THE Orange Order and the Catholic church in Scotland have signalled a rapprochement after years of enmity.

For the first time a grandmaster has agreed to write for the Scottish Catholic Observer. Ian Wilson will contribute a column to the weekly newspaper, which is distributed in hundreds of Catholic churches across Scotland.

The article, to be published in January, will set out a more conciliatory approach to be adopted by the Orange Order towards the Catholic church. He will seek to explain the ethos of the order and its mission to modernise.

“At the end of the day it’s not an exercise in apologising for who we are and what we are,” he said. “We’re not about to abandon being a purely Protestant fraternity, that is going to continue. What it’s about is saying we have a right to exist. We are a legal, law-abiding, perfectly wholesome organisation — and if you have any doubts about that come and see us. We’re not the ogres that we are sometimes portrayed as being.”

Wilson acknowledged that his decision to write for the Catholic church’s publication was a bold move that would raise eyebrows on both sides of the religious divide.

“It may well ruffle a few feathers in certain quarters of the Orange Order, but I don’t expect my senior colleagues to be in the slightest put out because we are at one with the policy of openness,” he said.

Wilson said he quite happily adopted a position of being against the religious teachings of the Catholic church while not being anti-Catholic.

“Since being grandmaster I have been in the business of throwing the doors open to anybody who wants to know more about us. We’ve welcomed TDs (members of the Irish parliament) to our Glasgow headquarters,” he said.

“At the first minister’s summit on sectarianism in February I found myself standing beside Archbishop Mario Conti in the queue for cream cakes. We exchanged a few pleasantries and I think we both realised that the other did not have horns and a forked tail.”

Harry Conroy, editor of the Scottish Catholic Observer, invited Wilson to contribute the piece after reading that he was determined to modernise the Orange Order, revise its anti-Catholic language, pay more attention to public sensitivities over marches and give women full membership status.

Conroy said: “It is, to my knowledge, the first time a grandmaster of the Orange Order has written an article for us in our 120-year history. Indeed it’s probably the first time a grandmaster has written for any Catholic paper.

“I find what Mr Wilson is saying very interesting. Until now Catholics and members of the Orange Order have done little but shout at each other, so if we can get a reasoned dialogue going that is all to the good.

“The fact that he is talking about getting the language of the order modified shows he’s a brave man. It may take a long time for change to come about, but at least Mr Wilson is recognising and talking about the need for change.”

A spokesman for the Catholic church in Scotland said: “I look forward to reading the article. It is a sign of progress in relations between the two communities — an article like this would have been unthinkable even just a decade ago.”

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