Peter Antony Moran

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Bishop Peter Antony Moran is the current Roman Catholic Bishop of Aberdeen.

Peter Antony Moran was born in Glasgow on 13 April 1935. After early schooling in Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire, he spent nine years in further primary and then secondary education at St. Aloysius College, Glasgow, a Jesuit day school.

His formal education for the priesthood began with seven years at The Scots College (Rome) (1952-1959), where he was ordained priest in 1959, in the chapel of the Spanish College by Bishop Fernández Conde of Córdoba.

He holds the degrees of Ph.L. and S.T.L. from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and is also a graduate of the University of Aberdeen where he received a Masters in Education, as well as of the University of Glasgow where he earned an M.A. (Hons.) in Classics.

At the request of his bishop he attended Glasgow University to prepare for a teaching post in Blairs College, the then national Junior Seminary for Scotland. After graduating in 1963 he trained at Jordanhill College of Education and joined the Blairs College staff in 1964, where he remained until 1986. He also served in a variety of pastoral appointments before becoming bishop: Priest in Charge of St. Mary’s Parish, Blairs, Parish Priest of Inverurie and also as chaplain to various schools.

For several years, he served as the Roman Catholic “corresponding member” of Gordon Presbytery of the Church of Scotland. He served from 1986 to 2002 on the Education Committees of now defunct Grampian Region and later of Aberdeenshire.

He is a Life Member of the Educational Institute of Scotland (E.I.S.) and chaplain to the French-speaking Roman Catholic community of (mainly oil-related) expatriates in Aberdeen.

When Bishop Mario Conti became Archbishop of Glasgow in early 2002, Peter Moran was elected to the caretaker post of Diocesan Administrator of Aberdeen before being appointed bishop by Pope John Paul II the following year.

He was ordained Bishop of Aberdeen on 1 December 2003 by Archbishop Mario Conti in the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, Aberdeen.

His personal motto is Gaudium et Spes - Joy and Hope - which is the name of Vatican II's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, considered to be one of the Council's finest documents.