In memory of Cardinal Hume.

Cardinal Basil Hume was no Jeremiah. Nor was he a wimp. He was much beloved by Brits, by Catholics and non-Catholics, by liberals and conservatives, by rogues and royalty, beginning with the Queen who held him in truly high regard.

He often took a bashing nevertheless from critics who demanded that he take a hard line on the 'hard issues' of the day; the louder the better. But that was not his style.

Though he was often accused of excessive diplomacy, it would be wrong to assume that Hume never spoke out on tough issues such as abortion, euthanasia, women priests, and homosexuality. He did.

But when he did, he seems always to have had a special grace which allowed him to get the message out without inflaming ugly passions. In other words, he was as wily as a serpent. And always gentle.

"He had an ability to come alongside people who were struggling or suffering. He never made people feel alienated or patronised. This is a great skill of leadership," said Abbot Timothy, who replaced Hume as Abbot of Ampleforth after he was appointed Archbishop of Westminster in 1976. "If he was presented with a woman who had had an abortion, he would not give her a lecture. He would put his arms around her. He hated the sin, not the sinner."

He also prayed a lot, beginning at dawn and several times throughout the day, when he would retire to his monastic-style room for more prayer.

Although the cardinal was often criticised by conservatives for loathing confrontation and heated arguments, Abbot Timothy admired his public restraint: "I admired not his ability to make statements but his ability to keep his mouth shut. He was a master of timing. Some people criticise him for not saying enough. But on central things such as homosexuality, abortion and euthanasia, he was crystal clear."

Indeed he was, though many Canadian Catholics may have gotten the impression that Cardinal Hume was a raving liberal, 'soft' on the hard issues, particularly homosexuality.

Deep understanding of people

This is a false impression. What characterised Hume was a deep understanding of human beings, their frailties, their fears, their insecurities, and a sense that ranting loudly against their sins would neither alter their behaviour nor bring them closer to God. Which is the great task of Catholicism--to bring souls to God through the saving grace of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

A classic example came with Rome's declaration, reiterated during the 1980s and 1990s, that homosexual acts were 'objectively wrong.' Quite right, said Cardinal Hume in 1993. But this did not mean that homosexuals should feel guilty about their orientation, he said. On the contrary, "They are precious in the eyes of God." This did not stop him, however, from banning an advertisement in the Catholic Directory for Quest, an association for homosexual Catholics which refused to declare its acceptance of the Roman teaching.

Nor was he mealy-mouthed about the importance of chastity, though he could be very clever when faced with a potential banana peel. During a BBC interview in 1976, Hume was asked how he would feel if the doors were flung open and the most beautiful woman he had ever seen walked into the room. "What would your feelings be as a man?--not as a bishop or priest?" the interviewer asked. The cardinal reddened and remained silent for a few seconds. Then he asked the interviewer: "Are you married?"

"Yes," he answered.

"So am I," said the Cardinal, "to the Church and I hope you are as happily married to your wife as I am to the Church. So I invite you now to imagine yourself standing next to your beloved wife in a crowded room when two doors are flung open and the most beautiful woman you have ever seen..."

The audience applauded so wildly that Hume didn't need to finish.

Criticised by his own

As he was cardinal of this small but populous island, his Westminster Cathedral in London has often been the site of massive and ugly demonstrations against unpopular Catholic teachings against abortion, euthanasia and homosexuality. Hume held the line nevertheless (though not with a megaphone). No one, not even the Pope, can alter the immutability of moral absolutes, he said.

Yet angry criticism from members of his own flock continued to dog him throughout his 23-year tenure, even after the news in April that he was dying of cancer.

Take a recent article in the English pocket monthly Christian Order (June/July 1999) which angrily accuses Cardinal Hume of hypocrisy, unorthodoxy, and being remiss in his duties. It also blames him for a drop in church and sacramental attendance between 1984 and 1996, though conversions have increased substantially.

In Britain, the state of the Catholic Church is not dissimilar to the rest of the world. Here there are plenty of liberal Catholics, plenty of conservative Catholics, and plenty of publications reflecting both views. There are loads of converts as well-some of them well known, such as MP Anne Widdicombe, the Duchess of Kent, and Conrad Black. But this has been the case since King Henry VIII's Reformation all but wiped out Catholicism in the 16th century.

What's new is the steady flow in recent years of Anglicans into the Catholic Church, due largely to Anglican liberalism and the ordination of women priests.

As for the empty pews Christian Order claims, that has not been my experience in either the liberal or conservative churches of London. Though the Brompton Oratory is my parish church, I get around to other churches too, sometimes on Sundays but most often during the week if I happen to be somewhere I know Mass is being said. Invariably, the church will be at least half-full on, say, a Tuesday when, thank God (though many readers may disagree with this) there are no guitars to set my teeth on edge.

The Cardinal's view of liturgy

As for Cardinal Hume's role in any of this, who can say? While commentators have claimed that Catholic congregations have been dwindling almost as fast as those of the Church of England because of new liturgies celebrated with clapped-out guitars and Sixties platitudes, many Catholics are quick to call such views superficial.

I'm not so sure.

Nor was Cardinal Hume. "I agree. I agree," he told a Catholic journalist who suggested the new liturgies may be part of the problem. "In roughly half the churches I visit, the liturgy is not up to scratch, and in some, it is frankly deplorable. But for me to say anything would offend people so gravely that it would do more harm than good."

In the end, it is the Lord who works in human hearts through his Holy Spirit. And human hearts respond to Christian leadership--or not--depending on their state at the time.

Despite persistent and often petulant criticism of the cardinal, one thing is certain. The surprise appointment of the monk Basil Hume as Archbishop of Westminster was neither accidental nor ill-judged. After his 23 years as cardinal, the Catholic Church in Britain is more admired and taken more seriously by Brits than it has been for a very long time.

And that's a good thing.

In my opinion, it is also a good thing that anguished homosexuals and noisy "gay" activists liked Cardinal Hume. While they continued to rail against the Church's teachings, they were not against the Cardinal himself, a man they obviously respected though they didn't understand why.

Why did they respect him? Not because he was a 'liberal' soft on sin- he was not; not because he was a rabid ecumenist determined to water down and ultimately sell out his Church - he absolutely was not! Rather it was because something shone from within him that thousands responded to. Something loving, hopeful, trustworthy, reassuring, and wise; some thing that no amount of theological rant or cant could ever accomplish.

And, for what it's worth, I felt it personally.

"My friend died last week, will you pray for her? Go to Mass for her?" a 60-year-old gay colleague asked me recently. Then minutes later, he added: "I will miss Basil Hume...in fact, this whole country will miss him.... I can't say that I know what 'holy' means really, but somehow I think he was."

I think so too.

Paula Adamick writes from London, England. She is the publisher and editor of Canada Post, a monthly newspaper for expatriate Canadians in Europe.