Early life and ordination John Heenan was born in
Ilford,
Essex, the youngest of four children of
Irish parents John and Anne Heenan (née Pilkington). He auditioned for
Westminster Cathedral Choir School at age 9, but
Sir Richard Terry rejected him for his "metallic voice". Heenan studied at
St. Ignatius College in
Stamford Hill,
Ushaw College in
Durham, and the
Venerable English College in Rome before being
ordained to the priesthood on 6 July 1930. He then did
pastoral work in
Brentwood until 1947, at which time he became
Superior of the Catholic Missionary Society of
England and Wales. In this position, Heenan criticized the United States for being too concerned about communism, and not enough about spiritual matters. By this time he had published a biography (1943) of
Cardinal Hinsley, Archbishop of Westminster, who had recently died.
Bishop On 27 January 1951, Heenan was appointed the fifth
Bishop of Leeds by
Pope Pius XII. He received his
episcopal consecration on the following 12 March from Archbishop
William Godfrey,
Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain, with
Joseph McCormack,
Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, and
John Petit,
Bishop of Menevia, serving as
co-consecrators. Named the sixth
Archbishop of Liverpool on 2 May 1957, Heenan was later appointed the eighth
Archbishop of Westminster on 2 September 1963. As Archbishop of Westminster, he served as the spiritual leader of the
Catholic Church in England and Wales. In 1968, Heenan was elected President of the
Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.
Positions during the Second Vatican Council A participant of the
Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), Heenan showed himself to be of a conservative mind. He opposed
Gaudium et spes, the council's constitution on the church in the modern world, saying that it had been "written by clerics with no knowledge of the world". He also condemned the
periti, or theological experts, who sought to change the church's doctrine on
birth control.
Cardinal He was created
Cardinal-Priest of
S. Silvestro in Capite by
Pope Paul VI in the
consistory of 22 February 1965. He died from a heart attack in London at age 70, and is buried in Westminster Cathedral, under the
twelfth Station of the Cross ("Jesus
dies on the Cross"). Heenan shared a lengthy correspondence with author
Evelyn Waugh regarding the Second Vatican Council. A compilation of their letters,
A Bitter Trial: Evelyn Waugh and John Carmel Cardinal Heenan on the Liturgical Changes, was first published in 1996 and reprinted in an expanded edition in 2011. ==Quotes==