Thanks to Acción Litúrgica I came across these pictures of Bishop Mark Davies recent visit to the headquarters of the Institute of Christ the King at Gricigliano, near Florence. I can`t say how encouraging I found these pictures and thank God for bishop Davies. I hope all is going well in New Brighton at the Institute`s shrine church. If only there were more bishops with the humility and imagination of Bishop Davies!
Father,
ReplyDeleteI watched with great interest Bishop O'Toole's ordination mass,lets pray he is in the mould of Bishop's Davies and Egan,of course there are numerous See's vacant,but if the appts are as inspired as these three,would I be speaking too soon to say the wind of change is blowing through the catholic Hierarchy in this country????
In reply to Rachel, I would say that it is too soon to say. It is very obvious to me that the appointment of bishops in England and Wales is the subject of a bit of a war at the moment. I have no doubt that Archbishop Mennini, the Nuncio, is wanting to put forward names of good men of a more orthodox persuasion. In this he is being opposed by many of the current bishops who wish future bishops to be in a similar mould to themselves.
ReplyDeleteThis would explain the long delays in the making of appointments. It also could be consistent with the appointments in Shrewsbury, Portsmouth and now Plymouth. All of these had kept a low profile, and possibly passed the process because they had never revealed their true colours. Also, all of them had graduated through a recognised promotion route - either Vicar General or Seminary Rector.
Recently, we have not only had a change of Pope, but Archbishop Nichols has replaced Cardinal Murphy O'Connor as a member of the Congregation for Bishops. This, in effect, gives him a veto on any particular candidate, especially ones from England and Wales. I imagine that he may be more willing to exercise this veto than his predecessor. So it may be more difficult for the nuncio to find suitable names for the turna that will pass the scrutiny of Archbishop Nichols.
I would suggest that anyone who knows of priests who would make good bishops should send the names to the Nuncio. However, they must really be bishop material if the suggestion is to be taken seriously.
As I said to someone recently His Lordship usually has such a look of peace and joy on his face that I've often thought he would appreciate the quiet reverence of the older form very much. But I must admit I was totally surprised by this b/c while I know Bishop Davies is supportive of the TLM, I figured he was too busy to learn it. So I was very happy to see this!
ReplyDeleteMay other bishops follow his lead!
+++
Canon Montjean has also posted more pictures on his Google Picasa page:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100190864317680642847/BishopDaviesGricigliano2013#