CARDINAL MANNING'S SUCCESSOR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 24, 1 April 1892, Page 27

CARDINAL MANNING'S SUCCESSOR.

j (Liverpool Catholic Times.) Thi daily Press teems with conjectures as to tbe appointment ot the new Archbishop ot Westminster. The interest whioh the question excites ig natural. The appointment is not only of the highest importance to the Catholics of this country, but also closely concerns the general population— for the lata Cardinal proved during his tenure ot the See how admirably tbe position may lend itself to the promotion of tbe public weal. But the position will not make the man. Bather will it be the duty of the man to enlarge and extend tbe influence which the position affords. It is thus the wise ecclesiastical ruler who has been taken from us won increased dignity and power for his office and set an example whioh his successor, no matter how highly gifted he may be, can soarcely hope to equal. There was nothing of the faintant about Cardinal Manning. Every opportunity at his disposal he utilised to the best possible advantage, and with such exquisite tact that in the long coarse of bis episcopate not a single serious mistake can be credited to him. He was • great figure, and his greatness arose from a marvellous combination of qualities. Whether he appeared in the pulpit, on the platform, in the drawing room, amongst the legislators of the country, or amidst the ranks of the poor, his many-sided ability and his attractive force of character were ever conspicuous. The Church was always the gainer by tbe admiration which his bold, but at tbe same time prudent, policy excited. DifficuU, indeed, will it be for his successor to act fully np to the standards which ho has laid down, and to preserve in all its phases the almost magically potint influence which be acquired.

Looking back on the life of the prelate which we have just lost, and searching for the secret of his power, we think it is mainly to be found in the breadth and depth of his sympathies. Here is a quality which his successor must display in an eminent degree. Sympathy with the people of all classes and creeds, and especially with the poor and suffering was the key-note of Manning's character. If we turn to the beautiful and singuUrly unanimous eulogies paid to him by the Press, we see that the tenderest chords were touched by his abounding charity for the struggling masses. It was for this tha l non-Catholics revered him, and, considering this, they eagerly wished that their own spiritual guides were like unco him. "He allied himself with the masse*," says the Christian World, " from the general impulse of his heart. He lored the people and they knew it. He was the people's Cardinal. Our workiog-men, who care nothing for tbe Vatican controversies, as they pressed reverently forward to see the ascetic fica, set in the calm dignity of death, saw there not the ecclesiastic or the theologian, but the man who toiled for the suffering poor, who strove for education, who sought by h'g example aod ceaseless advocacy to save their homes from the drink fiend, who on labour's great crisis at the Bast Bnd fought tbe docker's battle and secured for tbam the victory. Amid a multitude of reflexions two g and out from the rest. The first is the example that Rome has been privileged to give to other communions in England during these later years in tbe character and conduct of her leaders. Anglicanism has devoted men amongst its olergy, but the difference between it and its rival has been that while tbe dignitaries ot the English Church, have, by the wealth and luxury with which they hare surrounded tnemselves, by their devotion to the aristocracy and their stiff aloofness from tbe poor and from popular move* ments, widened tbe gulf between religion and democracy. Borne has in her two great Cardinals given us tbe impressive spectacle of spiritual chiefs who, dowered with the highest intellectual gifts and of princely rank in the Church, lived the life of ascetics, and of their wealth kept nothing for themselves, giving their possess ons and tbeir enthusiasm to the cause of tbe poor. The other lesson is England's possibilities with regard to Ireland. When we show his feeling towards our Irish brethren the victory will be ours." We have quoted the Christian World at some length, because in this passage the writer not merely gives happy expression to the esteem in which the Cardinal was held by non-Catholics, but also emphasises a point which the Cardinal's sucressor must lay to heart. The old order has changed, and a new order has arisen. Tbe people are now-a-days tbe judges and arbiters af the destinies of Churches as well as of political parties, and if a bishop who occupies % commanding position is to crown his career with success, he must be an energetic social force. Tbe wants and troubles of tbe toilers and the poor, the proHgsuj of daily life, tie cry of tbe heart-sore and suffering, mvs 1 exc.w^ns compassion and active interest. He must be a father not only to the members of bis own flock, but to all of every creed who seek bis advice and assistance. And be must not fear to take his part in the vanguard of any well-directed movement for reform. The late Cardinal never hesitated to speak out resolutely at the opportune moment on public schemes, and bis clear, decisive views showed bow closely he was in touch with popular nspirations. As to the selection of the Cardinal's successor the speculation in private conversation as well as inj the Press is, of course, endless* There can be no doubt that if the decision lay wholly with the ,

clergj of Wettminiter it would be well nigh unanimously ia favour of Mgr. Gilbert. The choioe ol the people, almost without exoeption, would be the Bishop of Salford were it not tor what the majority of the Catholic body in these islands consider a grievous political mistake. The Tablet, which has voiced the sentiments not of the massea bat of a small Motion of the population, has alienated from him tbi Bpisoopate and people of Ireland and many of their friends and allies. More than once did the damaging character of the work which the Tablet has endeavoured to perform wring from the broad-minded, charitable prelate now in his grave the remark, "The Tablet is a wicked paper." Had it not been tor the feeling the paper has generated amongst the Iriib clergy and people, both the one and the other would unquestionably deem Bishop Yaughan far and away the best fitted to fill the See of Westminster, for he is unselfish and apostolic in his teal, has the singular wisdom to utilise all the forces that are around him, and instead of patting bis hand on the drag, gives men of sterling merit scope for the exercise of their energies. A writer in one of the daily journals has asser ed that his Lordship is bard upon his priests and unpopular with them. It would be well if a little more editorial vigilanoe were exercised in our newspapers, and if it were not so easy for gossip-mongers to make them the mediums of spreading abroad very false reports. The Bishop of Salford is an eoclesiastio of such sterling qualities, and has so high a sense of his sacred vocation that we feel certain personal proclivities or preconceived ideas in politics would give way to a sense of enlarged responsibilities ; and we are very much mistaken if he would not rise to the demands of any position ia which God may place him.