Moving eulogy for convert Cardinal

Taking excerpts from the Book of Wisdom as his theme, Mgr. Cormac MurphyO'Connor, Rector of the Venerable English College here, last week delivered the eulogy at the commemoration service for the late Cardinal William Theodore Heard, who died in Rome in September.
It was a moving ceremony which saw fellow Scottish, Irish and English priests gathered together around the altar at the English Church of St. Sylvester to pay tribute to an Edinburgh lawyer, a convert who had become Dean of the Holy Roman Rota, a Prince of the Church and a legend during his own lifetime.
Mgr. Gerard Marie Rogers, a member of the Rota and a
fellow Scot, was the chief celebrant. Concelebrating were Mgr. Murphy-O'Connor; Fr. Sean O'Kelly, Rector of the Scots College; Mgr. Eamonn Marron, Rector of the Irish College; Mgr. Brendan Travers,
Rector of the Beda College; Abbot Rudesind Brooks, Procurator-General of the English Benedictines; Mgr. Francis S. Frayne, of the Pontifical Commission for Migration and Tourism; Mgr. Charles Burns, of the Vatican Secret Archives; Canon William Purdy, of the Vatican's Secretariat for Christian Unity; Fr. John Uuidera, St. Sylvester parish priest, and Fr. Bryan Chestle, of the Vatican Secretariat of State.
Cardinal Gordon Joseph Gray, Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, who was in Rome attending a, meeting of the Pontifical Commission on Social Communications, was caught in one of this capital's major traffic jams and was unable to reach
the church. Cardinal Heenan was represented by Mgr. John Mostyn, a prelate of the Roman Curia.
British, American and Italian laity who had known the Cardinal, who would have been 90 years old next February. were present in large numbers, led by the British Minister to the Holy See, Mr. Desmond J. C. Crawley.
Mgr. Murphy-O'Connor
recalled in his eulogy how Cardinal Heard, who had made his home for many years past in the English College, had maintained "vital and human contact with hundreds of students, most of
whom are now priests in England and Scotland, who will always remember him as a most understanding and wise confessor."
The Rector recalled his work in the Rota and how many of his decisions were now accepted legal precedents. He added: "When he became a Catholic so many years ago, he embodied what another convert and another Cardinal, John Henry Newman, once said: 'A convert comes to learn, not to pick and choose. He comes in simplicity and it does not occur to him to weigh and measure every proceeding, every practice which he meets among those whom he has joined.'" The British Catholic community in Rome last week welcomed a new first secretary to the Legation to the Holy See, Mr. Michael Purcell.
Mr, Purcell, who replaces Mr. Adrian 0, L. Turner, who is returning to the Foreign Office after two-and-a-half years here, comes from Singapore. He was presented to Rome's colony of priests and laity by Mr. Crawley at a farewell reception for Mr. Turner and has already assumed his legation duties and made his initial protocol visits to the Vatican.
There's a time for prayer and also a time for play, even within the walls of the Vatican's 108acre territory. The Vatican's ten soccer squads are busy getting into shape for the intra-Vatican cup finals scheduled for next spring.
It is not the priests who are playing, but employees of the various sections: the Sa Pletrini or "Labourers of St. Peter", as the workers are called, have formed one squad; the Swiss Guard another, while other elevens are drawn from the administration's offices, the security guards, the Polyglot Press employees, postal workers, etc. It is hoped that Pope Paul may be persuaded to award the championship trophy to the winning team.