CATHOLIC SCOTLAND? Well, partly.

In May 1999, Scotland went to the polls to elect members of the newly created Scottish Parliament. Contrary to the impression of some in the United States, Scotland has not become an independent state. It remains part of the United Kingdom, but now has something akin to a state legislature. The predictable result of the elections was that parties of the left and center-left formed the majority. However, while Catholicism has traditionally been associated with the Socialist Labour party, Cardinal Thomas Winning of Glasgow suggested recently that this historical connection could no longer be taken for granted. His immediate concern was to alert Labour to the danger of pursuing policies at odds with Catholic values. More generally, however, Scotland's historical-political allegiances and traditional class, ethnic, and religious divisions have diminished. As a result, the future is unlikely to have the settled patterns of the past.

Christianity came to Scotland with Saint Ninian at the end of the fourth century and established itself in a series of settlements. One of the most ancient of these is Saint Andrews, from where I am writing. To the north of my study lie cliff-caves reputed to have been inhabited by eighth-century Christian hermits--the Culdees (Celide: "Friends of God"). Atop the cliffs stand the ruins of the medieval cathedral, in its glory one of the largest in Christendom and the destination of pilgrims from throughout Europe, come to venerate the bones of the Apostle. Looking southward I can see the fifteenth-century tower of the university's Saint Salvator's College chapel. In a recess on one side of the sanctuary lies the tomb of the college founder, Bishop Kennedy, and across from it stands the pulpit of John Knox: testaments to the old Catholic faith and the new reformed one. A street away, Holy Trinity Church houses a memorial to Archbishop Sharp, murdered in 1679 by "Covenanters" (Presbyterian opponents of the Episcopalian tendency).

The "Celtic" influence on Christianity in America has been profound. The impact of Irish immigration on American Catholicism needs no mention, and that of the Scots on Protestantism is well known via the association of Presbyterianism with Scottish settlement in the American Northeast, South, and Midwest. In consequence, the popular tendency in the States is to think of Ireland as Catholic and Scotland as Protestant. But today the situation is more complex. First, Ireland has significant non-Catholic populations and is rapidly secularizing. Also, Scotland is now religiously diverse, with Catholicism a major player.

Scottish Christianity is still broadly divided among Catholicism, Presbyterianism, and Episcopalianism, but the years since the Reformation have seen a reversal of fortunes. Though all but destroyed in that religious revolution, Catholicism is now the largest worshiping denomination (thanks largely to immigration--principally from Ireland) with 750,000 souls, a third of whom attend Mass on Sunday. In a country with a population of 5.5 million, these are significant numbers. The Kirk (the Church of Scotland), by contrast, has suffered a fairly dramatic decline, though it remains a force, particularly within the older professions and the social establishment.

Unlike the Church of England, however, the Kirk is not an "established" church. Rather it enjoys the lesser standing of being legally "protected." As in the United States, Episcopalianism is a small and largely middle-class denomination, strongest in the more affluent areas--principally the capital, Edinburgh.

There is no primus in the Scottish Catholic church, though there are two metropolitans. The sees of Edinburgh and Saint Andrews in the east, and of Glasgow in the west have been co-equals since the Middle Ages. However, Cardinal Winning is chairman of the episcopal conference and the de facto leader of Scottish Catholics. In a list of the "Scottish Power 100" published in 1999, he was ranked eleventh among the most powerful figures in the country--one place ahead of the leader of the Scottish National party, and the only religious figure of any denomination or faith included in the list. His influence reflects both the size of the Catholic population and his own willingness publicly to reaffirm traditional moral teaching on such matters as social justice, abortion, and same-sex relationships. In regard to the latter, he is now perceived as giving voice to general public sentiment and increasingly is coming to be seen, even by opponents--as in England was the late Cardinal Basil Hume of Westminster--as the national voice of Christianity.

With sectarianism in decline and Catholic participation in the professions increasing, Roman Catholics in Scotland can hope to make a significant contribution to the development of Scottish politics and culture. The question, however, is what ideals they can offer the new Scotland. One is the concept of society as a moral community in which responsibilities stand alongside rights, in which material goods are produced with an eye to social benefit as well as to profit, and in which the value of life is respected and its quality promoted. Intellectually and culturally, the Catholic contribution should be to challenge materialism, instrumentalism, hedonism, and short-term gratification, and to present in a Scottish context the central ingredients of a Catholic philosophy of culture.

Across the Irish Sea in Ulster, parties representing Irish republicans and UK unionists (largely of Scottish Protestant extraction) have once again taken their seats in the recently created Northern Ireland Assembly. After a quarter-century of murderous intercommunal violence, the two traditions are negotiating peaceful modes of co-existence and seeking to develop new forms of association with the Irish Republic and the British mainland. Looking to the future, it is possible to hope that, as in Scotland, religious and political differences will no longer be aligned in Ulster.

Whether or not they lead eventually to political separation from the United Kingdom, the timing of Northern Irish and Scottish devolution seems providential: an opportunity and a challenge to develop new political orders and to re-establish the influence of Christianity upon two Celtic peoples.

John Haldane is professor of philosophy and senior fellow of the Center for Philosophy and Public Affairs at the University of Saint Andrews. He has written frequently for the London Times, the Glasgow Herald, and the Tablet.