Scottish diocese since the resignation of Cardinal O’Brien. Photograph: David Moir/REUTERS
A Scottish Catholic priest, who has fought for 17 years to force the hierarchy to act against a fellow priest who abused him, has been dismissed from the diocese of Galloway while recovering from cancer and issued with a formal warning for talking to the Observer.
Father Patrick Lawson, who spoke out in the Observer in July using the pseudonym "Father Michael", was sent a decree of removal by Bishop John Cunningham last Wednesday, forcing him to hand over the keys of his parish house within two days. The bishop had consistently refused to accept Father Lawson's pleas, on the advice of doctors, to drop one of his two parishes – St Paul's, Hurlford – while convalescing.
The case is a potentially explosive development in an increasingly tense relationship between the Scottish hierarchy and the laity over abuse and cover-up. There is now a standoff in Father Lawson's other parish – St Sophia's, Galston – with many parishioners telling the Observer that they will walk out of masses this weekend in protest, cancel their church subscriptions
Parishioner Manuela Kevan says around 200 people have signed a petition backing the popular, hardworking priest. "We know what this is really about."
Significantly, there are now signs of rebellion among the clergy themselves. The Catholic church insists on silence and obedience from its priests but Father Gerard Magee of St Winin's in Kilwinning, has written to the papal nuncio in London, backing Father Lawson and criticising the diocese. "What they are doing is underhand, malicious and sinister," he writes. "They hide behind ... canon law and, by doing so, they abuse the same law and make a mockery of it."