NOT everyone speaks warmly of Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the new head of the Catholic church in England and Wales.That, in fact, may bode well for his ability to fight its corner in the hard discussions about religion and society that loom.
For the relative liberals who form the majority among England’s Catholic bishops, their new leader is a bit too conservative (that is, too close to Pope Benedict XVI); some would call him a deserter from liberal causes that he once embraced, such as racial and social equality.
And for the clever advocates of old-time religion (many of them young) who abound in cyberspace, the new archbishop of Westminster isn’t far enough to the right.
But neither criticism will do the 63-year-old prelate much harm in the places where he is likely to make a difference. He may be at odds with English Catholicism’s mildly liberal establishment, but his life mirrors the trends among his flock. There are around 4m baptised Catholics, though only a fifth are keen churchgoers.
A generation ago, the heart of English Catholicism was in the north: cities settled by the Irish, plus small pockets that the Reformation never reached. Now the locus has shifted to the cosmopolitan cities of the south, starting with London.
This translates into some gloriously diverse parishes, where well-bred eccentrics meet Filipino domestics, east European builders and African asylum-seekers.
Newcomers naturally want a church that can speak to the homesick; but in theological and liturgical matters, many are conservative.
Not an easy market to serve. But having grown up in Liverpool (where a call to the priesthood tugged him away from a football match) and spent much time in London—and Rome and Chicago—Archbishop “Vin” is well-placed to cope with the church’s new sociology.
He is also a politician who can build a coalition. For example, he was instrumental in forcing the government to reverse its demand that state-financed religious schools be substantially open to all comers.
Some English Catholics will welcome a leader with a harder-hitting style than the outgoing archbishop, Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, who preferred dealing with the authorities (and Tony Blair in particular) through quiet consultation.
Why change tone now?
Despite some recent, well-meaning official noises about altering the law that bans Britain’s monarch from being or marrying a Catholic, arguments over religion are in fact getting tougher.
One reason is the rise of clever atheism: best-selling books from both sides of the Atlantic argue that faith in God is not only misguided but socially harmful. Then there is Islam and the ideologies that go with it. Critics of “Islamism” (including some Muslims) say believers should act as individual citizens, not as a group.
The idea that mosques have a duty to articulate the feelings of their members (on anything from gambling to Gaza) sparks huge fights.
The new archbishop of Westminister will have to tread carefully. He thinks that religions must publicly advocate values that defy the secular consensus.
In a paper on social policy that he will produce this year (taking due account of an encyclical the Vatican is about to issue), expect a keen defence of the family and “civil society” at a time of crisis when the state and private enterprise alike are proving inadequate.
But he is no pushover on Islam, even though he upset some Christians by letting Muslims celebrate Muhammad’s birthday in a chapel.
He has suggested a congruence between Christianity and European culture because both respect the individual; this implies that it is open to question, at best, whether Islam can bed down in Europe with equal success.
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(Source: TEC)