SEARCHING FOR THE ARCHBISHOP (12.3.1); Re: His Grace and the subject of "women priests"; our analysis finally triggered by matters arising from the Roscoe Lecture, October 2015; this time considering the blurred lines of the Nottingham period from 2002-07; third in a short sub-series; Notes #15

Advice: this post (12.3.1) is the third of a sub-set within a broader Series. It can be read either as a standalone commentary or in the light of the first two parts (Link 12.1), (Link 12.2) 

We pick-up our Series by beginning to concentrate roughly on the period immediately after the confusing events of 2001, as explored in our last post, until circa 2007, i.e. the first half of His Grace's 13.4 years as the ninth Bishop of Nottingham – his first episcopal appointment following his consecration in December 2000.

In theory, this should have been a delicate time for the still relatively new and episcopally inexperienced Dominican bishop given the confusion that, apparently, he knew had wrongly been spread about his views during his first year in Nottingham. For as we later learned (but not until 2008) the disturbing events of 2001, when His Grace was publicly proclaimed to be pro so-called "women priests", apparently stemmed from a misquotation in a botched interview first published in a local diocesan youth magazine and then in the (apparently independent) diocesan newspaper. Therefore, based on the clarifications given in 2008 – when His Grace unequivocally stated that he was against the ordination of females and furthermore that he had clearly stated as much in 2001 only for the complete opposite to be printed – it is a reasonable retrospection to say that, from 2002 onwards, he would have been keen to ensure there were no further erroneous perceptions about him spread around.

SEARCHING FOR THE ARCHBISHOP (12.2); Re: His Grace and the subject of "women priests"; our analysis finally triggered by matters arising from the Roscoe Lecture, October 2015; this time considering the confusion of 2001; second in a short sub-series; Notes #14

Advice: this post is the second of a sub-set within a broader Series. It can be read either as a standalone commentary or in the light of the previous "intro" piece here. 

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Heard the one about a future Pope, a future archbishop, a botched youth magazine interview, and an inexplicably incompetent diocesan newspaper?

No, we didn't "get it" either.

Anyway, we'll have another stab.

To try to understand, that is, just how it transpired, in 2001, that His Grace The Most Rev. Malcolm McMahon OP, now the ninth Archbishop of Liverpool, since 2014 – but back then having not long since been appointed the Bishop of Nottingham – was twice reported to have been firmly in favour of female ordination...only for the truth, apparently, to have been emphatically the opposite (as indeed it should have been and should always be).

Thankfully, as we later learned, the future Pope Benedict XVI had the matter clarified to his satisfaction just 12 months later in 2002.

However, as far as we can ascertain (caveat), the rest of the Catholic world didn't discover for perhaps as long as another (almost) eight years that His Grace had been dangerously "misquoted" (his word) and that his actually stated views in 2001 were, apparently, diametrically opposed to what they were erroneously alleged to be.

So, as far as we can tell, this mind-bending story which has bounced around the Catholic media and blogosphere for many years – but often very short on detail and seemingly never really examined under-the-bonnet – is a five-fold-farrago comprising the following elements:

i) what His Grace's true quotes were in 2001;
ii) an apparently completely distorted youth magazine interview;
iii) a "diocesan" (our emphasis) journal that later compounded that error by republishing it;
iv) the relatively swift but (seemingly) unpublicised assurances given to Rome in 2002; and
v) a very belated but necessary public clarification possibly as late as 2008...denouncing the "misquotes"

You couldn't make it up, as they say.

Except that, apparently, a gang of kids did exactly that!