Cardinal
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor is the Archbishop of Westminster, President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and spiritual leader of Catholics in England and Wales.
He was born on 24 August 1932 in Reading, Berkshire, the fifth son of Dr. George Murphy-O'Connor and his wife, Ellen. His brother Brian is a priest of the Portsmouth diocese, now retired, and his deceased brother, Patrick, was also a priest of the same diocese. He has another brother, James, who is a doctor, and a sister, Catherine. His fourth brother, John, a Regular Officer in the Royal Artillery Regiment, died at the age of 32.
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was educated at Presentation College, Reading, before boarding at Prior Park College, Bath, for his secondary schooling. He began training for the priesthood in 1950 at the Venerable English College, Rome.
Whilst at the College, he took a degree in philosophy (PhL) and theology (STL) at the Gregorian University, Rome. He was ordained priest in Rome on 28 October 1956.
In England he was appointed to Corpus Christi Parish, Portsmouth. In 1963 he was transferred to the Sacred Heart parish, Fareham, as assistant and appointed diocesan Director of Vocations. In the summer of 1966 he became private secretary and chaplain to the Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt. Rev. Derek Worlock.
In September 1970, he was appointed parish priest of the Immaculate Conception parish, Portswood, Southampton. His term as parish priest was brief: at the end of 1971 the Holy See appointed him Rector of the Venerable English College, Rome, giving him the responsibility for the training of students for the priesthood. While Rector he acted as host to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Coggan, on the occasion of his historic visit to Pope Paul VI in 1977.
On 21 December 1977 Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was ordained Bishop of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton. He served as Chairman of the Bishops' Committee for Europe (1978 to 1983), and as Vice-President of the Laity Commission (1978 to 1983). From 1983 to 2000 he was Chairman of the Committee for Christian Unity, and, from 1994 to 2000, Chairman of the Department for Mission and Unity. From 1982 to 2000 he was Co-Chairman of the Anglican and Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), whose latest document, The Gift of Authority, was published in 1999. In 2000 he was awarded a Doctorate of Divinity by the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, in recognition of all his work for Christian unity.
The Cardinal is an honorary bencher of the Inner Temple and in August 2001 was created a Freeman of the City of London.
He was installed as tenth Archbishop of Westminster on 22 March 2000. In November 2000 he was elected President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. In February 2001 he was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, and assigned the titular church of the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
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