PARISHES across the west of Scotland will close despite a rise in people attending mass this year, with churches shifting "like supermarkets" to areas of population.
The rise is largely attributed to the popular appointment of Pope Francis and comes despite the Cardinal Keith O'Brien scandal.
Catholic populations are also said to have grown in parts of northern Scotland, with new parishes created due to migrant communities from eastern Europe.
But the figures will not impact on the expected closure and merger of parishes in the dioceses of Glasgow and Motherwell, home to the majority of Scotland's Catholics.
Source say the move is also unlikely to herald any radical restructuring of the church, despite it having only half of the required number of bishops in place. It emerged yesterday that the Archdiocese of Glasgow had started a consultation with priests and parish councils over the size of congregations and numbers of parishes.
The Diocese of Motherwell is also due to begin a similar exercise, with some predicting that as many as one-quarter of parishes in the west of the country will disappear.
The move is being attributed to declining congregations since the 1950s, a drop in the population, moves away from traditional districts and an increased affluence amongst central belt Catholics.
One senior figure within the Church has described the current spread of dioceses and parishes as partly dating back to medieval times and often bearing little relation to population centres, adding that churches would now be gravitating towards where most Catholics lived. The source said: "In looking forward it's not unlike supermarkets and the mapping they carry out before creating new stores. You go to where the people are."
Comparisons have also been made with the number of parishes and attendances within the Church of Scotland. According to the Catholic Church, Scotland has 462 parishes with around 200,000 weekly mass attenders.
The Church of Scotland has around 1500 parishes and the same number of regular attenders as Catholics.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: "We've only started counting our numbers this month but anecdotally congregations are holding steady or increasing in areas. Income is also up.
"However, any reasonable analysis would show all churches have hard decisions to make."
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