The author declares that his intent in writing this book is to study the attitude and responses of the English Roman Catholic bishops to a range of social and political problems in the period 1903 to 1963. Aspden has gained access to a wide ranging number of diocesan and other archives and private papers relating to his theme. He is to be commended for the amount of energy and perseverance expended. The sources are scattered across England and are not always filed and conserved in ways that make for easy study.
He organises his study into an Introduction followed by 7 chapters and then a Conclusion with an Appendix listing the bishops of England and Wales 1903–1963. The chapters are: [1]. ‘Docile, Loving Children’: Social and Political Action 1903–1918; [2]. ‘Imperialism and Snobs’: The Bishops and Ireland 1918–1921; [3]. Social Reconstruction and the Labour Party Question 1918–1924; [4]. The Eclipse of Social Catholicism 1924–1935; [5]. Spain, Fascism and Communism; [6]. The Sword and the Spirit; [7]. Safety First 1943–1963.
Aspden follows a largely chronological sequence with some overlap. The attention allocated to periods and topics is somewhat uneven. The first two thirds of the period is addressed in some 240 pages, while the last third is presented in some 40 pages only. This imbalance casts doubts on the author's selection of themes that provide a foundation for passing judgment upon the ‘attitude and responses of the English Roman Catholic bishops to a range of social and political questions’(p. 2). The title of ‘Safety First 1943–1963’ for the chapter in which he covers this period indicates his conviction that bishops ought to be consistently pro-active on political and social matters.
The author covers a period in English history of considerable social change and movement so some selection of topics is inevitable. He chose not to give detailed attention to the impact of the Great Wars of his period. This is a pity since he could have broadened the foundation for his conclusions had he paid more attention to these socially very significant events. These wars, in addition to the dislocation of people's lives and the impact upon the ordinary operation of each diocese, made considerable demands upon the teaching duty of the bishops on the moral issues brought to the fore by the conflicts in their origins and progress. Aspden has ranged widely over the actions and opinions of the bishops in the period 1903 to 1963. His own point of departure in arriving at a judgment on the bishops is fairly obvious. He is in favour of a pro-active episcopacy in social and political matters provided that the initiative of suitably qualified laity in these affairs is not impeded or controlled by the bishops. In the main he finds the bishops inadequate on most counts. Some individual bishops he is able to praise for their initiatives and stances over the political and social issues of their times.
I find myself unconvinced by Aspden's general conclusions on the English bishops in the period in question. This is not a matter of episcopal solidarity. I was born in 1923, and so have a fair memory as a layman of a substantial part of the period. I became a bishop in 1980, well after the new beginnings set in train by the Second Vatican Council. Yet I am able to sympathise with the bishops in England of former times, with the pressures of sustaining the Catholic schools, having to found new parishes, to respond to the needs of immigrants from many countries coupled with a sense of insufficient priestly vocations to serve the people. Aspden does accept that these demands placed on the bishops were met with responses that were sometimes heroic. It is of the nature of the episcopal office that the spiritual and practical needs of the Catholic people come first in the bishop's order of concern. Political and general social maters will come after these.
Taking account of the priorities that bishops are bound to observe, in the matter of the stances adopted by the bishops in political and social issues, I am much more of the opinion advanced by Jeffrey Paul von Ark, in From Out of the Flaminian Gate, that the English Catholic engagement with society was and is best fulfilled by penetration of that society and not by specifically Catholic organisation or episcopal politicking.
Aspden, in my view, has paid insufficient attention to the significance of the YCW (the Young Christian Workers) in the English Catholic scene in the period of his study. He makes only passing reference to this dynamic organisation. The YCW takes its inspiration and manner of operating from Joseph Cardijn, a Belgian priest later a Cardinal. Cardijn's approach aimed at the creation of a sense of dignity and mission in the young worker by the christian formation of the individual. Essential to this process is the active yet non-intrusive presence of a chaplain to the groups. The bishops of England must be commended for their unflagging support of the YCW in the era after the 1939–45 conflict especially by the provision of priest chaplains. The fruit of that support is to be found in the formation of lay Catholics who later made and are making a considerable Christian contribution to political and social challenges.
It is accurate of Aspden to hold that the English bishops in the period 1903–1963 produced no bishop of the national standing enjoyed by Manning in the 19th century. Yet I hold that the contribution made by the bishops to the formation of laity was prophetically, even if unconsciously, anticipatory of the teaching contained in Gaudium et Spes par.76 concerning the relations between the Church and the political community. Aspden's title, Fortress Church, does not represent the state of affairs in the English Church that I remember as a layman. I regarded the Catholic Church as called to a mission to the whole population of the land and not as an embattled stronghold. I did not need defending by my bishop, but I did expect him to represent the teaching of the Catholic Church. I believe that I carried these sentiments with me when I became a Conventual Franciscan and later a priest.
Despite these strictures, I recommend Aspden's work as essential reading for those who are interested in the English Catholic Church in the period 1903–1963. His industry in collating his findings from many primary sources and his comments will be invaluable for those who wish to study the developments in the Catholic Church in England and Wales subsequent to the Second Vatican Council that terminated in 1965.
