Crossing the great divide

MISSILES were flying, buses were overturned, the hate-filled abuse was reaching a crescendo, and even blazered schoolboys were being threatened with violence.

The police made the only decision they could – a baton charge into the hundreds of angry Protestants determined to disrupt the Roman Catholic Religious Congress being held in normally peaceful Morningside.

It was 1935 and those scenes of bigotry were perhaps the most shaming moment of anti-Catholicism in Edinburgh, a city which normally shrugs off the idea of "Scotland's shame" – sectarianism – with a nod to the west coast.

Certainly Edinburgh has rarely experienced sectarianism in the same way as Glasgow has, but anti-Catholicism is not unknown here.

John Knox made his name on the High Street with religious rants against the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, but that was the 16th century and he was busy leading the reformation.

But John Cormack, the councillor for South Leith, who led that violent mob in Morningside in 1935, was a one-off in the city's recent history.

He was a fervent anti-Catholic, a position he took after serving in Ireland during the troubles of 1919-21. So rabid was his hatred that he was expelled from the Edinburgh Protestant Society "on account of his having uttered certain threats of physical violence to Roman Catholics". He went on to establish his own Protestant Action Society – whose membership reached 4000 at one point – and rode in a car daubed with the slogan "No Popery".

Otherwise, Edinburgh has, in the main, escaped the sectarian problems experienced in the west – though there's always been a minority at Tynecastle and Easter Road who hurl religious abuse at each other from the stands.

And Father Michael Henesey of St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church on the Canongate, says: "I'm not aware of any anti-Catholic feeling here at all – nobody has come to me at all about any ill-feeling."

But according to Cardinal Keith O'Brien, leader of Scotland's 850,000 Catholics, anti-Catholicism is endemic in Scottish society, no matter the geography.

He was speaking after Scottish Executive figures showed that while four-fifths of sectarian crimes took place in Glasgow or Lanarkshire, more than a third of offenders came from outside those areas. And they showed only 33 per cent of cases related to football, while 12 per cent were linked to marches and parades.

The report also showed that 64 per cent of religious hate crimes were committed against Catholics, with 31 per cent anti-Protestant. Of the 635 accused, Edinburgh was home to 23, with 12 in West Lothian.

This week Cardinal O'Brien said: "It is not poverty, alcohol or football which underpins most cases of religiously aggravated crime in Scotland, but blatant anti-Catholicism."

But what is the experience of some of Edinburgh's best-known Catholics? Have they experienced discrimination in the Capital?

BRIAN FALLON

60, councillor for Murray Burn.

"I was brought up in the Catholic faith but I wouldn't consider myself a religious person nowadays. Although my life is still led by certain Catholic values such as community work and love for fellow man, I'm not a practising Catholic anymore.

"I grew up in Canonmills and attended St Mary's Primary and then St Anthony's, but my friends were from all religious walks and so playing football in the street there was never any problems.

"The only prejudice I ever encountered in Edinburgh was in the building trade as a young man. There was a small minority in that line who were anti-Catholic. It was in what people said and the job opportunities that were open to you, having an Irish name like Fallon gave it away immediately, and so I know that there were jobs I didn't get as a result.

"To be honest I suffered more discrimination through my political and trade union activities than because of my faith. That was in the early 70s. Then, when I worked in the Post Office, I didn't experience any discrimination – nobody cared what religion you were as long as the post got delivered on time. I'm really not aware of bigotry being a problem in Edinburgh these days."

SIMON PIA

50, radio presenter and columnist

"I'm what you'd call a collapsed Catholic. I went to Holy Cross Primary then Scotus Academy, then St Augustine's. I think anti-Catholic feeling was a thing that maybe affected the generation before mine because I can't say being Catholic has ever held me back in anyway. I've never really experienced it, and don't know of anyone who has.

"Admittedly there were a few girlfriends' mothers in the past who made an issue of it. One girl told me her mother had had a nightmare because she'd dreamt her daughter had married me – a Catholic!

"Of course there was those riots in Edinburgh in the 1930s and I think when the Italian community were attacked when Italy joined Hitler in the war, a lot of that was inspired by the likes of John Cormack, but I think since, there's really not been an issue with anti-Catholicism in Edinburgh.

"I think anti-Catholic, anti-Irish sentiment is wasting away and the Cardinal is making too much of it. Any east coast Catholic who feels they've been held back because of their faith just has a chip on their shoulder."

JIM MARIN

78, director of Thomas Marin Funeral Directors

"I was chased along Canaan Lane by a group of gentlemen when I was just seven-years-old because I was dressed in the uniform of St Andrew's Priory, which is where the Catholic Congress was being held when Cormack's lot turned up. It was a terrifying experience at the time. But while that was a horrible experience, I can honestly say it was the only anti-Catholic thing that ever happened to me. It's in the past and I just don't think you'd come across anything like that now in Edinburgh.

"I remember my dad telling me about problems he faced, but again that was mostly Cormack's crowd. Many years later I actually met Cormack's son and a nicer person you couldn't meet.

"I really don't think sectarianism or bigotry has been an issue in Edinburgh like it is in Glasgow. I'm in the funeral business so you come across all sorts of religious types but I've never experienced any prejudice or discrimination."

WILLIE McEWAN

54, owner of McEwan's Decor on Peffer Place

"I have never experienced any anti-Catholicism in my life. I'm Edinburgh born and bred and I can honestly say I've never experienced anything I can remember, when I was growing up, or as an adult.

"I think in Edinburgh people are definitely more accommodating with other religions – just look at the mosque, for example. We all get on very well with everyone and there's no problem – it's just not an issue for people here.

"I put this down to the schools and the education people are getting now. Everyone understands religion more and anti-Catholicism is not tolerated anymore.

"There's always been a problem in football. I am a Hibs fan but it's not because I'm Catholic. I was just taken there to see a game once when I was a boy so have supported them since. My brother, who is also Catholic, is a Hearts fan so our choice in teams has nothing to do with our religion.

"But, yes, when it comes to football, I suppose I have experienced it on the odd occasion, but it's certainly not as prevalent as people make out."

PHILIP CONTINI

53, owner of Valvona and Crolla on Elm Row

"All my life I've openly professed my faith as a Roman Catholic, I go to church regularly and am involved in business in Edinburgh and beyond and never, ever have I experienced sectarianism. This is also true for people in my family and my peers.

"The only time I've ever heard about it is when I've read about it.

"I went to an all-boys Catholic school called Scotus Academy, which used to be where BUPA is now in Corstorphine, and my friends went to a state school, and even when we were growing up no-one had any problems at all.

"I don't know whether it's because this is Edinburgh and people have different attitudes, but it's something I've never experienced."