New ArchBishop of Cardiff

-
T


he Vatican has appointed a Westminster auxiliary bishop to head the Archdiocese of Cardiff.
Bishop George Stack has been appointed to the Welsh archdiocese which was left empty for almost a year after Archbishop Peter Smith was moved to Southwark.
The date for his installation is still to be confirmed.
Bishop Stack, who served as a priest in Westminster for 29 years and an auxiliary bishop for 10 years under Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, said: “I look forward to serving the people and clergy of the Church in Cardiff with love and faithfulness in the years that lie ahead.”
He added: “I am aware of the long and noble history of Christianity in Wales and the special gifts the Celtic people bring to the Universal Church. I hope to share in this rich tradition of faith.”
Born in Cork, Ireland in 1946, Bishop Stack moved to London with his family in 1951. He was a seminarian at St Edmund’s College, Ware and was ordained a priest for Westminster in 1972. He has a B.Ed from St Mary’s Twickenham.
He served as a parochial vicar and as a schools and hospital chaplain. In the 1980s he was parish priest of Our Lady Help of Christians in Kentish Town, London. He then served as vicar general from 1990 to 1993 befor being appointed the chief of the metropolitan Cathedral of Westminster.
Bishop Stack became an auxiliary of Westminster in 2001.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster said: “As President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales I welcome the appointment of the new Archbishop of Cardiff. We are grateful to the Holy Father for making this appointment so soon after the arrival of our new Papal Nuncio. The See of Cardiff is an important one for the life of Wales and for the Bishops’ Conference. It is good to know that it will be filled with a bishop of such experience and dedication as Bishop George Stack. We welcome this appointment and assure Bishop Stack of our continuing prayers and affection.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Year of Service

-
Image
  This last weekend I was able to look back with friends at the wonderful year I had with the Vincentian Volunteers. Looking back I can see that there are many elements to this year that have remained always with me. These I can now see and after reflection have shaped my life since this most formative year. From this year I went on to train for the priesthood and became a priest. After 16 years I left ministry and now try my best to live my Christian values and life in the world. In a recent upgrade to my CV I realised that my whole adult life has been in some sort of service to others and usually to the most vulnerable and those on the fringes of society. From working in Top Shop to ministry to the Hospital to the work I now do in education. This all stems from this year I had with the community and putting Love in action. Yes I have made mistakes on the way and my human frailty has been evident but this life was never going to easy and straight forward.  When I look back on that yea
Read more

Easter

-
Image
  Over the last few years I have had major issues with the Catholic Church. I think that my issue is the authority of the Church and how many clergy, not all, use and abuse their power and class the laity as stupid idiots. I can say this as for 16 years I was a priest and caught up in the system. When you're in the middle of it you can't aways see what is going on around you. I could not see what the Church as a structure was doing to peoples lives. Until I was out I realised that the Church and Im talking about the Catholic Church here is full up of repressed men who are scared of change scared of themselves and scared of the laity. Those who speak out especially clergy who want significant change are laughed at by others and classed as trouble makers. This includes Pope Francis himself who wants change but sometimes can't get it because of what he has inherited. It is an issue that has gone on your centuries.  This does not allow for a healthy functioning Church. There ne
Read more

What have we learnt? Covid and the last year.

-
Image
Over the last year since the start of the Covid pandemic there has been much in the press about the affects on society. We have seen that there are many people who are anxious, feel alone and worried about the future. So I looked on the Internet for the Christian response to the Pandemic. I was not surprised to see that there were many articles to suggest that the Christian Church as a whole has failed in this time.  In the first Lockdown the Churches were asked to close and there was no public worship. As the infection rate went down the Churches could open for private prayer. In the recent lockdown many places of worship have remained open although the infection rate being a lot higher. I have maybe been a thorn in peoples sides by asking why. I even wrote to the Cardinal  to ask him why. I argued that they should be left shut because of the demographic that tend to go. I got a standard reply back. When I looked in newsletters I read many times about how to give your collection and t
Read more