Letter: Academics unite to guard church archive

WE WRITE as members of the Council of the Scottish Catholic Historical Association (SCHA), in grave concern at the report (News, 4 March) of the intentions of Archbishop Conti and the trustees of the Scottish Catholic Heritage Commission towards the contents of the Scottish Catholic Archives.

Reports that they are considering selling items from the Archives are to be deplored.

It seems to us that the Bishops have been treating the Archives and their contents as the property of the Bishops. This is a misreading of the situation. The Archives are the heritage of the whole Catholic Church in Scotland, and beyond that, of the whole nation. The Bishops’ relationship to the Archives should be as custodians of that heritage, and not as proprietors. We are gravely concerned that the Bishops would consider selling off to the highest bidder items of deep intrinsic historic value to the nation, rather than curating these on behalf of the Scottish people, and especially on behalf of Scottish Catholics. It is particularly disappointing that the trustees of the Scottish Catholic Heritage Commission should accede to these plans.

There are two somewhat separate issues here. One is the reported consideration of sale of items from the Archive to fund a shortfall in the Church’s finances in relation to current building projects. Whilst we sympathise with the Church’s situation, we utterly reject the notion that they should dispense with their role as custodians of the Church’s and the nation’s heritage in this way, and offer items of national heritage for sale as reported.

The second is the plan to disperse the Archives from their home at Columba House in Edinburgh, to two homes in Aberdeen and Glasgow. We feel this will impair future historical research by damaging the integrity of the Archive, and by creating geographical barriers to coherent research.

We worry about the pace of these proposals, and the astonishing failure to consult with the prime users of the Archives. There are changes coming in the future among the personnel of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland and its constituent committees. The incoming members may well have different views of their relationship to their heritage than the current members. It would behove the Bishops to pause, reconsider, and defer action.

Prof Thomas Owen Clancy, Convener, SCHA, and the following Council Members of the SCHA: Prof Dauvit Broun; Stephen M Holmes; Dr S Karly Kehoe; Gilbert Márkus; Dr Sara Parvis; Dr Dòmhnall Uilleam Stiubhart; Prof Daniel Szechi; Dr Eila Williamson