Bringing hope to counter materialism

Luke Coppen profiles the Archbishop-elect of
Westminster, Cormac Murphy O'Connor and consid ers how his steady emphasis on the family might influence the impact of the Church in Britain
IT SEEMS STRANGE even irreverent to describe a bishop as a family man. Bishops. after all. are men apart. Men called to abandon family and friends for God. Men encamped on the lonely moral high ground of modern life.
The next Archbishop of Westminster is different. He is first and foremost a family man. A man formed in a large and loving family. A man called to serve the family of faith. A man surrounded by others. A man for others. "He was always one who gathered people around him," one of his five brothers explains. "He always created family."
A brief examination of Bishop Cormac MurphyO'Connor's life shows this to be a crucial insight. At each stage of his life, he has fostered community. He has brought people closer together. He has found ways of including people. But where dues this gift for creating family come from? As one might expect, it is rooted in his personal experience of family life.
THE Moapie-O'Connors are a well known, muchrespected and widely loved family in their native Reading. Over three generations they have left their mark on the religious, educational and communal life of the town. The family arrived there in the first quarter of the last century. George Murphy-O'Connor, an enterprising young doctor had left his Irish homeland with his wife Ellen, to set up his own practice in the Berkshire town. The practice grew rapidly; as did the Murphy-O'Connor family.
Cormac MurphyO'Connor was born on August 24, 1932, the family's fifth son in seven years. It was soon clear that he would follow in the footsteps of either his father, or his three priest uncles. An
oft-quoted anecdote claims that when the young boy was asked what he wanted to be, he replied: "Either a doctor or a Pope." Medicine or the priesthood were the two most popular options for MurphyO'Connor men. Cormac's elder brother James opted for the former, while Brian and Patrick choose the latter.
Only his fourth brother, John. broke the mould by joining the army.
The exceptional vocational fruitfulness of the Murphy-O'Connor family is easy to understand. Both parents were daily Mass goers, who put their sons forward as altar boys and ensured that the family home was a place where faith flourished. Dr George was a "very strict, but totally fair" father, who set an example of selfless devotion for his sons. Despite a busy professional life, he had time for his family, the Church, and the wider Reading community. Ile was awarded a papal knighthood in 1947 for his work with the St Vincent de Paul Society, particularly during the dark years of the Depression. Ellen was a strong, devoted mother. "My mother was determined we would be close," says Fr Brian, the family's fourth son. "We had a very happy upbringing."
Although the MurphyO'Connor household was a deeply Catholic environment, with priests as frequent visitors, religion was never a burden for the children.
"When they came to England our parents were careful to see that we had an open. Christian upbringing," Fr Brian says. "When I was 14, I remember speaking to my mother and telling her 1 wanted to go into the priesthood. She told me to wait a few years before I made the decision. There was never any pressure put on us."" DR Mum-iv-O'Connor took pains to ensure his children received the best Catholic education available. Dissatisfied with the schools in Reading, he wrote to the Presentation Brothers in Ireland asking them if they would come to England to teach his sons. Presentation College was founded in 1931 and continues to enjoy a reputation for excellence to this day. Comae attended the College in the Forties. Fr Brian remembers the "Pres" brothers as "very pleasant and hard-working". His younger brother, he notes, was a gifted student. who developed an enduring love of rugby, cricket and the
piano while at school.
At the age of 18, Cormac took the momentous decision to become a priest. His vocation had matured steadily and his decision to follow his two elder brothers came as no surprise. "We just took it for granted because of the number of priests in the family," says Fr Brian. "We had so many priests around us and we wanted to he the best priests ever."
OING To seminary took Cormac away from the family home for the first significant time in his life. One might have expected him to be homesick at the austere and imposing Venerable English College in Rome. But the young student quickly formed a wide circle of friends, demonstrating for the first time his remarkable ability to "create family". His six years in Rome, which resulted in a degree in philosophy and theology from the Gregorian University, were undoubtedly happy. He was ordained priest in Rome on October 28, 1956, and returned to England for his first parish assignment.
A decade later, after serving parishes in Portsmouth and Fareham, he was appointed private secretary and chaplain to the Bishop of Portsmouth Rt Rev Derek Worlock. Although opinions differ on the strength of Bishop Worlock's influence upon him, he undoubtedly shared the Bishop's zeal to implement the proposals of the Second Vatican Council. Together they helped establish the first diocesan pastoral centre at Park Place, Wickham and, in 1970, Fr Cormac helped prepare the first ever National Conference of Priests.
