Deacon Nick reads the Tablet, he says it is making some extraordinary claims about Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor:
"It would appear that Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor was absent when the congregation settled on Bishop Davies for Shrewsbury. “That’ll teach me to miss the plane”,he is said to have quipped.”It could just be Cormacism, self deprecating rather than to show unkindness to Bishop Mark, Cormac does not talk about people!
Deacon Nick then goes on to say:
The Tablet also suggests that the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Mennini may be holding off the appointment of new bishops in the UK until Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor turns 80 in August when he loses his place in the Congregation for Bishops.The ediatrix of the Tablet Mrs Pepinster also writes in the Guardian about the Ordinariate in the light of the Pope's gift of $250,000. Like many gossip columnists she seems to have lost the plot a bit and done a little bit of embroidery besides. I am told the Tablet is becoming more and more gossipy which presumably shows it is being distanced from mainstream Catholic life.
But this imprimatur from the pope is surely a message to the bishops that they really do need to be backing the ordinariate to the hilt. That's a message that Archbishop Vincent Nichols will no doubt be musing on, as the clock is ticking on Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's membership of the College of Cardinals, the group who choose the pope. Nichols won't be relying on the notion that he will automatically get the next red hat after Cormac, even if it would be deeply shocking if he didn't. He will know that Rome will have been watching how he is shaping up at Westminster. So being seen to be supporting the pope's own project in England is crucial.That is pure speculation, other Archbishops are appointed, even if they do not quite share the Pope's vision; Cardinal O'Brien for one, admittedly he had to make a few additional promises besides his Cardinalatial oath to uphold the the Church's teaching.
What I find infuriating about her article is her blindness and failure to understand that the Pope's encouragement of the Ordinariate is much deeper than the shallow presentation she gives, it is not about the Pope's liking for "the beautiful" but has deep ecclesiological significance. It is about gathering those share "the" Catholic Faith, the faith which is presented in the Catechism and substantially in the documents of VII. It is also recognising that there are strong elements of that faith in "ecclesial communities" like the CofE. Perhaps it is her evident lack of any theological formation, or maybe just her inability to understand Catholicism is about given Truth.
Not that I am one to gossip but perhaps Ma "P" should be asking why this particular gift was paid in dollars , surely Bobby Mickens knows.
13 comments:
"Not that I am one to gossip but perhaps Ma "P" should be asking why this particular gift was paid in dollars , surely Bobby Mickens knows".
Methinks you are inviting gossip! :-)
I look forward to hearing your views on Cardinal O'Brien's new auxiliary!
Fr Eamon, really!
Gifts to Holy Father tend to be given in the national currency, and the Holy Father merely passes on such gifts.
So therefore you may assume that the donor or donors are likely to be from the USA. It would be not unreasonable also to assume that Holy Father has put the Ordinariate in touch with some wealthy Americans who will help out.
Possibly further financial help might be forthcoming.
It is not too difficulty to imagine who the donor/donors are. I am just surprised Bobby M. hasn't done so!
The "who" is a pretty open secret.
I own up to reading The Tablet (as well as the Catholic Herald) because it has good international news coverage and occasionally - just occasionally - an interesting feature. Yes, I know I shouldn't! Avoid the letters to the editor and anything by the poisonous Mickens if you value your blood pressure. The remark may well be a Cormacism but that doesn't mean it's untrue.
Please, father, enlighten us!
An old Mexican Proverb:
"No me meto en mitotes de Comadres"
I don't care what intrigue and drama occurs.
Suprema Lex Soli Solimarum: The Supreme Law is the Salvation of Souls.
All else is secondary and unimportant.
"I do not engage in the gossip of women".
*
Gossip it may be. But it does chime with my own thoughts about the the possibility that the Nuncio is waiting till August before any new bishops are named.
Was it not Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor who upon the elevation of BXVI quipped: " ... our man was not elected ... "? Perhaps in respect of +Davies he was not joking!
The Tablet suggested that the gift may well have come not from pontifical funds, but from his own pocket; that is, from the US royalties on his many writings. Which lends an added poignancy to the gift.
Iam sure the opinon of the bishops of the Northern province were more influential than Cardinal Cormac's. Bishop Mark had been personal secretary to Archbishop Kelly, and was appointed as Bishop Brain's VG. Both these bishops sit on Roman Congregations and their votum would have carried weight.
Though Wrexham has been waiting for ages for a bishop so there may be some truth in the August thing.
If that is the case, I'm most glad I have bought so many of His Holiness's books here in the States!
Pastor in Valle,
I think there might be another source of money, I understand the publishing royalties all go to works of poverty relief, primarily for children.
A couple of years ago I went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We also visited Jordan and Egypt. What currency did we use?
American dollars!
We didn't use our own dollars (Australian) and this was not because the smallest Australian dollar note is $5. Our $1 and $2 are coins. America still has $1 notes. They were accepted everywhere.
The worst thing about the article is the way that it dismisses the Ordinariate as really being a bit of a flop.
I think that His Holiness can be well satisfied with progress to date. No doubt it will continue to grow, especially when it gets its own principal church.
Post a Comment