Vincent Gerard Nichols

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Most Revd Vincent Gerad Nichols

{{{image}}}
Denomination	Catholic Church
Senior posting
See	Birmingham
Title	Archbishop of Birmingham
Period in office	15th February 2000 — present
Predecessor	Most Rev Maurice Noël Léon Couve de Murville
Successor	incumbent
Personal
Date of birth	8th November 1945
Place of birth	Merseyside, Great Britain

Styles of Vincent Gerard Nichols

Reference style The Most Reverend Spoken style Your Grace Religious style Your Grace Posthumous style not applicable

Vincent Gerard Nichols (born 1945) STL MA MEd, is the current Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Birmingham, an office he has held since March 2000.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Priest and Bishop 3 Archbishop of Birmingham 4 External links

[edit] Early life

Vincent Nichols was born in Crosby, Merseyside on 8th November 1945. He entered the Venerable English College, Rome, in 1963 and was ordained priest on 21st December 1969. His further studies include obtaining the Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Manchester, specialising in the theology of St John Fisher.

[edit] Priest and Bishop

After working in the Archdiocese of Liverpool for 14 years, including, latterly, as the Director of the Upholland Northern Institute, Vincent Nichols was appointed General Secretary of the Catholic Episcopal Conference of England & Wales for nine years. In 1992 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as Titular Bishop of Othona. He served as an auxiliary Bishop in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster between 1992 and 2000, having special pastoral oversight for North London. During this time he served under Basil Cardinal Hume, Archbishop of Westminster. He presided over the burial of Cardinal Hume, at the end of his Requiem Mass in 1999.

[edit] Archbishop of Birmingham

In February 2000, Bishop Nichols was named by Pope John Paul II as eighth Archbishop of Birmingham (the ninth Catholic Bishop since the erection of the Diocese in 1850), and was installed on 29th March 2000, by Bishop Philip Pargeter, Auxiliary Bishop in Birmingham, and Provost of the Chapter of Saint Chad's Cathedral, where the Mass of Installation took place.

His priorities in the first years in Birmingham have been the Pastoral Visitation of the Diocese by himself, together with the Auxiliary Bishop, and the Episcopal Vicars, highlighting how the people and clergy of the Diocese need to reflect upon the life of the Church as both Communion and Mission. He also had the inspiration for the ‘Walk with Me’ programme, which seeks to bring people together in spiritual accompaniment through the seasons of the Church’s year. This initiative has also spread to other dioceses.

In addition to his pastoral oversight of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, Archbishop Nichols is Chairman of the Department for Catholic Education and Formation of the Bishops' Conference and Chairman of the Catholic Education Service (CES). He represented the European bishops at the November 1998 Synod of Bishops from Oceania and attended the Synod of Bishops for Europe in September 1999.

Archbishop Nichols has written one book to date: Promise of Future Glory - Reflections on the Mass, recently republished by Alive Publications, and in the United States by Twenty Third Publications under the title The Gift of the Mass. It is shortly to be published in Italian by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

He provided the commentary for the BBC's coverage of the funeral of His Holiness Pope John Paul II. When asked by Huw Edwards to describe what was taking place at the anamnesis he famously stated "No, Huw. This is an important part of the Mass - we will be quiet."

On 28 November 2006, he threatened to withdraw Catholic co-operation with the Government over schools, charity programmes and adoption agencies if the new sexual orientation regulations go ahead.

[edit] External links

• Archdiocese of Birmingham