At the end of 1971, Fr Cormac was called back to Rome to serve as Rector of the English College. In the ensuring six years, his profile rose steadily. Students and staff at that time recall a warm and approachable figure, who steered the college through the turbulent years following the "birth control encyclical" Humunae Vitae. "He was very aware of the new ideas without necessarily jumping onto
band-wagons," recalls one staff member. He was, the same person explains, more co l
lleened with building up the college's community life. "The college under him as rector was a loose family," he says. "He fostered a good family-type relationship with the conununity of religious sisters and the Italian girls who worked at the college." When the College's villa in the Alban Hills was threatened with closure, he devoted himself to finding the money to save it. After a successful appeal, he turned it into a thriving retreat and conference centre used by both Catholics and Anglicans. Another friend from the English College remembers him as a "good natured man" with a gift for hospitality. At College parties he was a "good mixer" not only in the conventional sense, but also as a master mixer of cocktails. (His favourite was the negmni, a potent blend of gin, Cinzano and red vermouth).
Perhaps his greatest moment at the college came in 1977, when the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Coggan, made his historic visit to Pope Paul VI. Fr Cormac hosted Dr Coggan and his entourage during the visit, forming contacts that would prove crucial in his future work on the Anglican and Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC).
Given Fr Cormac's success and popularity at the English College, it was only a matter of time before he was headhunted by the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain. On November 17, 1977, Pope Paul VI appointed him Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. He was consecrated the following December by his close friend from the English College, Archbishop Michael Bowen of Southwark.
Bishop Murphy-O'Connor immediately set to work building up the "family of faith" within the diocese, which composes the counties of Sussex and Surrey. Over the next 22 years. he initiated a host of programs aimed at grass-roots renewal. The two most ambitious were Renew and the Diocese's first ever lay synod, planned for 2002. Renew dubbed "Revenge" by conservative clergy in the diocese was an attempt to reach out to lapsed Catholics. The Diocesan Synod was a bold attempt to give the laity a chance to "decide the shape of the Church to come". With characteristic inclusiveness, Bishop Cormac hoped it would be a forum for all people, "from the youngest to the most senior" and "not only those active in the Church, but also those who feel them
selves distanced from it". Despite the welter of lay renewal programs, Bishop Comae never lost sight of the importance of the priesthood. "The ever groing number of
lay people who are taking responsibility for the life of the Church means that there is an even greater need for the ministry of the priest," he said in a booklet promoting vocations distributed throughout the diocese.
D()RING IHS two decades at A and B, he emerged as
the English Church's leading ecumenist. The greatest test of his ecumenical skills came after the Church of England's to ordain women priests in 1992. The hierarchy was unprepared for the flood of disaffected Anglican priests and lay people seeking admission to the Church. Some bishops were appalled by the thought of an influx of ecclesiastical conservatives; others saw it as an historic opportunity far the Church in England. Bishop Cormac chairman of the bishops' Committee for Christian Unity and co-chairman of ARCIC was keen to find a solution acceptable to all parties. He was part of the eight-man team of Anglicans and Catholics that met to thrash out what came to be known as "the Roman Option". Fr Peter Geldard, a Catholic university chaplain who was then part of the Anglican delegation, said: "The thing that struck me then, was that he was a Hume-type figure. He had many of the qualities for which Cardinal Hume was liked and loved. He was gentle, holy and unassuming."
Critique of
Together
with Cardinal Hume, Bishop MurphyO'Connor appealed to Catholics for generosity towards the newcomers. But he insisted that the influx of married priests would not change the Church's teaching on priestly celibacy. "It is not the thin end of the wedge of change," he said. His tactful handling of the crisis strengthened his relationship with the Anglican leadership, which was recognised last year when the Archbishop of Canterbury awarded him an honorary degree.
Bishop Cormac has also engaged with members of Britain's political Establishment. The kind of mess age he will bring to them as Archbishop can be gauged from an address given on the eve of the Labour Party conference in 1977. He reminded Tony Blair and other senior figures that "no legislation should be passed that diminishes or takes away from the dignity of the human person, from conception to the end of life", adding that new legislation "must always be judged first of all by its effect on families and on children".
He also appealed for more integrity in politics. "It seems to me," he said, "that the people of our country are indicating at the present time that they wish to move away from the ritual slanging match that has done so much to bring politics into disrepute. They want those who govern to endeavour to create a more just and caring society that offers them meaning, involvement and hope."
His belief that Britain is in the midst of a moral and spiritual crisis was brought out strongly at last week's press conference, when he criticised the "culture of consumerism". The critique of materialism is likely to he a defining theme of his tenure at Westminster. But his time is unlikely to be occupied solely with confronting a secular and indifferent society. As last week's introduction showed us, he will, above all, be bringing the positive message of hope and reconciliation. "When I look out at our society," he said, "and the state of the Church, I am not discouraged. We are united to the strong and a vulnerable Christ who will always be with us. In Him is our trust and our hope."