Book Review- Cardinal Vincent Nichol's Hope and Memory, Reflections on Priesthood (2016), 16pp

Hope and memory is the text of a talk given by Cardinal Nichols to clergy of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. It is printed as a booklet for general distribution because the author believes it has a wider value than in just one particular diocese. The text draws heavily from the work of the church historian, Judith Champ. In this pamphlet the Cardinal asks three questions – about the how priests live their lives; how they relate to other priests and bishops; and how the priest leads his community.

The author starts from disadvantage, which most bishops face, when addressing these issues, namely that often they have not usually worked in parishes for many years. In the author’s case this perhaps exacerbated for as well as being a local bishop Cardinal Nichols is also de facto leader of the Church in England and Wales and also heavily involved in wider church affairs.
If he wants an answer as to how priests live their lives, I would suggest that the best paradigm are the words of Henry David Thoreau namely ’Quiet desperation.’ They struggle with balancing the demands of their diocese, the demands of parents and schools, and the demands of being simple pastors. If the Cardinal wants to know how priests relate to their brother priests and to bishops, the answer is simple. ‘They don’t very much.’ More and more parishes are one-man shows and there is little opportunity to socialise (though some good work has been done at deanery level.) However, generally speaking, contact is spasmodic and not in depth. Where bishops are concerned they are remote figures who occasionally surface. They may be supportive or they may be playing the boss role. I imagine most priests depend on a few parishioners and the handful of paid staff for real support.

How does a priest lead his community? The question is itself loaded. How is a priest a leader? Or is he led? Is it ‘his’ community? A priest is more of a facilitator than a leader. He needs to understand the pastoral longings of those with whom he is in touch. His leadership role is opaque. ‘His’ community is not owned by him. His job is to encourage the parishioners to own their parish, for themselves.

The Cardinal cites Pope Francis as saying that a priest must feel he has a father (in the form of his bishop.) However, there are different kinds of fatherhood. There are absent fathers as well as fathers with whom their sons can share confidences. There are fathers who are too busy with jobs to be proper fathers and those who can offer care and solicitude to their offspring. Tragically there are also manipulative and abusive fathers, as well as those who are gradually crushed under the burdens of family life.

A short talk like that of Cardinal Nichols cannot deal with these complex issues. There is room for a more detailed analysis of the contemporary priesthood in this age of fragmentation and isolation. A more extensive survey could for example have drawn from the work of Manning, Heenan and Hume. The late Emeritus Cardinal Murphy O’Connor has also written an account of his life as a cleric. His insights concerning the child abuse scandal might have opened up a discussion on sexuality and the priesthood, and how abuse exists in other ways in the church. Other clergy have written about the priesthood for example the late Michael Hollings. Elsewhere there has been serious research undertaken on the role of the clergy under Hitler. Why does the Church come across as being so passive? A study of the role Christian clergy under Apartheid perhaps provides another vision. Faith and Courage, praying with Mandela, the autobiography of Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town is an eye opener. These illustrations might throw light on how clergy relate to the society in which they happen to live. To examine how priests are portrayed in fiction could also be fruitful as an exercise. One thinks here, for example of The diary of a country priest by Georges Bernanos.

Priests I know sometimes speak of the lack of support from senior management. This may arise because of the tension between the centrifugal and centripetal forces in the diocese. It needs addressing in an irenic sense. The former Episcopalian bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, once stated that the first duty of a bishop is the care of his priests. Maybe here there is a starting point.