The Archbishop of Westminster
The splendour of the elaborate ritual which accompanied the en- thronement of Dr. Bernard Griffin as sixth Archbishop of West- minster was in contrast with the homeliness of his address—the " allocution "—to the congregation in the cathedral. Indeed, one part of it was precisely about the home, and the need for the revival of Christian family life. In this first archiepiscopal pro- nouncement Dr. Griffin showed his sense of the necessity for the Church to speak its mind on pressing social questions of the day, though he approached them, of course, from the religious and the specifically Roman Catholic point of view. Those not associated with that Church can wholeheartedly commend his insistence on the importance of the place of the mother in the family, on the introduction of a system of family allowances, and on the evil arising from the prevalence of divorce. The condemnation, of birth control and the "menace" of the divorce law is another matter ; and Dr. Griffin's advocacy of a strict censorship of books is wholly at variance with the modern conception of democracy. Yet he is progressive in the fullest sense when he gives his blessing to the Beveridge scheme of social security, and to projects for getting rid of slums and for building better and larger houses or flats for the nation's families. The address as a whole indicated dearly his intention that the Roman Catholic Chiuch in Britain should make its corporate voice heard in regard to public affairs.
Previous page
