Towards the end, there is an interesting section concerning the appointment of the next Archbishop of Westminster. Nelson says:
I am told the Pope is sceptical about choosing anyone from England’s ‘magic circle’ of metropolitan bishops and is actively considering monastic candidates to succeed Cardinal Murphy- O’Connor — just as Basil Hume was plucked from the monastic seclusion of Ampleforth Abbey in 1976.This rather rang a bell because when I was talking recently to some priests who had been out on a visit to Rome, they also said that the Urbs is buzzing with rumours about Dom Hugh Gilbert, the Abbot of Pluscarden.
Dom Hugh could not really be labelled as a "traditionalist": Pluscarden has resolutely retained the Novus Ordo for Mass and has adhered straightforwardly to the minor reforms of the office made by Solesmes. Not long ago, Dom Hugh wrote in the journal of Pluscarden Abbey explaining why the community would not be changing over to the traditional Roman rite. At the same time, under his kindly and sensible leadership, the flourishing community of the Abbey is faithful to the monastic tradition, using Latin and Gregorian Chant for Mass and the Office, and living the rule of St Benedict with simplicity. Dom Hugh could well fit the bill as a candidate acceptable to a wide range of ecclesiastical opinion. I am sure that the community would be very sorry if they had to lose him.
17 comments:
Hardly important qualifications for Westminster however good Hugh is.
How about Aidan Nicholls. He would be splendid!
If he were ready to lead the way with liturgical reform of banal parish worship, then Dom Hugh might be a good choice. But for someone with the intellectual and spiritual capacity to provide a truly prophetic Catholic voice in the public square, let it be Aidan Nichols or someone or his ilk.
Anyone who knows Hugh Gilbert in the monastic world knows well that he has rised to more than the equal of his abilities already. Pluscarden thrives on the capital of his predecessor. Hugh's legacy as abbot of Pluscarden will be different. To give him the episcopacy would be an error.
Why you no mention Aidan Nicholls?!!!
I would like Fr. Christopher Basden to be the next Archbishop of Westminster. I think its an injustice that he hasn't been made a Monsignor, for the good work he does with Catholic minorities.
With every respect due to our good Abbot I ask simply - 'would he be up to the job of sweeping Westminster clean of the liberal, comfy, lukewarm rot that has become so deeply entrenched?'. Whoever takes on the job must (please God) be 100% loyal to Papa Benedict and Rome. That will no doubt unleash a maelstrom of dissent in E&W which only a man with internal spiritual and mental abilities that are tough as nails will be able to stand up to. Plus there is the gathering of all the lost sheep from the last forty years and reforming the reforms! A tough job indeed. As the Holy Spirit gave us Papa Benedict for the good of the whole Church so he will give us the cardinal we so desperately need in England and Wales. Pray.
I visited Pluscarden Abbey on All Soul's Day (travelling on my bicycle from Elgin station!. They had Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all day, and it was moving so see Abbot Hugh take his turn with the other monks in leading the adoration. He strikes me as being a truly holy man - just the sort of person I would like to lead the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Not sure Aidan Nichols would be so splendid. He has a powerful intellect and writes very clearly but he's surely too much of an academic to be Archbishop of Westminster. I reckon he should be left writing books - it's what he does best, and the Church benefits hugely from them.
That's what they said about Benedict
I take your point, Felix, but the Church in this country NEEDS some scholar bishops like they have in the US, Austria, Italy, etc. We've had them in the past (Cassartelli of Salford, for example) and it's about time we had them again. I'm sure the Church would have benefited from BXVI if he had stayed a simple theologian tucked away writing books, but thank God he was picked out of obscurity.
I doubt if Abbot Hugh could be lured from his Morayshire Glen. It is an open secret in Scotland that he was offered the Bishopric of Aberdeen and turned it down because of his loyalty to his community and because he was concerned he lacked the skills needed to run a diocese. Obviously, Westminster is far bigger job and far more prestigious see than wee Aberdeen and a red hat is automatic for Westminster but presumably such thoughts of worldly glory would not influence a monk and all the arguments which swayed him in declining Aberdeen would surely have even greater force in respect of Westminster. To go from running an enclosed community of less that 40 monks to the premier see of England is surely too big a leap. The comparison with Basil Hume is not perfect because although a monk he was much more engaged with the world through running the grand public school of Ampleforth which inevitably gave him an in to the English establishment. Also it is far from clear that Basil was a success. He was a hard man to work with and for and, promote to temper tantrums and he continued to promote the liberal agenda. He was best mates and buddies with perhaps the most disastrous of all the recent Benedictine bishops, Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, the most liberal bishop in America. A man who wrecked his cathedral against the express instructions of Room by a reordering so drastic it would be better described as demolition, see
http://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/c002ht.htm
And was only deposed when it was discovered that he was using church funds to pay for his gay lover, see
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/resource-files/timeline/2002-05-24-Dreher-WeaklandExit.htm
Ches, you're absolutely right. However, to give him the administrative task of running Westminster might restrict his freedom to write and research. He is a very good man though, and I'm sure he would make a great bishop.
I know Hugh. Whilst a good egg, I suspect that intellectually he would be out of his depth. Being based in a Scottish monastery is an odd starting point for Westminster even though he is throughly English. The comparison with Hume is further confused by the fact that Ampleforth has parishes and Hume was virtually functioning as a Bishop anyway.
The appointment of Terry Drainey to Middlesbrough suggests that the Vatican is still rubber stamping CMOC initiatives. It's possible that Roche might move south if that is the case.
My money is still on Vincent but the clergy might go for Arthur. I am not convinced that the Vatican is as interested in Westminster as they are Munich & New York which is a shame.
I like Dom Hugh; a good man. Do you have a link to what he wrote, Father?
What's with the nasty anonymous comment about the good Abbot?
I'm off to Pluscarden tomorrow, hurrah!!
Errr sorry, that anonymous comment complaining about the anonymous comment was meant to be signed
Boeciana
exlaodicea.wordpress.com
But I hit enter inadvertently. Oops.
I am not sure about the choice of Dom Hugh. Within the Subiaco monasteries there are divisions. One of them is the approach they take to the traditional. Back in the 1980's the status quo was established thet they would be traditional..but not in sympathy with the old monastic customs and books in use before Vat II. Also the Extraordinary Form would not be allowed, only the boring concelebrated Masses, with all the community standing in a circle. With chant and perhaps the novus ordo in Latin. No one who looks at the reordering of the Pugin church at the subiaco abbey at Ramsgate and even Pluscarden will see that these abbeys are not really "traditional". Also I am thinking of the way Farnborough monks were treated when they tried to live a traditional monasic life.
I think The Subiaco Congregation in the UK would do better to remember why they founded. A reform and restoration. Then monks would make good bishops as they did in the 19th century.
I think Aidan Nichols would be a splendid choice, but I don't know anything about the Abbot of Pluscarden.
I did look on the Monastery's website, and noticed that they are having the Rev. Dr. Laurence Paul Hemming give the Pluscarden lectures this year. The announcement for the lectures advertises that - among other things - he is "a signatory to the recent petition to the Holy Father requesting the removal of restrictions on the use of the Tridentine Mass."
Also, another thing that caught my eye on the web site was Dom Hugh's new book. Has anyone read "Unfolding the Mystery: Monastic Conferences on the Liturgical Year"?
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