Saturday, 4 April 2009

Underneath

In that clip of Archbishop Vincent Nichols censing an altar, did my eyes deceive, or was he wearing a dalmatic under his chasuble?
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4 comments:

  1. JohnJGMooney4 April 2009 at 15:51

    I cant say that I noticed but since reading your Blog, I have been assured that you are right.

    Still an interesting if obvious choice. He certainly did a lot to undo the damage done by Couve de Moville (sp) in Birmingham.

    What I did pick up from the extended press conference was a certain coldness between Murphy-O'Connor and his successor.

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  2. David Lindsay4 April 2009 at 16:11

    Damian Thompson lists the following:

    1. He is the right man for the job.

    2. He is a tribal Catholic, though not in a bad sense. The identity of generations of working-class Irish and Liverpool Catholics is written into his DNA. He is open to encounters with other faiths (too open, sometimes) but doesn't take kindly to insults to the Church. He blew his top when the BBC tried to air Popetown - and stopped it happening.

    3. He is markedly more intelligent than many of his fellow bishops. This is especially obvious in interviews. Unlike Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, he can think on his feet.

    4. He used to occupy a space right at the centre of the Magic Circle. As a young man he was the protege of Derek Worlock, who encouraged him to become a bureaucratic liberal. Then he came under the influence of Cardinal Hume. "It went to his head a bit, and for a time he seemed preoccupied by his career," says an old friend.

    5. He no longer identifies with the Magic Circle. After being made Archbishop of Birmingham, +Vincent came to see that the bureaucratic Bishops' Conference that he helped set up was often impeding, rather than furthering, the national mission of the Church.

    6. He has a firm belief in the traditional Catholic family. He said yesterday that one of his priorities was to persuade more families to pray together. This is one indication that the Archbishop has come to identify more strongly with the Catholic culture of his childhood.

    7. He is determined to safeguard Catholic education - but he has yet to distance himself fully from the political correctness of the Catholic Education Service. His heart is in the right place, however.

    8. He has devoted a lot of time to nurturing good relations with non-Christian faiths. This may explain his lamentable failure to condemn the use of a Catholic chapel at Newman University College to celebrate Mohammed's birthday.

    9. He has no natural affinity with the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, but his passionate advocacy of the cause of John Henry Newman has brought him close to the traditionalist Birmingham Oratory. He is now beginning to discover for himself the riches of pre-Vatican II worship.

    10. He is loyal to, and has deep admiration for, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.

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  3. JohnJGMooney4 April 2009 at 16:49

    I expect the conservatives will be disappointed. Nobody succeeds to the top post by appearing too liberal.
    Englands Catholic Church is of course two quite sepearte churches.

    The Salford/Liverpool/Birmingham tradition (essentially a peasant Church) is quite different from the politically conservative "I am a recusant/quasi Jacobite" church.

    Its not easy to lead both of these churches.
    Incidently "political correctness" is not er....politically correct.
    We must now say "diplomatically correct" or plain ole good manners.

    A priest once described him as "a hard man to dislike.....and God knows I tried!!!"
    That could be his motto.
    Murphy O'Connor was easy for the media to dislike. A scarcely disguised scowl at every media appearance.
    This man is much more media friendly.
    Which usually results in all froth and no real substance.
    I expect him to appear onservative until he gets the red hat.
    After that he will be more "liberal" and he is young enough to be there for a long long time.

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  4. David Lindsay4 April 2009 at 16:55

    That's not the split any more. For one thing, there is now a sort of taboo about mentioning ireland at all. And Catholics are now disproprtionately likely to have degrees, professiobnal salaries, &c. "A peasant church" was a good two generations ago now.

    The orthodox/not split is the one that matters, with the working classes and the Recusants on the same side most of the time.

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