The Bishop of Paisley, Bishop John Keenan and the Minster of Paisley Abbey, Rev. Alan Birss have joined local author and retired head teacher Tom Higgins to launch a book on the first Catholic school in Paisley. The school was established in October 1816 and was run by a committee of 12 Protestants and 12 Catholics, a cooperation highly untypical of its time and place. Early teaching was provided by two French priests, who had fled to Paisley as refugees from the French Revolution, they also provided private tuition for the offspring of Paisley’s emerging Protestant entrepreneurs, while at the same time undertaking pastoral work among the growing Catholic population.

The book will be on sale at St. Mirin’s Cathedral in Paisley and in parishes across the Diocese of Paisley, all profits from the book will go to Mary’s Meals - https://www.marysmeals.org.uk