The Bishops of England and Wales arrived in Rome yesterday, today The Holy Father received in separate audiences nine of our prelatest:
- Archbishop Vincent Gerard Nichols of Westminster, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops George Stack, Alan Stephen Hopes and John Arnold.
- Bishop Declan Ronan Lang of Clifton.
- Bishop Brian Michael Noble of Shrewsbury, accompanied by Coadjutor Bishop Mark Davies.
- Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff.
- Bishop Thomas Matthew Burns S.M. of Menevia.
I understand they have all been invited to attend Vespers at St Paul outside the Walls to join the Pope in prayer for Christian Unity, in particular for the success of Anglicanorum Coetibus.
11 comments:
Not to rain on your parade Father but given the fact that many our distinquished prelates have not demonstrated a love of 'true ecuminism'in the past I'm not hopeful that they want this ordinate idea to role out well.
Father, I watched Vespers on kto, anxiously looking for our Prelates, either in procession or body of the basilica. If they were there, they were well hidden. I posted my concern on my Oasis blog around 9pm UK time last night.
I assumed they must have been invited and your near-confirmation that they had been, increases that concern.
I also reported having read somewhere that Dr Rowan Williams was going to be there. No sign of him either.
Conspiracy theorist I am not, but this all seems very strange and the absence of our Prelates, had they been invited, a demonstration of the height of bad manners, to say the very least.
I do hope the HF realises just how poorly we are served by Bishops in England and Wales.
Princes of the Church should be outstanding leaders of their people, fearless to defend dogma especially when it concerns the sanctity of human life, unafraid to tackle Government on issues regarding Education (especially sex education) and constantly in the eye of their people by leading from the front, hosting Rosary prayers outside abortion clinics and...not to be forgotten...ensuring that the Mass is available to the faithful (by inviting in the FSSP & ICKSP to operate parishes that, otherwise, will disappear as the shortage of British priests bites.
Do we have those sorts of leaders?
Shepherd,
Our Bishops aren't perfect but if I were Pope I'd be even more concerned about the Irish, French, Austrian, German, Portugese bishops.
Archbishop Longley when an auxiliary of Westminster certainly took part in prayer vigils at abortuaries - not that the media paid any attention.
The Papal Second Vespers at S Paul Outside the Walls is a standing fixture of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and no matter how many United Services our bishops had taken part in back home there realyy was no excuse for their pragramme not being arranged so that they were present 'en masse'. No doubt each could plead pressing reasons for their absence, but it rewally doesn't wash, and has already been remarked elsewhere, won't have gone unnoticed - not least by Cardinal Kasper.
I agree with Father Blake. In England you might be thankful for your hierarchy. In Ireland the situation is considerably worse. On RTE today I heard the bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh give an interview in which he seemed completely ignorant on many of the Church's teachings. Apart from arguing for the ordination of women to the priesthood, he showed an extraordinary misunderstanding of the basic differences between the Catholic and Anglican churches beliefs on the Eucharist. I think he even said that you could not understand why he is unable to participate in an Anglican/Catholic Mass!
I am in my 20s, and even my friends, who do not generally attend Mass often think Bishop Walsh's continious statements to the media are laughable. I'm sure he is a good and decent man, better in many respects than what we had to endure before, but he seems more interested in what he himself said was his own understanding of truth, rather the the Church's understanding.
In England at least you seem to have many good bishops. So you might be more grateful for them.
Is there a significance to this list ? would I be correct that there is not time for every bishop to meet the Pope privately? Just wondering if you can clarify the latter then I can muse on the possible import of the former.
Thank you!
Hippolytus,
The Pope meets with small groups of Bishops.
Cormac, I can assure you that our bishops would come out with the same sort of the stuff if the BBC showed them any interest which of course it doesn't.
Father....you left out the Dutch...I was stranded in Amsterdam on a Sunday last year and broke all my resolutions and attended an OF Mass. It was unrecognisable as anything pertaining to the Catholic Faith.
The altar(table) was discarded in favour of a green baize card table at the front of the sanctuary.
I could go on but I am overcome by nausea!
"prelatest"?
Freudian slip....?
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