17 February 2022

Promotions in the Army List

I have been reminded that Arthur Roche once served as factotum to the distinguished former Bishop of Leeds, Gordon Wheeler, of whom I intend to publish an appreciation upon the occasion of his Year's Mind in a few days' time.

I was, indeed, aware of that fact. But, as every military man knows, it is almost always a mistake to turn a passable sergeant into not a very good officer.

5 comments:

  1. Well, was he a "factotum" or a personal secretary to the bishop? Clerics here in Germany are usually the second. And in this case I would rather not compare that to a sargent but to an ADC aide de camp junior officer. I have seen more than one of these junior officers rise to general or admiral rank. Seems A.R. knew what was good for his career. He most certainly knows now.

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  2. Colonel Leatham of the Welsh Guards rejected Evelyn Waugh as a WW2 officer candidate on the grounds that he was "a sh*t and wore suede shoes." Waugh later served creditably enough as an officer in several other units. It is a great pity Archbishop Roche ever rose past a seminarian's status. But if he wasn't in his post, someone else would be happy enough to be a hit man for Pope Francis.

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    Replies
    1. Too true! There would have been any number of alternative functionaries to conduct the funeral of Sir James Savile, OBE, KCSG....

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-15647363.amp

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  3. Bishop Wheeler once told me that the first question he asked people who approached him, regarding entering the Seminary, was the following: do you prayer the Rosary on a daily basis? If the person, in question , said no then he wasn't interested.

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  4. "Bishop Wheeler once told me that the first question he asked people who approached him, regarding entering the Seminary, was the following: do you prayer the Rosary on a daily basis? If the person, in question , said no then he wasn't interested."

    Today paying the rosary daily would probably disqualify you from many seminaries. Obviously too rigid.

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