Archbishop of Birmingham Bernard Longley reflects on first 12 months in office

Jan 3 2011 by Andy Richards, Birmingham Mail

BERNARD LONGLEY, Archbishop of Birmingham, joins Maureen messent and he reflects on his first 12 months in office and the historic visit by Pope Benedict to the city.

IT WAS a hairy moment, even for an archbishop accustomed to papal pomp and Catholic circumstance.

“I found myself hermitically sealed into the Popemobile with Bernard XV1 and his secretary,” says Bernard Longley, our Manchester-born Archbishop of Birmingham.

“I sat facing him with his secretary and thought that, at any moment, a flunkey would see me, knock on the window, and tell me: ‘No, the popemobile isn’t for you, old chap. Your transport is way back down the line.’

“No knock came, though. I sat and tried to recall schoolboy German, got a few words out – and he answered in English.

“He spoke of music in the Church and was intrigued by the groups of turbaned Sikhs waiting to see him. My heart stopped a couple of times as parents thrust babies in his direction to be kissed. When you see it that close, you realise the potential for a dropped infant is pretty big.”

Thus Bernard recalled his first year in our city, a time of Catholic celebration over Newman’s beatification, of course, but a rigorous learning curve for this Oxford-educated musician, now 55, and charmed by an aspect of the West Midlands that usually causes derogatory laughter.

“I love the Black Country and its accent,” he says. “No, I’m not confusing it with the Birmingham way with English I’m speaking of how people sound in places like Lower Gornal.

“I was there a couple of weeks ago and loved the speech patterns and the fun of the district.