Worlock Archive Review

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Worlock Archive ReviewDerek Worlock, the late Archbishop of Liverpool, was a key mover and shaker in the English Catholic Church for well over thirty years until his death in 1996. Ordinarily, one might have suspected that his papers would be left to gather archival dust for some time yet lest the detail of his machinations reveal too much about episcopal policy. However, in what may be seen as a measure of the self-assurance of the liberal establishment of the English Catholic Church, its lay doyen, Clifford Longley, has published this edition of Worlock's papers. Or more correctly, he has compiled an archival portrait of the man. It is most revealing.
A significant portion of the work reproduces extracts of Worlock's Vatican II diaries. Worlock, secretary to the Archbishop of Westminster at the time, is shown to be a "partisan" (Longley's description). He is conservative and opposed to change at the beginning of the Council, and he is astute enough to follow the enthusiasm for all things Vatican II by the end of it. In his entry for 21st November 1962 the young Msgr Worlock observed the future Paul VI's role in the debate on the doctrinal schema:
"...the one whom I regard as the real figure in the background and the leader of the whole anti-Ottaviani movement, Cardinal Montini, has not spoken in this debate at all. Yet morning after morning I see him as he enters the side door of St Peter's, approached by all the members of the opposition, notably Cardinal Suenens, Cardinal Alfrink, and Cardinal Koenig, and it is strange to say the least that he has not declared himself publicly in this momentous debate."
That this leader of "the opposition" was elected Pope within eight months of this entry may itself be a not insignificant factor in Worlock's change of allegiance. Tellingly, Longley reports, "nowhere does Worlock record a `Road to Damascus' experience...He was, as ever, just swimming with the current."
Derek Worlock was keen to be at the centre of events, and his secretarial efficiency (which is the subject of some amusing cartoons he drew, reproduced in this volume), kept him there long beyond his removal from the post of private secretary by Cardinal Heenan in 1964, and his consecration as Bishop of Portsmouth in 1965. "Very little happened" in the English Catholic Church "that he did not know about; indeed very little happened that he had not personally approved." He was a key player on many national and international committees, always prepared to draft and re-draft and negotiate. Herein lay his influence.
As Archbishop of Liverpool from 1976, having been passed over for Westminster in favour of Basil Hume, "'managing a difficult Westminster' became a routine problem alongside `managing a difficult Vatican'" for Worlock. By way of example Longley relates in detail the ferocious row between Worlock and Hume over the propriety of the 1982 papal visit to England in the light of the Falklands war. Worlock, at the centre of negotiations, credits himself that he "saved" the visit from cancellation in spite of Cardinal Hume.
Yet it is also apparent that he worked very closely with Hume against John Paul II's Rome. Frightened that an accurate report of their frank and anti-Roman remarks to the standing committee of the National Council of Priests might become known, prompting the Vatican to "intervene" in the English Church (by appointing less liberal bishops) and thus "reverse the whole direction of our policy," Worlock, with Hume's written concurrence, had the report suppressed. Thus neither the NCP nor the bishops of England and Wales were trusted to know what had actually been said. Longley reproduces the original, affording us a passing glimpse of Hume's churchmanship.
What were these policies Worlock and Hume so contrived to defend? Apart from protecting the English hierarchy from the infiltration of conservative elements, they strove to ensure that Rome did not censure English Catholic academics and theologians such as Dr Jack Dominion: a noted public dissenter from Church teaching "unofficially held in high esteem by the great majority of English bishops, including the Cardinal."
Of course a `minimise the fallout' policy on contraception comes high in the list. Longley devotes quite some pages to Worlock's apparently successful efforts to deal with this explosive issue throughout the 1960s and 1970s: "His technique was not to answer the problem theologically but to administer it out of harm's way." But it would re-emerge at the 1980 National Pastoral Congress held in Liverpool. Later Hume faithfully reflected the Congress' liberal opinions at the Synod on the Family in Rome.
Whilst at Liverpool Worlock achieved his famed partnership with his Anglican counterpart David Sheppard. Together they publicly combatted the social and economic plight of their people. The material Longley produces shows the extent of Worlock's genuine social conscience, as well as his real limitations in the field of secular politics. And it shows the extent of their personal friendship: Worlock went to no small amount of trouble to attended an Anglican eucharist celebrated by Sheppard before his daughter's later (Catholic) wedding. At the time for receiving the sacrament Worlock approached Sheppard for a blessing!
The Worlock Archive is a testimony to the power wielded by those at the centre of organisations. It is of genuine historical interest, though it is not a dry academic tome. Liberal English Catholics may find some satisfaction in it. Ambitious clergy may learn from it. And its smugness might well be of interest to Rome.
Worlock Archive OverviewThis is not a book about Archbishop Worlock, as much as a detective story about the history of the Catholic church in the past 40 years, following the clues found in the archive which he left when he died. He had kept records of everything and a secret diary throughout the second Vatican Council, much of which will cause surprise and controversy.

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