‘I haven’t mentioned this at any of my other media interviews because I thought I’d like to share some personal things for the diocese and especially for the readers  of Catholic Today! 

‘For a very long time now I have had a personal devotion to Blessed Dominic Barberi. Of course, you are aware of Blessed Dominic’s link with Stone in the north of the diocese which is so important.

‘Some years ago I went to pray at his shrine, which is actually in St Helens in Lancashire in the Liverpool Archdiocese. I have visited the shrine and celebrated Mass and prayed there for the canonization of Blessed Dominic.

 

 

 

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‘In the light of Cardinal Newman’s forthcoming beatification it is striking the way that he so appreciates Blessed Dominic’s priesthood and his whole priestly ministry.

‘I think it is very humbling to see that Cardinal Newman, this great man who understood the Catholic faith and expressed it so well and indeed captured his own journey of faith so eloquently, value and esteem so highly the priesthood and ministry of the Italian priest Dominic Barberi.  He put himself into Blessed Dominic’s hands and was received by him into full communion with the Catholic Church. 

‘Despite all the many amazing things that Newman achieved in his life, it is very humbling to see that for him, in that moment of reception into full communion with the Catholic Church, at the hands of Blessed Dominic, he discovered his own destiny and fulfilment. And in his forthcoming beatification, it is this closeness to Blessed Dominic and this association with the diocese that excites me most. It is as if these historical connections become a reality today.’

 

Humbled and Grateful

Bishop Longely’s appointment has clearly taken him by surprise. He is full of gratitude to God and grateful especially for all the prayers and support he has received: ‘I have to say that I am immensely grateful for the many people that I have met in the last few days who have assured me of their prayers and especially those who have contacted me from the Archdiocese of Birmingham. It is so very heartening to know that there are people who have such a love for the church in the diocese and who take such pride in its story to date which I think is something I very much want to learn more about and to make part of my own story too.  It is so very clear to me also that the people have a great affection for the bishops, priests, deacons and religious and their prayers are something I am so very grateful for.

‘For me it’s really significant to be coming to  Birmingham this year because, on a personal level I was very grateful that the announcement was made on the feast of St Therese of Lisieux (October 1) and providentially at the very moment her relics were here in the UK and touring around. I was informed of the response to her relics at St Chad’s where over 11000 people had been into pray during those days and also in Coleshill.’

Thoughtful and Observant

Bishop Longley is a thoughtful and observant man. ‘When I went into St Chad’s Cathedral on Thursday (October 1) for the first time since receiving the news, I was very struck not just by the beauty of the cathedral, but also by the fact that there were people there praying. It was a little time before the 12:15pm Mass, and people were there sitting and kneeling quietly in  prayer. The atmosphere of prayer here, knowing too that the relics of St Chad are here, and sensing that closeness throughout the centuries with the communion of saints was a very moving moment for me.’

 

 

A home grown vocation

Bishop Bernard was born in Manchester on 5 April 1955. A musically gifted and academic boy he studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and New College, Oxford. He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Arundel and Brighton on 12 December 1981 and served as an assistant priest at St Joseph’s parish, Epsom and as a chaplain to a psychiatric hospital. He brings a breadth of experience as an ecumenist, and was National Ecumenical Officer at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, as well as the Moderator of the Steering Committee of Churches together. He taught dogmatic theology at Wonersh Seminary for many years and was Assistant General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference for England and Wales with responsibilities for ecumenism and inter faith dialogue. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster on January 4, 2003 by Pope John Paul II where he served until his appointment to be the next Archbishop of Birmingham, where he will be installed on December 8, 2009.

