English and Welsh Catholics may be surprised to note that Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster is not among those named this time.
I am Scottish and I - and anyone else from the UK who has commented on the new Cardinals to me - am delighted that Nichols has not got a red hat yet.
I have nothing against the man personally, nor have I ever met him and I do acknowledge he does do a lot of good work (especially for the homeless and destitute of London).
However he fails to robustly articulate or defend church teaching on modern contentious issues (homosexuality, abortion etc). He tries to please everyone and find nuanced positions which do not really work/help. His critics call him “quisling” which is a pretty derogatory term for any type of leader.
In my lifetime so far, it has generally been the case that the Scottish Bishops have been far more outspoken and proactive than have their English/Welsh brothers. This was very stark recently during “gay marriage” debates. The main Scottish Bishops are fearless and combatative, probably as a result of Scotland being very hostile to Catholics until quite recently.
Defenders of Nichols and Co say they try to take a more constructive, non-confrontational approach, but really I (and many others) feel they are rather comfortable in their positions and prefer to keep their heads under the parapet, rather than rock the boat on any matter. One might say they are part of a rather cosy English establishment.
The English Bishops have in my lifetime been liberal, anti-tradition and generally gun-shy. However, there seems to be a new breed coming through, such as (new) Bishop Mark Davies. Retired Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, (Nichols identikit predecessor in Westminster), is said to have commented that he was disgusted that someone like Davies (pro-tradition, outspoken, very loyal), could be made a Bishop in England.
The main thing about Nichols which has got people’s backs up is his toleration of the “soho masses”. These are special “gay masses” held in London (soho) and have led to various outrages which have upset and offended the wider Catholic community.
Now, of course, Catholics who experience same sex attraction should never be marginalsied and are as welcome and entitled to attend masses and receive support as any other Catholic. However, people can not understand why gay Catholics cannot just attend mass with the rest of us. It is widely felt that these “gay masses” undermine Church teaching and give a platform for opponents of the Church who wish to change or harm it. These masses as seen as a trojan horse.
I would never wish to see anyone excluded or hurt, but the organisers of these masses are clearly trying to cause a stir. Things which have caused upset include:
- transvestites (men dressed as women) doing the bidding prayers during the mass
- bidding prayers being used to openly deny / challenge / criticise Church teaching on homosexuality
- rainbow flags being hung in the Church
Videos of all this made it onto you-tube, of course.
Additionally, the organisers are also invovled in gay pride parades and websites which attack and defame the Church and our Pope.
Archbishop Nichols has tolerated all of this without comment and is widely said to simply ignore letters of concern about these.
People regularly protest outside these masses and many letters to the CDF have been written.
This scandal has been running for years and it seemed no-one was ever going to do anything about it, but there seems a bit of movement on it now, it seems the new guy Archbishop Muller in the CDF is the difference:
marymagdalen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/abp-muller-to-act-on-soho-masses.html
protectthepope.com/?p=5850
mundabor.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/soho-masses-changes-in-sight/
eponymousflower.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/cdf-archbishop-mueller-to-tackle-lgbt.html
I do wonder if Muller sees this as a good opportunity to parade his own credentials. I know many, especially the SSPX, were concerned about him when he was given the CDF gig, so maybe this is a chance for him to robustly defend Chruch teaching on a matter.
I would like to see Nichols replaced in Westminster, with a Bishop like Mark Davies, as soon as possible, but we are probably stuck with him for years to come.
Consistory already!