From the editor’s desk

Time for leadership and vision

Celebrating Christ's death and Resurrection is a time of repentance, renewal and rebirth. This year Easter appropriately coincides with the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, with the appointment of a new Archbishop of Westminster. It is a moment for taking stock, and refreshing old commitments. The Church here has fallen below its potential, and needs boosting. It will not be easy.

Sometimes the obvious takes a little while to see, which may explain why the Vatican took longer than anticipated to name the Archbishop of Birmingham, Mgr Vincent Nichols, as Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's successor as Archbishop of Westminster. There seemed to be a small but active lobby against him. Yet on the basis of his curriculum vitae alone, the Archbishop of Birmingham's qualifications to occupy the senior position in the Catholic Church in England and Wales were unrivalled. In so far as there were hesitations, this may have been, on the evidence of the mere existence of a "stop-Nichols lobby", because of the fear his appointment would be divisive. This is not likely to be borne out. Indeed, Mgr Nichols is well placed to reconcile such differences as there already are in the English and Welsh Catholic community - not wide or dangerous, but capable of becoming so if not attended to.

What makes Mgr Nichols the right choice is above all the continuity he represents with previous key leaders of the Catholic Church in these two countries. Like his immediate predecessor, he is heir to the Worlock-Hume partnership that gave Catholicism a more acceptable and friendly face in Britain, and drew it into national life where it gained respect and influence. It has been progressive in social policy, undogmatic but faithful in morality, effective in its ecumenical and inter-faith relations. The hierarchy, thanks to a succession of wise and skilful apostolic nuncios, has values and interests that are broadly shared by the laity. The big question over this appointment was whether the papacy of Benedict XVI would want English Catholicism to take a sharply different direction, with all the risks involved. That question has been decisively answered. Somewhere the ghost of Newman may be smiling.

Archbishop Nichols has shown himself adept at intervening in public life to protect Catholic interests, for instance as chairman of the Catholic Education Service when he thwarted government policies which could have destabilised the Catholic school system. But with Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor as president of the bishops' conference and Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff chairing its Department for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship, Mgr Nichols has had limited scope for proactive interventions in national affairs away from his official brief. Yet there is a strong need for leadership, indeed for imparting a prophetic vision about the role the Catholic Church can and should play in national life as well as the lives of its own members. Mass attendance is falling; secularism is rampant; utilitarianism has become almost the only mode of public discourse on moral issues ranging from the treatment of the unborn to the terminally ill; and British Christianity, its Roman Catholic component included, is suffering from a loss of confidence in its own beliefs and values. Meanwhile an economic crisis is threatening the livelihoods of millions. 

For such daunting challenges, the new spiritual leader of English and Welsh Catholicism needs an understanding of secularism that is critical but well-grounded and nuanced - scolding it will merely make him enemies - and a message that society can hear and welcome as being in tune with, and even an answer to, its current anxieties. Mgr Nichols is well-versed in Catholic social teaching, which is in need of a relaunch in Britain. A new social encyclical is expected soon, and a statement in the tradition of "The Common Good" of 1996 is in preparation. These should provide effective vehicles for communicating the Gospel in the modern age, which is any archbishop's primary concern. And not just its moral and spiritual values, but the full Easter message of salvation, redemption, Resurrection and rebirth.