Catholic Dating in Scotland
Catholic dating in Scotland: Carfin, the cathedrals of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen and Oban, and two university chaplaincies, with addresses.
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- Diocese
- Campus ministry
- Latin Mass
- Young adults
- Shrine
Short answer
Catholic Scotland is not one place. It is a dense west, where Glasgow and Lanarkshire hold parish after parish; a thinner east and north, where a cathedral city can be an hour and a quarter from the next one; and a scatter of islands in the far west whose Catholic parishes run on down the map. The same word covers all three, and the distance between them is the first practical fact of Catholic life here.
So this page starts with geography rather than with doctrine. Ten places are listed below with an address and an official link, from Edinburgh to Oban. Some are cathedrals, two are university chaplaincies, one is a Latin Mass church, one is the national Marian shrine, and one runs a young adult evening every Sunday through its season.
This page sits on cana.love, a free site for people who want to marry. It is not a Catholic-only site, and a section further down says what follows from that.
Practising Catholics in Scotland
Scotland is its own church unit. Its eight dioceses have their own bishops' conference, separate from England and Wales, and that is why this page stops at the border.
The break is easy to date. St Andrews Cathedral was ransacked in 1559, and a year later Catholic worship was outlawed. The Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh says of what followed that "the auld faith, however, was never completely extinguished", and the archdiocese itself was only re-established in 1878.
Addresses and links checked one at a time on 23 September 2026
Scotland has one martyr from the centuries in between who has been declared a saint. John Ogilvie, a Jesuit, was hanged at Glasgow Cross on 10 March 1615 for refusing to accept the king's authority in spiritual matters; he was canonised in 1976, and the Jesuit church of St Aloysius in Glasgow keeps his national shrine.
One more fact is about schools. In 1872 the Church turned down the chance to bring its schools into the state system, because the terms would not have protected them as Catholic schools. In 1918 a new Education Act offered terms that did, and the state-funded Catholic schools Scotland has today go back to that decision. It is part of why, in Scotland, being Catholic is tied to a school as well as to a parish.
No percentage is given here for any of this. What follows are addresses instead, each opened on the day this was written.
Where the community gathers
The ten places fall into four groups: three in Edinburgh, four in and around Glasgow, two cathedrals up the east coast, and one on the west coast facing the islands.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh holds three, all inside the city. St Mary's on Broughton Street is the metropolitan cathedral and the home of the national shrine of St Andrew. St Albert's, the Dominican chaplaincy on George Square, has a sung student Mass on Sunday evening in term. And west of the centre on Belford Road, the Fraternity of St Peter keeps St Andrew's, Ravelston, with a sung Latin Mass at noon on Sundays.
Glasgow and Carfin
Glasgow holds four, and the last of them is outside the city. St Andrew's Cathedral stands on Clyde Street on the north bank of the river. St Aloysius' in Garnethill is the Jesuit church with John Ogilvie's shrine. Turnbull Hall is the Catholic chaplaincy to the University of Glasgow, on Southpark Terrace in the West End. And in the village of Carfin, outside Motherwell and on the railway, is the grotto that has been Scotland's national shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes since 1922.
The east coast
The east coast holds two cathedrals and a monastery that is not on the list of ten. St Andrew's Cathedral in Dundee is on the Nethergate. St Mary's in Aberdeen is on Huntly Street, and its timetable runs in three languages: English, a Polish Mass on Sunday afternoon, and a Spanish one on two Saturdays a month. North-west of Aberdeen, near Elgin, the Benedictines of Pluscarden take in retreat guests of any faith.
Oban and the islands
The west holds Oban, where St Columba's Cathedral faces the bay. It is the cathedral of Argyll and the Isles, and the diocese it serves runs out across the sea: the parish list includes Barra, Eriskay, South Uist and Benbecula, and the diocese still carries a Gaelic name alongside its English one.
Meeting places worth the journey
The seat of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh and the national shrine of St Andrew, in the city centre for more than two hundred years.
Broughton StreetEdinburgh
Run by the Dominicans for the University of Edinburgh; the student Mass is sung on Sunday evenings in term, and the Catholic Students' Union meets weekly.
George SquareEdinburgh
Served by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, with a sung traditional Latin Mass at noon on Sundays; its Juventutem group is for people aged eighteen to thirty-five.
Belford RoadEdinburgh
The cathedral of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, on the north bank of the Clyde between the suspension bridge and the Victoria Bridge.
Clyde StreetGlasgow
The Jesuit church in Garnethill and the national shrine of St John Ogilvie; its young adult ministry meets every Sunday from four o'clock and ends with a nine o'clock Mass.
Rose StreetGlasgow
The Catholic chaplaincy to the University of Glasgow, with Sunday Masses at nine, eleven and, in term, six in the evening.
Southpark TerraceGlasgow
Scotland's national shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes, opened in 1922; the pilgrimage season runs from April to October, and there is a railway station in the village.
Carfinby Motherwell
The cathedral of the Diocese of Dunkeld, in the centre of the city, with Sunday Mass at eleven and at six.
NethergateDundee
The cathedral of the Diocese of Aberdeen, with a Polish Mass on Sunday afternoons and a Spanish Mass on the second and last Saturday of each month.
Huntly StreetAberdeen
The cathedral of Argyll and the Isles, begun in 1932, much of it paid for by money raised in America, Canada and Ireland, and finished with the blessing of its bells in 1959.
Corran EsplanadeOban
Some places are missing, and the reasons are specific. Pluscarden Abbey is not among the ten, because it is a community of monks and not a place for meeting people, even though its guest houses are open to anyone making a retreat. The Diocese of Paisley's site blocks automated visitors, so we did not read it. And a search for the Dundee cathedral's website turned up a site with the same name that belongs to a cathedral in British Columbia; the link above goes to the Diocese of Dunkeld instead.
