The Catholic Church in Scotland did not re-establish parishes until 1937 in the Eastern Province (Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Dioceses of Aberdeen, Argyll & the Isles, Dunkeld and Galloway) and 1948 in the Western Province (Archdiocese of Glasgow, Dioceses of Motherwell and Paisley). Until the restoration of parishes, priests were designated ‘Mission Priests’ and had charge of geographical territories which usually had a chapel (or mission station) at the centre. To all intents and purposes, these mission stations are what we would now recognise as parishes, but Catholics and the clergy were not tied to specific geographical boundaries and parishioners could attend and priests minister to large parts of the country without impinging on the rights of fellow priests.

The earliest Catholic parish records date from 1703 for the mission of Braemar but this is one of only three parishes in Scotland with records dating from before 1745. There are only 16 missions in Scotland with records dating from before 1800 and a further 94 missions have surviving records dating from between 1800 and 1855.

Missions and Parishes (MP) Catalogue