Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Westminster Succession



There is a long article on Tony Blair's conversion in the Spectator I was struck by this little section, I wish I knew who the sources where. I almost fell about laughing recently when something I agreed with appeared in one paper, under the heading "a leading Catholic priest said", when I googled it, it was me!



There is concern in Rome, however, over the liberal direction of the Catholic Church in this country. According to a senior Vatican source: ‘The situation in England, from mass attendance to vocations, is as bad as anywhere.’ But things in the US and Germany are bad too. That is why the Pope has decided that there are three appointments that will define what is expected to be a relatively short papacy: new cardinals in New York, Munich and Westminster. All three incumbents have reached the mandatory retirement age.

But finding a successor can be a slow process even under fast-moving Popes. ‘The Holy Father is a gentle man, he works very slowly, to the frustration of some,’ I am told. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham, has long been the frontrunner for Westminster. ‘But he is the Gordon Brown of the Church,’ says once source close to the Cardinal. ‘He thought the job should have been his last time, and he’s been gunning for it ever since.’ The Vatican suspects the Cardinal’s preferred choice is Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds.

Both may be in for a disappointment. I am told the Pope is sceptical about choosing anyone from England’s ‘magic circle’ of metropolitan bishops and is actively considering monastic candidates to succeed Cardinal Murphy- O’Connor — just as Basil Hume was plucked from the monastic seclusion of Ampleforth Abbey in 1976. Those already in Church hierarchy, it is feared, are liberals.


I found this little bit amusing



Mrs Blair made her position explicit in an article two years ago in which she confessed to having ‘doubts’ about some of the Church’s teachings. ‘But I have been taught that you should stay and try to change things. It’s like the Labour party in the 1980s. I wasn’t happy with the way it was going, so I tried to help change it from within. Luckily, we won that battle.’ For all the breathtaking presumptuousness, one cannot fault her ambition. Today: Westminster. Tomorrow: Rome.

7 comments:

Physiocrat said...

Stockholm has done very will with a Carmelite who was pushed reluctantly into the job of bishop.

Why was Bishop William Kenney CP brought back, I wonder? Taken purely at face value it was an odd thing to have done.

Gregor Kollmorgen said...

As for the new Archbishop of Munich and Freising and 73rd successor of St. Corbinian (and 2nd of our Holy Father), he will be named tomorrow. It is Msgr. Reinhard Marx, Bishop of Trier. it has already been confirmed by the Bishop of Regensburg and is common knowledge. He is known as a (comparatively) young, energetic Bishop, who faithfully upholds the Magisterium. On the other side, the political left has so far not agitated against him, as he is an expert on Catholic Social Doctrine and has also publicly criticised the excesses of capitalism. On the whole, from what I can say from another diocese, it seems an excellent choice. Although he is not a Bavarian ;-)

gemoftheocean said...

Oh, Cheri, Cheri -- you stay and try and understand it!

As for he who attempts the use of WD-50 on cleaning up the rusty gates the hippies have guarding their fiefdoms, it's good to see you are still potentially in the running!

Get off the dime, Benny, before the good Fr. Blake skates off to an eastern rite Monestary.

It seems to me, however, that whomever the new top kick is, he will have to do a lot of cleaning out of from the garret to the musty cellars. There's a lot of wine down there that's turned to vinegar.

And he can ditch that fossil in Hell-A while he's at it too.

JARay said...

Well, I've worked out who the fossil is in Hell-A
It gave me a chuckle!
And I liked the analogy of the wine turning into vinegar too.
Thanks "gem"
It's not so long ago that Cheri was promoting condoms so I do hope that by staying she might learn a bit more of the truth that the Church teaches.
If her husband does convert I hope and pray tha his conversion is sincere.

JARay

Fr Ray Blake said...

Fossil in Hell-A? I haven't got it.

gemoftheocean said...

Fr. Blake, the "Fossil in Hell-A" is none other than Rodger-dodger, Cardinal Mahoney, head kahuna of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Otherwise known as "Hell-A." If you'd ever been through Hell-A traffic, you call it that too. His new cathedral is uglier than mortal sin.

Anonymous said...

Agreed. We definitely want fresh, vibrant, orthodox blood coursing through the veins of the new successor to the 'Cardinal-ship' of England & Wales. Dear Papa Benedict - from your faithful Catholics in England NO appointments from the liberal, comfy, sherry-before-lunch, spineless, cream-teas-for-afternoon-break, lukewarm, current 'Club' members.

We need a LEADER, a strong shepherd UNAFRAID of the wolves, who will gather His lost sheep and put the Lord's House in order on this pagan island.

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