 

 

 

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He is in no doubt that his priestly vocation was fostered within his family and home. ‘I was born in the centre of Manchester, the old St Mary’s hospital, right in the centre of the city, opposite the palace theatre. My family are based in East Manchester, my father lives near to my sister in Bolton. I went to school in Manchester and the parish that I grew up in, St Vincent de Paul, dedicated to St Vincent, was where my faith took hold. The families there had their roots in Irish Catholicism and although my own family name is an English name, there are Irish roots too, from Co Armagh and Co Mayo. I owe a great debt to the Irish. They came across to England in the 1880’s when hardship brought them, like many Catholics to Manchester, and they lived out their faith and passed it on and that’s how it came into my family, on my father’s side. My mother’s family were all Anglicans, but gradually over the years my mother’s mother became a Catholic. It was a great joy to me when my mother became a Catholic a fortnight before I was ordained a priest.  My parents were marvellous in supporting us in our faith and of course the parish, which was inner city and a very close knit community, was where my faith was nurtured and grew. I have often thought how remarkable within that setting it is that you can experience everything of the universal church, everything that the church is was somehow contained in that little parish community. I think that this is something that our parishes have kept hold of and is certainly something that I’d like to appreciate and learn more about in the Archdiocese of Birmingham.’

Reaching out to the lapsed

Bishop Bernard is very keen to reach out to those who have for one reason or another lapsed or moved away from the faith.

‘I am aware, because I see it and experience it, that the traditional English and Irish family connection with the faith has loosened over the years and I feel it would be important to find ways of supporting the parish ministry through clergy, priest, religious and people, to strengthen those contacts and to find ways of making people feel very much at home and welcome in church. I am sure that the parish communities across the Archdiocese are making these vital connections. This is something that I want to continue to encourage.’

Bishop Bernard is very open and at ease talking about prayer and the life that sustains him as a Christian and as a bishop.

The chapel at Archbishop’s House

‘One of the things that I am looking forward to is being at home not only at Archbishop’s House but also in the chapel there.  A few years back, quite by chance, I was invited to come to stay in Archbishop’s House by Archbishop Vincent. It was the 24, January 2002 and it was the occasion of his 10th anniversary of his episcopal ordination. I had a meeting at Oscott that morning but joined him and his party for lunch. I stayed overnight as I had a meeting at Queens College in the University. Archbishop Vincent was typically kind and hospitable and said: ‘Please stay overnight and join us for Mass in the morning.’ That morning I went into the chapel and was struck by the little community of the household of prayer; I have thought a lot about this subsequently and know that it will be such a blessing to have within my new home a place of prayer to be in the presence of Christ at the heart of the diocese to try to listen to our Lord, through the scriptures and in his Eucharistic presence to be quiet in his presence.

As it is only in the quiet that we hear the Lord speak to us and this is where I draw my strength and my own nourishment, my trust, my confidence, from that relationship that I have with the Lord. Nothing would have given me, I believe, that sense of peace which is at the deepest level I have felt since being asked to come to Birmingham. For sure I have felt anxiety at other levels and fears not least in following in the footsteps of Archbishop Vincent. But  I don’t think I would have felt that sense of peace, but for the knowledge that I can trust in the Lord, knowing that he is leading me to a place where he wants me to be. I know it won’t be easy, I have no illusions, there will be difficulties in the years ahead. But, day by day, I will be sustained by prayer in the presence of the Lord and will listen to his word in that setting, in the Eucharist  of course, but also through the scriptures day by day.

 

Archbishop Bernard holding The Gospels Box Set available from www.alivepublishing.co.uk

Lourdes Pilgrimage

I know for Archbishop Vincent, the Lourdes pilgrimage was always a highlight of his year and in a similar vein Bishop Longley is already looking forward to his first pilgrimage.

‘The Lourdes pilgrimage is something I am already really looking forward to. For me a diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes is the diocese in microcosm. It is that time of prayer and pilgrimage, of meeting the sick pilgrims, the clergy and the young people who are there to work and serve others and to share in the life of the church together.

I am not sure yet how the pilgrimage is structured but it will be an important commitment in my own life in the coming years. I went with Archbishop Vincent this year on his first Lourdes pilgrimage with Wesminster and I am sure a bit of his heart was remembering the Birmingham pilgrimages – the sense of being with the diocese, leading the diocese on pilgrimage strengthening and supporting the clergy who are there with you.

