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The Conversion of England: John Carmel Heenan and the Catholic Missionary Society, 1947–1951
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2015
Abstract
The career of John Carmel Heenan (1905–1975) tends to be remembered for the period of his tenure as Archbishop of Westminster. This was a difficult time for Heenan, who having lived and ministered in an unchanging Church for over sixty years, took up the appointment in September 1963, at a time of rapid and unprecedented change in the Catholic Church in England and Wales following Vatican II. Contemporary commentators naturally gravitated to to the problems he faced in Westminster. Inevitably, in reviews rather than full-scale biographies, historians have concentrated on this later phase of his life. This paper examines one of Heenan's earlier achievements, that of his role of Superior of the Catholic Missionary Society from 1947 to 1951, and shows how his talents were placed at the disposal of the post-war Catholic community in an attempt to recover lapsed Catholics and attract converts to the faith.
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References
Notes
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Fr Thompson died in 1948 while still serving with the CMS.
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81 Statistics taken from the Catholic Directory (1948–1952)
82 Fr Osmund Jackson OSB of Ampleforth Abbey ascribed his choice of the monastic life to his attendance at the CMS retreat given by Heenan at Oxford University in 1950. Jackson was a recent convert. See www.plantata.org.uk
In 2003 the Catholic Missionary Society was disbanded and its assets transferred to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. It became the Catholic Agency to Support Evangelization and took over the work of the Catholic Enquiry Office.