Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor

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His Eminence Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor

Church positions
See	Westminster
Title	Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster
Period in office	March 22, 2000—present
Raised to cardinalate	February 21, 2001
Predecessor	Basil Cardinal Hume
Successor	incumbent
Previous post	Bishop of Arundel and Brighton
Personal
Date of birth	March 24, 1932
Place of birth	Reading, Berkshire, England

H. E. Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, STL (born 24 August 1932) is an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, currently serving as Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He elevated to the cardinalate in 2001.

By virtue of his position as the Archbishop of Westminster, he is sometimes referred to as the Primate of England and Wales. However, this title traditionally belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury as "Primate of All England" and the Archbishop of York as "Primate of England". Since the English Reformation these dioceses belong to the Church of England and the title of primate has not been accorded to the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

[edit] Biography

Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was born in Reading, Berkshire, the fifth son of George and Ellen Murphy-O'Connor, who emigrated from County Cork in Ireland before World War I and married in 1921.[1] Two of his uncles, one aunt, two cousins, and two of his brothers, Brian and Patrick, also entered religion. His youngest brother, John, was a regular officer in the Royal Artillery who died at age 32 for reasons which have never been clarified; he has two other siblings, James (a doctor and rugby player) and Catherine. After attending Presentation College in Reading, and Prior Park College in Bath, Murphy-O'Connor then began his studies for the priesthood in 1950 at the Venerable English College in Rome. While in Rome, he also received a degree in philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained on October 28, 1956, by Valerio Cardinal Valeri. For the next decade he did pastoral work in Portsmouth and Fareham.

In 1966 Murphy-O'Connor became the private secretary to Bishop Derek Worlock of Portsmouth. In September 1970, he was appointed parish priest in Portswood, Southampton. Soon afterwards, in late 1971, he was appointed rector of the Venerable English College, his alma mater. As rector he hosted the Archbishop of Canterbury, Frederick Donald Coggan, on his historic visit to Pope Paul VI in 1977. He was elevated to the rank of Monsignor on March 10, 1972.

On November 17, 1977, Murphy-O'Connor was named Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. He received his episcopal consecration on the following December 21 from Bishop Michael Bowen, with Archbishop George Dwyer and Bishop Anthony Emery serving as co-consecrators. He held important positions among the Catholic bishops of Europe and has also been consistently influential in ecumenical work; from 1982 to 2000 he was Co-Chairman of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). In 2000 he was awarded a Doctorate in Divinity by then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, in recognition of his work for Christian unity.

Styles of Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Westminster

Murphy-O'Connor was appointed the tenth Archbishop of Westminster on February 15, 2000, and in November of that year he was elected President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. In the consistory of February 21, 2001, he was created Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria sopra Minerva by Pope John Paul II.

As a new cardinal he was appointed to four Curial organisations: the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, the Pontifical Council for the Study of Organisational and Economic Problems of the Holy See, and the Pontifical Council for the Family. He also sits on the Pontifical Councils for Culture and for Laity, and is currently secretary of the Vox Clara commission which oversees the translating of liturgical texts from Latin into English - all in all an unusually large number of Curial appointments. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.

In August 2001, Murphy-O'Connor was created a Freeman of the City of London.

In 2002, in Westminster Abbey he was the first cardinal to read prayers at an English Royal Funeral Service (for Princess Margaret) since 1509 and later that year, at Sandringham, he became the first Roman Catholic clergyman since 1688 to preach a sermon to the reigning Monarch of Great Britain.

In 2006, it was alleged in the Daily Mail that he had fired his press aide Stephen Noon for being gay, believing that his sexuality was “incompatible” with his position in the Church. As yet, this has not been legally proven in a court of law or tribunal.[2]

In July 2006, his Press Secretary Austen Ivereigh resigned over allegations that a former girlfriend had had an abortion.

On October 28, 2006, Murphy-O'Connor celebrated 50 years of ordination with a Mass in Westminster Cathedral.

On December 3, 2006, His Eminence made a statement in response to the statement made by Prime Minister Tony Blair on World AIDS Day (December 1, 2006) in which the Prime Minister said, "The danger is if we have a sort of blanket ban from religious hierarchy saying it's wrong to do it, then you discourage people from doing it in circumstances where they need to protect their lives." In response to this the Cardinal said, "I think what I would like to say to the prime minister is that it would be much better if he used that money to provide more antiretroviral drugs - medicines - for the millions of children, women who are affected. I speak to bishops in Africa and they tell me that their dioceses are flooded with condoms and I said, 'Well, has it affected?' They said, 'Well, sad to say it has meant more promiscuity and more AIDS'" [3].

In early 2007 Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor sent a letter to Blair over the impending regulations that the rights of same-sex couples extend to an equal opportunity relating to adoption. He said that the law would force people to "act against the teaching of the Church and their own consciences" with regard to Catholic adoption agenices and requested an exemption from the law. The Cardinal continued, saying, "We believe it would be unreasonable, unnecessary and unjust discrimination against Catholics for the government to insist that if they wish to continue to work with local authorities, Catholic adoption agencies must act against the teaching of the Church and their own consciences by being obliged in law to provide such a service." [4]

[edit] Controversy

Like many religious leaders, Murphy-O'Connor has got himself into a fair amount of controversy. Much of it has been over his views on certain moral issues, such as the issue of condoms, AIDS and extra-marital sex mentioned earlier, however he also found himself in great controversy regarding a priest in his diocese when he was Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. During this time it was brought to his attention that a priest, Richard Hill, was a pedophile. Instead of reporting Hill to the police he apparently illegally covered up the crime and transferred Hill to Gatwick Airport chapel, where the Cardinal believed he would not be able to abuse children. In 1997, Hill was finally convicted as a paedophile and jailed for assaulting nine children. After three years in jail, Hill was given another five years for assaulting three other boys. In 2000, when O'Connor ascended to the status of Archbishop of Westminster, the case become known to the general public and Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor nearly lost his job under the media and public pressure to resign.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trivia

• His family's surname was originally just O'Connor, but Cormac's great-grandfather agreed to add the name Murphy when his co-worker, a man by the name of Murphy, in their liquor business offered to give the company to O'Connor's eldest son.
• The Cardinal has played the piano from an early age.
• His Eminence admits that he can mix a good Martini cocktail.

Preceded by Michael George Bowen	Bishop of Arundel and Brighton 1977—2000	Succeeded by Kieran Conry
Preceded by Basil Cardinal Hume	Archbishop of Westminster 2000—present – present	Incumbent