BY PIERS MCGRANDLE CATHOLICS IN trouble-torn Argyll prayed on Sunday for a "good, holy Bishop" to be sent to replace Roderick Wright. The prayers were said at Mass in Oban, the heart of the diocese, which has a Catholic population of 11,494.
On his first official visit to the diocese since Bishop Wright's exit last month, Archbishop Keith O'Brien of St Andrews and Edinburgh said that there had been "worry, hurt and anger" expressed over the behaviour of the former Bishop.
A three-fold plan for the future was then presented by the Archbishop. The plan involves a series of pastoral visits that the Archbishop intends to carry out, plans for next year's 1,400th anniversary of St Columbia bringing Christianity from Iona to mainland Scotland, and plans for the millennium.
"We will remember all of you during our day of prayer together, as we also pray that the Holy Spirit may send us a good, holy Bishop in the not too distant future".
But the Archbishop said he believed that God still loved Mr Wright. "Surely Jesus was speaking the truth when he said that he came to save sinners," he said.
Last week, Bishop Wright made an emotional telephone call to his distraught brother, who has been completely bemused by the allegations. At the moment the Bishop is abroad with his lover, divorcee Kathleen Macphee.