 In the 1560s the majority of the population was probably still Catholic in persuasion and the Kirk would find it difficult to penetrate the Highlands and Islands, but began a gradual process of conversion and consolidation that, compared with reformations elsewhere, was conducted with little persecution.The monasteries were not dissolved, but allowed to die out with their monks and before 1573 no holders of benefices were turned out, even for refusing to conform.The focus on the parish church as the centre of worship meant the abandonment of much of the complex religious provision of chapelries, monasteries, and cathedrals, many of which were allowed to decay or, like the Cathedral at St. Andrews, were mined for dressed stone to be used in local houses.