Currently parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes East Kilbride, Fr Dougan will succeed Archbishop William Nolan who was Bishop of Galloway from 2014 to 2022 when he became Archbishop of Glasgow, since when it has been administered by Fr. William McFadden.
Francis Dougan, born in September 1972 in Lanark, graduated in law and was ordained priest in 2001, incardinated in the Diocese of Motherwell. He has served as parish vicar of Our Lady and Saint Anne of Cadzow, Hamilton and chaplain of Holy Cross High School in Hamilton, vice rector of the Pontifical Scottish College in Rome from 2006 to 2012, parish priest of Saint Mark and Saint Anthony in Rutherglen and chaplain of Trinity High School in Hamilton.
Since 2013 he has been advisor at the Interdiocesan Ecclesiastical Tribunal and since 2017, judicial vicar for the diocese of Motherwell.
Fr Dougan said, “I am
humbled and more than a little bit nervous that Pope Francis has asked
me to take on this office. I feel confident however that I will not be
alone in spreading the joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I will be
joining with every single person in Galloway Diocese all of whom have a
role to play, my role being just one of them.
“With
God’s grace and the deep faith of the Church in Galloway we can
continue to build on the solid foundations left by those who have come
before us, stretching back to St. Ninian who first planted the seeds of
the Christian faith in Scotland here in Galloway.”
He said his mother
was from Ayr and he spent many childhood summers there. “So you could
say there is a little bit of coming home for me. But most importantly,
we must proclaim a Church where everyone can feel at home and welcomed.”
Diocesan administrator Fr William McFadden said: “I
look forward to working with him, and in continuing the implementation
in the diocese of the pastoral and prophetic vision offered by Pope
Francis for the Church today.”
Bishop of Motherwell Joseph Toal said, “My
thoughts and prayers are very much with him at this time. It is very
good that Motherwell Diocese is again able to provide a bishop for a
Scottish diocese, and it is quite something that another parish priest
of Our Lady of Lourdes, East Kilbride, will become Bishop of Galloway.
“We
will miss Fr Frank in Motherwell as his ministry extended beyond the
the parish to Our Lady and St Bride’s Secondary School and Hairmyres
Hospital, along with his Canon Law responsibilities in the Diocese and
with the Interdiocesan Tribunal. I am sure the wide pastoral experience
gained here will be of great benefit in his episcopal ministry.”