DR Jenny Wormald's point about the ongoing controversy over the Scottish Catholic Archives (SCA) and the sad irony that this shambles is taking place during the pontificate of a great scholar-pope, Benedict XVI, is well made (Letters, July 18).

Her intervention prompts another thought. The Catholic Bishops' Conference may have believed that the opposition of many scholars and academics to the dismemberment of the SCA would have died a death long before now. How wrong that assumption was – the fury that the decisions has provoked shows no sign of ebbing, which is scarcely surprising as more extraordinary details continue to emerge.

I cannot recall in living memory such a public chorus of determined and prolonged hostility by informed members of their flock and others to a specific policy of the Scottish Catholic hierarchy.

The prime mover of the original decision, the Archbishop of Glasgow, remains silent, as do all his brother bishops. To many this stance comes across as an arrogant refusal to engage with those who sincerely hold different views.

Catholic scholars in particular are horrified and ashamed by the serial discourtesy shown to their colleagues who have written numerous letters and composed several petitions but have never received so much as an acknowledgement to them, other than a few ill-considered comments in the press from the spin-doctors of the church.

There seems, therefore, only one option now left to these committed campaigners who have the best interests of the heritage of Catholic Scotland at heart – to take their reasoned opposition and polite request for dialogue to higher authority in Rome in the hope of a more considered response than that which they have received thus far in their own country.

TM Devine,

Personal Senior Research Professor in History,

University of Edinburgh.

RELIGION has been of fundamental importance in shaping Scottish national identity. Ecclesiastical institutions, both Catholic and Protestant, have played a fundamental role in Scotland's history, from the Protestant Reformation of 1560 to the Covenanting Revolution of the 1630s, to the revitalisation of the Catholic Church in the 19th century.

Scotland is fortunate to have world-class archives documenting this history, the National Records of Scotland and the National Library in Edinburgh acting as conservators of our national heritage.

In light of the current debate about independence, in which determining Scotland's position within Britain (both past and present) will be so important, it is crucial that our historical resources remain easily available. The dispersal of the records within the nationally-important Scottish Catholic Archives would ensure the very opposite.

This is not just a matter of the history of the Catholic Church in Scotland, but of how that church has helped form the country that we live in today.

This is a matter of concern not only for academics, but for politicians and members of the public alike who want to see a fully informed debate. If the Catholic hierarchy will not open its ears to the protests of the academic community, we need to call on a wider audience to voice its concerns too. Perhaps then the bishops and the Heritage Commission will understand that this is not merely an internal church matter, but one of national consequence.

Dr Anna Groundwater,

English Literature, University of Edinburgh.