Exacting in journalism, fearless in theology
The Tablet
The revered former editor of The Tablet John Wilkins died on Tuesday
after a period of ill-health. His editorship spanned the crucial years
from 1982 to 2003, dominated by the papacy of St John Paul II. That pope
sought to end the disagreements between competing interpretations of
the Second Vatican Council, which had closed in 1965 but had left many
loose ends still untied. Pope John Paul II’s desire was to close down
the discussion on issues such as female ordination, homosexuality,
abortion, contraception and the admission of divorced and remarried
Catholics to Holy Communion. He issued definitive answers and made
assent to them a test of Catholic orthodoxy.
Wilkins had grave
misgivings, as did many of The Tablet’s writers and readers. He wanted
to keep the debate open so that the influence of a less rigid kind of
Catholicism would not be lost to future generations. This was a formula
for periodic bouts of conflict as senior Catholic leaders took their cue
from Rome’s inflexible line. Wilkins’ technique was to accept the
inevitability of the occasional yellow card, but to avoid being shown a
red one. Cardinal Basil Hume, with whom his relations were personally
cordial, once accused Wilkins of promoting what he called an
“alternative magisterium”. Wilkins parried that in so far as he was in
opposition to the papacy of the time, it was always a “loyal
opposition”. He could quote chapter and verse from the documents of the
Second Vatican Council, and tended to think of the Council more in terms
of discontinuity with the past than of continuity with it. When under
attack he was defended by the chairman of the Tablet board, Lord Hunt,
who was both the former cabinet secretary under Margaret Thatcher and
Cardinal Hume’s brother-in-law. No doubt occasional words of advice were
offered.
And The Tablet’s circulation thrived. In the United Kingdom and internationally, it was famous as a breath of Catholic fresh air. It was not only its generous theological stance that attracted readers but the excellence of its writing. Wilkins would not let poor copy into the paper. If he felt its author had something important to say he would labour to rework the material until it was fit to print. And then, with enormous charm, persuade the author that it was all his own work. The Church and The Tablet owe him an immeasurable debt.
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