Archbishop calls for new dialogue in Britain
By Mark Greaves
22 May 2009

Archbishop Vincent Nichols greets the crowd outside Westminster Cathedral on Thursday (PA Wire/Fiona Hanson)

The new Archbishop of Westminster issued a powerful call for a new kind of dialogue between believers and non-believers at his installation Mass on Thursday.

Speaking at the nationally televised Mass at Westminster Cathedral, Archbishop Vincent Nichols appealed for a more reasoned public debate in Britain.

"This dialogue needs to go beyond the superficial and slogans," the Archbishop said in a homily issued under embargo on Tuesday.

"Respectful dialogue is crucial today and I salute all who seek to engage in it. In this the media have such an important part to play, not by accentuating difference and conflict, but by enhancing creative conversation.

"Let us be a society in which we genuinely listen to each other, in which sincere disagreement is not made out to be insult or harassment, in which reasoned principles are not construed as prejudice and in which we are prepared to attribute to each other the best and not the worst of motives."

The Archbishop, chosen by Pope Benedict XVI to succeed Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, called for a greater appreciation of the Church's contribution to society.

"Faith builds community and it expresses itself in action," he said. "As a society, if we are to build on this gift of faith, we must respect its outward expression not only in honouring individual conscience but also in respecting the institutional integrity of the communities of faith in what they bring to public service and to the common good.

"Only in this way will individuals, families and faith communities become whole-hearted contributors to building the society we rightly seek."

In his homily the Archbishop described the Church as an attempt to fulfil "a vision of true social cohesion".

"Faith in Christ always draws us into a community and has a public dimension," he said. "This community of faith reaches beyond ethnicity, cultural difference and social division, opening for us a vision of ourselves, and of our society, as having a single source and a single fulfilment.

"Indeed this vision of faith is expressed powerfully by St Paul when, in his letter to the Galatians, he says that in Christ: 'There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.'

"This is a vision of true social cohesion, a promise which lies ahead and a signpost of which churches construct, Sunday by Sunday, with their communities of unity in diversity."

The Archbishop added that a knowledge of Christ discloses "the true worth of our humanity".

"We human beings are not Plasticine figures, to be moulded into shape at the hands of a political ideology, or under economic demands. Nor, at the end of the day, can we shape ourselves as we please, according to fashion or our untutored desires. We are not self-made. Our humanity, thankfully, is more deeply rooted and therefore resilient. Indeed our humanity is a gift to be respected not only from its beginnings to its natural end, but also in the other ethical demands it places on us all."

Those expected to attend the Mass included the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl Marshal; Lord Guthrie, representing the Prince of Wales; Paul Murphy, Secretary of State for Wales, representing the Prime Minister; Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles; Cardinal Keith O'Brien of St Andrews and Edinburgh and Cardinal Seán Brady of Armagh. Also expected were 18 canons, 60 bishops, 27 Monsignori, nine Provincials and three Deans, together with the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

During the installation Mass Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor passed the crozier, representing the authority of the Archbishop of Westminster, to Archbishop Nichols.

In his homily the Archbishop defended the reasonableness of faith.

"This is the true nature of the belief in God: it opens us to all that lies beyond," he said. "It's a constant invitation to go beyond our immediate knowledge and awareness.

"Faith in God is not, as some would portray it today, a narrowing of the human mind or spirit. It is precisely the opposite. Faith in God is the gift that takes us beyond our limited self, with all its incessant demands. It opens us to a life that stretches us, enlightens us, and often springs surprises upon us. Such faith, like love, sees that which is invisible and lives by it."

Archbishop Nichols was elected president of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales last month. From 2000 to 2009 he served as Archbishop of Birmingham. His new diocese consists of 500,000 faithful in 216 parishes served by 600 priests and religious. It is considered the pre-eminent diocese in England and Wales and its archbishop is described as the spiritual leader of English and Welsh Catholics.