The career of John Carmel Heenan (1905–1975) tends to be remembered for the period of his tenure as Archbishop of Westminster. This was a difficult time for Heenan, who having lived and ministered in an unchanging Church for over sixty years, took up the appointment in September 1963, at a time of rapid and unprecedented change in the Catholic Church in England and Wales following Vatican II. Contemporary commentators naturally gravitated to to the problems he faced in Westminster. Inevitably, in reviews rather than full-scale biographies, historians have concentrated on this later phase of his life. This paper examines one of Heenan's earlier achievements, that of his role of Superior of the Catholic Missionary Society from 1947 to 1951, and shows how his talents were placed at the disposal of the post-war Catholic community in an attempt to recover lapsed Catholics and attract converts to the faith.

This article presents a narrative description of the state of music in the Scottish Catholic Church from the Reformation up to the publication of George Gordon’s collection of church music c.1830. For the first two hundred years after the Reformation, Scottish Catholics worshipped in virtual silence owing to the oppressive penal laws then in force. In the late eighteenth century religious toleration increased and several members of the clergy and other interested parties attempted to reintroduce singing into the worship of the Scottish Catholic Church. In this they were thwarted by the ultra-cautious attitude of the Vicar-Apostolic for the Lowland District, Bishop George Hay, who refused to allow any music in Catholic churches in case it should inflame Protestant opinion. Only after his retirement could the reintroduction take place, and the speed at which it was achieved bears witness to the enthusiasm and commitment of Scottish clergy and laity for church music. Research in this area is long overdue, and it is hoped that this article will form a basis for further investigations.

This article will consider the mismanagement during the years 1865–1885 of the benefaction made by Thomas Mitchell, a convert and one-time military man, to the Catholic Church in Scotland, as well as a number of other financial difficulties that beset the Church during this period. In doing so, it will reveal how the Scottish bishops, under enormous pressures because of Irish migration, acted in ways not only unbecoming of their offices, but also beyond the scope of both civil and canon law. Yet, as will be seen, the Church was developing as an institution and, in many ways, the difficulties of these years were necessary if it was to re-develop as a fully-fledged and autonomous national Church.