Roman Catholic Diocese of Motherwell 1.33

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Motherwell is an ecclesiastical diocese of the Catholic Church in Scotland.The diocese, which was erected on 25 May 1947 from the Archdiocese of Glasgow, along with the Diocese of Paisley which was erected on the same day, it remains one of two suffragan sees, under the Archdiocese. On Tuesday 29 April 2014 - the Feast of St Catherine of Siena - Pope Francis appointed Joseph Toal as fifth Bishop of Motherwell.In 2004, the Catholic population, proportionately the largest in Scotland and second largest in Great Britain, was 165,100 from a total population of 633,000 . In 2012 the diocese was served by 65 parish priests, 7 assistant priests and 13 deacons in across its 74 parishes. There are currently 35 retired priests from the diocese and 4 who reside in parishes in the diocese. The area of the diocese is 1,178km2.Past and present ordinariesThe following is a list of the Bishops of Motherwell: Edward Douglas (appointed 7 February 1948 – resigned 9 February 1954) James Scanlan (appointed 23 May 1955 – translated to the Archdiocese of Glasgow 29 January 1964) Francis Thomson (appointed 8 December 1964 – resigned 14 December 1982) Joseph Devine (appointed 13 May 1983 - resigned Thursday 30 May 2013) Joseph Toal (appointed 29 April 2014 – present; previously Bishop of Argyll & the Isles Diocese from October 2008 - April 2014 and Apostolic Administrator of Motherwell from 30 May 2013 – 29 April 2014)