I See His Reasons for Saying No to Papa Benedetto, BUT . . . .
given the current state of the heirachy in Great Britian & that 1 of the few truly orthodox Catholic Bishops is about to retire himself, the Catholic Church in Great Britian needs him even more.
A monk chosen by Pope Benedict XVI to be the next leader of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales has declined the post at the last minute, it emerged last night.
Dom Hugh Gilbert, the Abbot of Pluscarden Benedictine Abbey in Scotland, had originally said he would be happy to succeed Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor as Archbishop of Westminster.
But then one of his key aides left the abbey - after falling in love with a woman.
Worried that his monastic community would break up, Dom Hugh told the Pope he had changed his mind. (Like I said, I understand his concern. This shows how good an abbot he is & how seriosly he takes what the Rule of St. Benedict says about his duties as abbot.)
Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, 76, who wants to retire in the next three months, is said to be ' furious' that the abbot has snubbed the Pope. (I'm willing to bet that it has nothing to do with Dom Hugh being orthodox & thus needed to take charge, or with Dom Gilbert's snubbing the Pope per se, & everything to do with the Cardinal wanting to retire.)
The Vatican had been due to announce Dom Hugh's appointment tomorrow.
It remains to be seen if the Pope will begin the search for a new candidate or whether he will order Dom Hugh, 55, to accept a promotion that would see him becoming England's next cardinal.
The Pope is said to have wanted to appoint Dom Hugh, a convert from the Church of England, because he is keen to break the stranglehold of liberal-minded bishops on the English Catholic Church. (He would be a start, but there are a lot more that would have to be replaced before things will change for the better.)
The English bishops have, for instance, generally opposed the Pope's efforts to return Latin worship into churches. Last month they also called for Muslim prayer rooms in every Catholic school. (& we think the USCCB has a corner on bizzare things like this.)
Dom Hugh is considered by the Vatican to be an orthodox and holy man who would approach such issues from a more traditional perspective. (Given how things are in this day & age as a result of 40 some years of poor catechisis, it isn't surprizing that a convert would be more orthodox in his faith.)
A Londoner, he was educated at St Paul's school and King's College London. He became a monk in 1974.
Dom Hugh had been a comparative outsider for the post at 8-1 with bookmakers Paddy Power.
He trailed behind the 7-4 favourite Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Birmingham, and Archbishop of Cardiff Peter Smith, at 3-1, who was favoured by the Pope's ambassador to Britain, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz.
Dom Hugh was unavailable for comment last night.
Dom Hugh Gilbert, the Abbot of Pluscarden Benedictine Abbey in Scotland, had originally said he would be happy to succeed Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor as Archbishop of Westminster.
But then one of his key aides left the abbey - after falling in love with a woman.
Worried that his monastic community would break up, Dom Hugh told the Pope he had changed his mind. (Like I said, I understand his concern. This shows how good an abbot he is & how seriosly he takes what the Rule of St. Benedict says about his duties as abbot.)
Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, 76, who wants to retire in the next three months, is said to be ' furious' that the abbot has snubbed the Pope. (I'm willing to bet that it has nothing to do with Dom Hugh being orthodox & thus needed to take charge, or with Dom Gilbert's snubbing the Pope per se, & everything to do with the Cardinal wanting to retire.)
The Vatican had been due to announce Dom Hugh's appointment tomorrow.
It remains to be seen if the Pope will begin the search for a new candidate or whether he will order Dom Hugh, 55, to accept a promotion that would see him becoming England's next cardinal.
The Pope is said to have wanted to appoint Dom Hugh, a convert from the Church of England, because he is keen to break the stranglehold of liberal-minded bishops on the English Catholic Church. (He would be a start, but there are a lot more that would have to be replaced before things will change for the better.)
The English bishops have, for instance, generally opposed the Pope's efforts to return Latin worship into churches. Last month they also called for Muslim prayer rooms in every Catholic school. (& we think the USCCB has a corner on bizzare things like this.)
Dom Hugh is considered by the Vatican to be an orthodox and holy man who would approach such issues from a more traditional perspective. (Given how things are in this day & age as a result of 40 some years of poor catechisis, it isn't surprizing that a convert would be more orthodox in his faith.)
A Londoner, he was educated at St Paul's school and King's College London. He became a monk in 1974.
Dom Hugh had been a comparative outsider for the post at 8-1 with bookmakers Paddy Power.
He trailed behind the 7-4 favourite Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Birmingham, and Archbishop of Cardiff Peter Smith, at 3-1, who was favoured by the Pope's ambassador to Britain, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz.
Dom Hugh was unavailable for comment last night.
posted by Al @ 12:38 AM
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