Most Reverend Vincent Ni
Metropolitan Archbishop of Birmingham
Born in Crosby (Liverpool): 8th November 1945
Ordained priest: 21st December 1969
Ordained bishop by Cardinal Hume: 24th January 1992
Auxiliary Bishop in North London: 1992 - 2000
Translated to Birmingham: February 2000
Installed as Ninth Bishop and Eighth Archbishop of Birmingham on 29th March 2000
Before his appointment as an Auxiliary Bishop to Cardinal Hume in 1992, Bishop Vincent was General Secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.
In addition to his pastoral oversight of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, Archbishop Nichols is Chairman of the Department for Catholic Education and Formation of the Bishops' Conference and Chairman of the Catholic Education Service (CES)
He represented the European bishops at the November 1998 Synod of Bishops from Oceania and attended the Synod of Bishops for Europe in September 1999.
He has written two books to date: 'Promise of Future Glory' , and ‘Missioners’ published in the United Kingdom by Alive Publishing Limited, Graphic House, 124 City Road, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2PH, tel 01782 745600, and in the United States by Twenty Third Publications under the title 'The Gift of the Mass'.
Damien Thompson comments:
1. He is the right man for the job.
2. He is a tribal Catholic, though not in a bad sense. The identity of generations of working-class Irish and Liverpool Catholics is written into his DNA. He is open to encounters with other faiths (too open, sometimes) but doesn't take kindly to insults to the Church. He blew his top when the BBC tried to air Popetown - and stopped it happening.
3. He is markedly more intelligent than many of his fellow bishops. This is especially obvious in interviews. Unlike Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, he can think on his feet.
4. He used to occupy a space right at the centre of the Magic Circle. As a young man he was the protege of Derek Worlock, who encouraged him to become a bureaucratic liberal. Then he came under the influence of Cardinal Hume. "It went to his head a bit, and for a time he seemed preoccupied by his career," says an old friend.
5. He no longer identifies with the Magic Circle. After being made Archbishop of Birmingham, +Vincent came to see that the bureaucratic Bishops' Conference that he helped set up was often impeding, rather than furthering, the national mission of the Church.
6. He has a firm belief in the traditional Catholic family. He said yesterday that one of his priorities was to persuade more families to pray together. This is one indication that the Archbishop has come to identify more strongly with the Catholic culture of his childhood.
7. He is determined to safeguard Catholic education - but he has yet to distance himself fully from the political correctness of the Catholic Education Service. His heart is in the right place, however.
8. He has devoted a lot of time to nurturing good relations with non-Christian faiths. This may explain his lamentable failure to condemn the use of a Catholic chapel at Newman University College to celebrate Mohammed's birthday.
9. He has no natural affinity with the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, but his passionate advocacy of the cause of John Henry Newman has brought him close to the traditionalist Birmingham Oratory. He is now beginning to discover for himself the riches of pre-Vatican II worship.
10. He is loyal to, and has deep admiration for, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.
I met him in Lourdes on pilgrimage with his Birmingham diocesan group and was impressed.
No comments:
Post a Comment