A senior Catholic official has urged priests to encourage their parishioners to get involved in politics and to make sure politicians are aware of what’s happening in their parishes.

Priests have also been urged to engage with politicians directly in the new national push.

Anthony Horan, the director of the Catholic Church’s Parliamentary Office, has written to Scotland’s Catholic priests asking them to encourage their parishioners to get involved in politics and to make sure politicians are aware of what’s happening in their parishes.

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The call to greater political action provides each parish in Scotland with full contact details of their MSPs and MPs and suggests inviting local representatives to events such as special Masses, charity events, coffee mornings, and youth clubs to make them as much a part of parish life as possible.

The Herald:

Mr Horan said: "The Catholic parish is the centrepiece of the community and it exists to serve all people, including feeding the poor, ministering to the sick, accompanying the lonely, and engaging with young people.

“Building positive relationships between parishes and elected representatives, will help reveal the truth about the immensely positive contribution the Catholic Church makes to Scottish society”.

The letter to be sent to all 500 Catholic parishes in Scotland will be delivered with leaflets.

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Mr Horan also writes: "I am keen to increase the level of involvement of Catholics in political life, and in relation to matters of both national and local interest.

"The primary purpose of this letter is to invite your parish to engage with local politicians and consider making them as much a part of parish life as possible."

Good work such as food bank provision should be highlighted also, priests were told.

"I believe that it is incredibly important for Parliament to know about the great work being done in our local parishes and the most efficient way to do this is to involve elected representatives at a local level and to make them feel part of the parish community, irrespective of whether or not they are Catholic."

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He said: "Your MSP or MP is also able to put forward motions in Parliament and this can be a very useful tool for raising awareness of local matters, such as the success of a St Vincent de Paul project.

"I have enclosed a list of your local MSPs and your local MP.

"If you haven’t already done so I would encourage you or a representative of the parish to make contact with them.

"I would also be delighted to hear any feedback you might have in relation to contact you have with politicians."

It comes as wider engagement from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has meant the Bishop of Paisley has had to defend a decision to invite Nicola Sturgeon to deliver the annual Cardinal Winning lecture in the face of criticism from Catholics over her stance on abortion.

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Bishop John Keenan said the invitation was a "huge milestone" as the Scottish Church celebrated the centenary of the Act of Parliament which formalised the relationship between Church and state over Catholic education.

However, eyebrows were raised over the First Minister's involvement in an event associated with the staunchly pro-life Cardinal Winning, with some accusing the Church of "hypocrisy".

The Church has also renewed calls for Holyrood laws to protect “conscience rights” for health workers who do not wish to do work to support abortion services.