Theologians need ‘smell of sheep’, says Nichols

Cardinal Vincent Nichols has told Catholic theologians they need to have the “smell of the sheep”.

Adopting Pope Francis’ phrase used to encourage priests to be close to people, the cardinal said that for theologians it meant “an acceptance of the fact that part of this vocation of being a theo­logian is an active participation in the mission of the local Church to the poor”.
Cardinal Nichols also said that theologians should attend to, and share in, popular religiosity.

Speaking at the annual Catholic Theological?Association of Great Britain dinner at St Mary’s University in Twickenham, south-west London, he went on: “The challenge to the theologian … is twofold. The first is that of recognising their own dependence on the sensus fidei because the faith the theologian studies and ­articulates actually lives in the People of God. The second ­challenge is that of helping to shape and purify these popular devotions … so that they are truly ecclesial and well founded on the apostolic tradition … The theologian is one who both depends on the divinely revealed truth of faith and reflects upon it, in service of the Church’s mission.”

n Meanwhile, at the annual conference of Marriage Care, the cardinal spoke about the priorities of the upcoming Synod on the Family in Rome which, he said, would focus on two specific issues pertinent to the work of the organisation: the importance of marriage preparation and the support which the Church could give to families who were experi­encing difficulty in relationships, particularly marriage breakdown.