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Styles of John Carmel Cardinal Heenan
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Westminster

John Carmel Cardinal Heenan (January 26, 1905—November 7, 1975) was an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1963 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965.

Biography

John Heenan was born in Ilford, Redbridge, as the youngest of the four children of the Irish John and Anne (née Pilkington) Heenan. 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 July 6, 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.

On January 27, 1951, he was appointed Bishop of Leeds by Pope Pius XII. Heenan received his episcopal consecration on the following March 12 from Archbishop William Godfrey, with Bishops Joseph McCormack and John Petit serving as co-consecrators. Named the sixth Archbishop of Liverpool on May 2, 1957, Heenan was later appointed the eighth Archbishop of Westminster on September 2, 1963. As Archbishop of Westminster, he served as the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

A participant of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1963), 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". The English prelate also condemned the periti, or theological experts, who sought to change the Church's doctrine on birth control. Moreover, despite the risks to ecumenism, Heenan later supported the canonization of the Forty Martyrs.

He was created Cardinal Priest of S. Silvestro in Capite by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of February 22, 1965. In 1968, Heenan was named President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

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").

Trivia

• Both of his parents were from the parish of Clareen.
• Within in the Roman Curia, he held membership in the Congregation for Bishops and Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law.
• He succeeded William Cardinal Godfrey as both Archbishop of Liverpool and of Westminster.
• He was a close friend of fellow English clergyman, Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury. In 1968, Heenan, in an unprecedented move, invited Ramsey to speak at Westminster Cathedral

Quote

• "A church that is half empty is half full."

References

1. Diocese of Westminster. Cardinal John Carmel Heenan January 11, 2005
2. Time Magazine. Dominant Theme June 12, 1950
3. Time Magazine. The Bravest Schema October 30, 1964
4. Ibid.
5. Time Magazine. Furor over Forty January 19, 1970
6. Time Magazine. November 17, 1975
7. Diocese of Westminster. Cardinal John Carmel Heenan January 11, 2005
8. Ibid.
9. Time Magazine. Empty Pews, Full Spirit August 16, 1963
10. Time Magazine. February 2, 1968
11. Time Magazine. Revival in England May 9, 1949

External Links

• Catholic-Hierarchy profile
• Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church profile

• 1905 births
• 1975 deaths
• People from Essex
• English cardinals
• Archbishops of Liverpool (Roman Catholic)
• Old Ignatians
• Archbishops of Westminster