Cardinal Keith O’Brien breaks off talks with Alex Salmond over same sex marriage, Salmond heading towards persona non grata at Catholic Church

Dear All

It seems that First Minster Alex Salmond is building up quite a following, the only snag it is an unpopular following.

Same sex marriage has led to what has been described as ‘frosty’ relations between the Catholic Church and the Scottish Government.

It is said that Cardinal Keith O’Brien has decided to breaking off personal talks on the subject with First Minister.

Presumably after ignoring the wishes of the Catholic Church, Church of Scotland and the Muslim communities, Alex Salmond must have thought, give it a bit of time and it will be okay.

Apparently it isn’t, unfortunately the First Minister doesn’t realise that when you effectively ‘spit in the face’ of religious people, relationships change.

In what must be seen as an escalation Cardinal O’Brien, leader of Scotland’s 750,000 Catholics, has insisted that all formal communication between church and government in relation to gay weddings be conducted by officials.

In other words, Alex Salmond is becoming not a Saint but persona non grata. Of course there will still be dialogue but stinted.

The rift between the Catholic Church and SNP Government over the matter continues to widen and of course with 750,000 Voters potential listening to him, they could play an important role if they decide to enter the independence debate.

The pulpit is an excellent platform.

In a letter to Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Cardinal O’Brien has asked for any future discussions on the subject to be conducted through officials.

Ms. Sturgeon is seen by many as the spearhead of the new same sex marriage law, much in the same way that then Labour MSP Wendy Alexander was when fronted her section 28 campaign that dogged the early days of devolution.

Her career nosedived.

Cardinal O’Brien hit the nail on the head when he said he believed that Alex Salmond’s administration has “completely ignored” the views of the Catholic Church.

They did, of course they allowed the pretence of a sham consultation to go ahead, they did the old ‘wrestling with weighty issues’ routine, in the end, the result was always going to be ignore the wishes of the majority.

They don’t care what your views are; they only care about pushing their agenda, lip service to the masses, the SNP Government stopped listening along time ago, and I should know I have personal experience.

The Scottish Government received almost 80,000 responses to its consultation, with more than two thirds opposed.

In trying to make light of the row and defuse it; a spokesman for Salmond insisted that he and the cardinal are still on speaking terms, saying the pair had recently enjoyed an “entirely amicable conversation on first name terms”.

Imagine if the Pope was to visit Scotland now, chances are there would be no public meeting, no photo op and possibly a note saying not welcome.

It is getting more lonely on the grassy knoll for Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon and their middle class clique, each day more people are alienated by them, and ironically they still think they can turn this round.

People don't forget.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University