I understand the sacrifices that go to making a pilgrimage to Lourdes. The way it awakens the faith in young people and see it deepening and witness the thoughtfulness and quiet, the prayefulness, which is equally part of the experience of pilgrimage, their care of the sick and the elderly. You see something sparkle in them.

But also the ordinary closeness of Catholics and the Catholic family to Our Lady as the Mother of the Lord, you have a real sense of the family of the church at Lourdes. For all those reasons I am looking forward to my first pilgrimage.
I am of course keen to get out and meet the people in the hotels in the hospitals and to maintain that pastoral contact. On the Thursday of my appointment, and providentially, I met Dr Pat Crosby in the Cathedral reception, we exchanged greetings and it was good to have met her. Isn’t that wonderful that one of the first people I meet from the archdiocese was someone so involved in the Lourdes pilgrimage!

A diverse, rich and dynamic diocese

I am very conscious of the great work that goes on around the diocese in the parishes, schools but also at Oscott College (where we have 19 students for the priesthood for the diocese), the Maryvale Institute, the Fr Hudson Society, the great inter-faith work that goes on,  CJM and the expertise they bring in their music ministry, the cathedral choir, the wonderful work of the RE department and the tireless commitment of the Diocesan Schools Commission to mention only a few.

All these things are the fruit of diocesan life over many years but they have also clearly been the focus in recent years under Archbishop Vincent’s leadership, of the diocese responding to the call to follow the Lord.  I believe that prayer and trying to discern God’s voice is vital but also with the prayers of the Archbishop’s Council, the Deans, and the Pastoral Forum, this process of discernment will guide us to understand what will be the focus for the years ahead.

Love of music

Music plays an important part in his life. He explains: ‘When I was at Oxford I was a choral scholar at New College. I enjoyed the polyphonies we  sang there immensely. There was a lot of Catholic music from the Middle Ages and also from the Renaissance period. To be honest I am fairly ecletic musically. I like the Beatles very much indeed and I am the right generation as I grew up in the sixities. As time has gone by however my musical tastes have changed and developed and although I have held onto the things I loved from my past I have also become more open to music to which at one time I would not have listened to.

‘For example a couple of years ago somebody introduced me to the music and lyrics of Leonard Cohen. I was fascinated by his lyrics. For example there is one song where there is a refrain:  “Ring out the bells that still can ring, forget the perfect sacrifice, there is a crack in everything that’s how the light gets in.” I thought there is a real spiritual element in this in that we all have cracks and we all need the light to shine in, and of course, the light has to shine out as well.’

 
Football Fan

As our interview draws to a close Bishop Longley says: ‘I have to say I don’t want to disappoint people........’  I wonder what he is going to say but actually he’s talking football and recreation!  ‘I enjoy watching football with others and within my own family and coming from Manchester I have family loyalties and I have got to try and maintain those, however I do welcome the  opportunity to be with people and I do enjoy being in a crowd and entering into the spirit of it. I think football is such a skill but it is also very good theatre.’

He enjoys walking in the countryside with friends, reading but also singing both as part of a choir but also with musical accompaniment. When he was in Westminster, his colleague Bishop Hope, himself a keen pianist, would accompany him. 

We gently chide him that the diocese would love to hear him sing; rather than retreating from this suggestion, he seems rather keen: ‘I will have to think up something suitable – either in choir but singing songs with an accompaniment I will have to find something that is relevant and appropriate for within the archdiocese!’

It was a privilege and honour for Catholic Today to interview Archbishop - Elect Bernard Longley. He is a lovely, kind and sensitive pastor and we are blessed to have him as our new Archbishop. 

Catholic Today and its team is looking forward to working with him and for him in the months and years ahead.
As we finish, perhaps, more than he realizes, people have indeed been praying that Bishop Bernard Longley would indeed become the next Archbishop of Birmingham and perhaps it is just these prayers that have been answered.

For in the words of Blessed Dominic Barberi: ‘I consider it should be held as a maxim that when God stirs the hearts of many to ask for any one thing, it is an evident sign that he wishes to grant it.’

 

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