The distances
A diagram, not a map. Travel times, as in the text.
Glasgow to Edinburgh is under an hour by train. Edinburgh to Dundee is about an hour and a quarter, and Dundee to Aberdeen about the same again. Glasgow to Oban is about three hours on the West Highland line, and the ferry from Oban to Barra takes close to five more.
Inside the central belt, then, distance is an evening's travel. Beyond it, distance is a weekend. Somebody in Aberdeen and somebody in Glasgow can meet, but not on a Tuesday, and somebody on Barra lives a day's travel from almost everyone else on this page.
That is worth settling before anything else, and it is settled more kindly in writing than across a table. Where each person lives, and whether either would move, are questions on the cana.love form for exactly that reason.
The Catholic year in Scotland
The pilgrimage season at Carfin
Masses, processions and novenas through the week, and a rosary in the grotto every evening at eight through May and October.
The university year
St Albert's and Turnbull Hall follow the academic calendar, and Turnbull Hall's Sunday evening Mass is held in term only.
The young adult evening at St Aloysius'
It starts at four with tea, runs through a shared meal and a talk, and finishes with the nine o'clock Mass. The new season began in September.
St Andrew's Day
Scotland's national feast, on 30 November; the national shrine of St Andrew is in St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh.
St John Ogilvie
The anniversary of his death at Glasgow Cross on 10 March 1615; his shrine is at St Aloysius' in Garnethill.
Juventutem in Edinburgh
Adoration, confession, Mass and a social once a month at the Fraternity's chapel on Belford Park, for people between eighteen and thirty-five.
Three landscapes, one word
In Scotland "Catholic" can name the school a person went to, the family they come from and the parish they were baptised in, and none of those tells you whether they have been to Mass since their confirmation. The label is the same in Glasgow, in Aberdeen and on Barra. What it says about a person's week is not.
Mass, fasting and Scripture, asked one by one
A form cannot close that gap, but it can stop the label from standing in for an answer, and that is what the form on cana.love is for. How often you go to Mass is asked with five settings, from every Sunday to rarely, and fasting and Scripture are asked about separately. Why you are on the site is asked as well. You decide, answer by answer, who is allowed to see each one.
Five languages, and Polish is not one of them
The Aberdeen cathedral runs Masses in three languages, and the site runs in five: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian. Polish is not one of them, and it is fairer to say so here than to let a Polish reader find out after signing up.
A parish you write in yourself
Two questions on the form have no options at all. One asks for your parish and gives you an empty box; the other asks what gives your life meaning, and does the same. Where a parish can be the one a person was baptised in rather than the one they go to, a box you fill in yourself tells the other person more.
Reviewed first, nothing paid, no password
Nothing you write and no photograph you add is shown to anyone until it has been reviewed. Asking another member for money is grounds for closing the account. Nothing is paid for: no subscription, no premium level. And there is no password to lose, because signing in is done with a link sent to your own email each time.
What cana.love is and is not
cana.love is not a Catholic-only platform.
There are Orthodox and Protestant members on it, and people who are not yet sure where they belong but want marriage all the same. Who sees what is each member's own setting. In a country where the school a person went to can say more about their label than about their faith, a site that sorted people by label alone would be sorting the wrong thing. What it offers instead can be checked: faith, practice and purpose are questions on the form, and the answers are there to read before you reply to anyone. The site is run by Cana SpA, a company registered in Chile, and the About page has the details.
Meeting safely
- Meet the first time in daylight, somewhere with other people around, and with a time to leave agreed beforehand: a café near the cathedral after a weekday Mass, the chaplaincy after the Sunday evening one, a coffee on Buchanan Street or Princes Street. Let a friend know where you will be, and if the meeting means a ferry or the last train back, let them know that too. Your home address can wait.
- On money there is nothing to weigh up. Before you have met in person, send nothing, lend nothing and pay for no ticket, whatever the story attached. A single report is enough for it to be looked into.
What happens after a report, and how to appeal a decision you think is wrong, is written down in the community guidelines.
Common questions
I live on the islands. Is there any point?
Yes, but be honest in your profile about the ferry. Someone in Glasgow can reach Oban in three hours; Barra is a further crossing, and it is kinder to say so early than to let the other person work it out.
Can I go to a university chaplaincy if I am not a student?
The public Masses at St Albert's and Turnbull Hall are open to anyone. The student societies and their socials are for students, so ask before turning up to those.
Do I need an invitation to the young adult evening at St Aloysius'?
No invitation is mentioned; its page says it looks forward to welcoming old and new faces. It meets every Sunday from four, with a meal and a talk before the nine o'clock Mass. That page gives no age range, so we do not give one either.
Why is Pluscarden not in the list?
Because it is a Benedictine monastery, not a place people go to meet each other. It does take retreat guests of any faith, and a retreat there may be exactly what someone needs before they start looking.
Is England covered here?
No. England and Wales share a bishops' conference and have a page of their own; Scotland has its own conference and this page.
Can I use cana.love anywhere in Scotland?
Yes, from eighteen, on the islands as much as in the cities. It is a website, so there is nothing to install.
Next steps
If you are near Carfin, go once in May for the evening rosary at eight; if you are in Glasgow on a Sunday, the young adult evening at St Aloysius' starts at four. And if you would rather know where someone stands before a first coffee than after it, make a profile on cana.love: it is free, and it asks what this page cannot.
Reviewed on September 23, 2026.