St Columbkille’s parish is delighted to display on our sanctuary a copy of the beautiful icon of Jesus Our Teacher which was commissioned by the Scottish Catholic Education Service to give recognition to the central place of Jesus at the heart of every Catholic school in Scotland in this centenary year of the 1918 Education (Scotland) Act.   (This Act enabled the transition of Scotland’s Catholic schools into the public school system, thus ensuring that they remained financed on an equitable basis with other publIc schools.)

Artist Bernadette Reilly has created the icon as a tribute as Catholics throughout the country reflect on the signing of the Act and the incredible work that Catholics schools have done in Scotland during that time.   Capturing the story of Catholic Education and the Faith in Scotland’s past, present and future, while keeping Jesus as the central focus on the icon, it is a ‘beautiful reflection of the prayerful preparations’ being done in order to mark the 100th anniversary.

It bears the image of Jesus Our Teacher in the centre, holding a book that features an inscription from St John’s Gospel in both English and Gaelic: “You call me teacher and Lord and rightly so, for that is what I am.”

Working clockwise behind the image of Jesus is the story of Catholic education, beginning with St Andrew’s call, which serves as reminder of our own call to discipleship.  From there it moves to the arrival of Christianity in Scotland, depicted by an image of Iona and the Celtic Cross, with a Saltire in the clouds.

Also represented is the impact of the Catholic Faith in Scotland, with images of the pre-Reformation saints, St Margaret, St Mungo and St John Ogilvie, before moving on to tell of the growth and development of the Catholic community in Scotland in the 18th and 19th century.

The immigrant communities such as the Irish, Italian, Polish and Lithuanian are represented in a reminder of the Faith they brought with them, as well as the canal diggers, miners and weavers in Scotland—those who voluntarily paid for Catholic schools, despite being some of the poorest in their communities, and the jobs they did before higher education was available to them.

A girl and boy in academic dress holding a scroll signifies the success that saw young people move from Catholic schools into higher education systems, and the children of today, depicted as difference races and from different backgrounds to illustrate the diversity within Scotland’s Catholic schools and communities of the present day, who can learn and grow in their Catholic education.