If the rumours are right about Vinnie going to Rome to head the new Dicastery on the Family, what names should be on the Terna that goes to Rome for vacant Westminster? Here is Fr H's Terna:
Mgr Andrew Wadsworth
Bishop Philip Egan
Dr Stephen Wang.
UPDATE: not many names seem to have been proposed on the thread. Surely the Anglophone Church is not so devoid of talent? When will Cardinal Pell finish on the Secretariate for Cash?
Any of these three would be wonderful, but Wadsworth and Wang won't get it because they're not bishops yet (and Wadsworth's out of the country). Egan would be ideal, and might well get it if the Nuncio has sufficient independence of mind and the HF approves (and just how much of an interest does the present Pontiff take in these things?).
ReplyDeleteThe problem of course is that, for sitting Bishops, this means pulling them away from their current Dioceses, which could be a tragedy for many Catholics in those places. But, putting that aside:
ReplyDeleteBishop Philip Egan
Bishop Mark Davies
Bishop Robert Byrne
I realize that the appointment of any worthy candidate would be a loss to those whom he is currently serving, but we would truly feel the pain if we lost Msgr. W. He is not fungible. Let him get the Oratory on its feet here in Washington, then Westminster might claim him. Or the See of Washington.
ReplyDeleteNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Please leave us Bishop Egan! You can have Bishop Davies - Shrewsbury's had him for six years, but we've only had Bishop Egan for three, and that's not enough time to change things around from the legacy left by Bishop Hollis. And Bishop Egan writes spectacularly good pastorals, too.
ReplyDeleteBishops who didn't sign up to the request to change the EF Good Friday Prayer for the Jews: errrrrrr ...
ReplyDeleteHow about the former Abbot of Pluscarden.
ReplyDeleteFr. Stephen Wang would send the English Church into a happy clappy nuChurch paradigm. I hope not it would not be him. Youth 2000 used to be more authentically Catholic before he got his hands on it. He has not kept the progressives in check at Youth 2000. It is no longer like the days when Fr. Hugh Thwaites & Fr. John Edwards used to attend. It would not bode well for Westminster.
ReplyDeleteFr. H, your faith in human nature is far greater than mine if you think that CMOC and Vinnie would allow a Catholic to take the See of Westminster.
ReplyDeleteDon't even think about it, Mr Crakes, he is doing far too much good here in Aberdeen!
ReplyDeleteThere seems no limit on Vincent's ambition yet he always looks miserable when interviewed on TV. During 2010, when we saw so much of him, I thought his dog had just died.
ReplyDeleteInterminable speculation about the see of Westminster marked Vincent's original appointment. If I am grateful to Pope Francis for one thing, it is that I have lost all interest in these matters. Our religion has been rendered so banal that sinking (if not collapsing) before the blessed sacrament in silence is about as good as it gets for me today.
Andrew WS should recall that Hume was not a bishop when he went straight to Westminster.
ReplyDelete+ Vin at a dicastery for the family has the potential for a lot of Anglo-German mischief.
But Mr Whitworth why limit his horizons?
ReplyDeleteIf perhaps Pam would discern a vocation to join the Sisters of the BVM (not b----y likely, I hear a stentorian voice declaring), you could then accept the Archbishopric yourself, dear Father!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to you and your dear wife, with prayers for you both.