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The Sword of the Spirit: A Catholic Cultural Crusade of 1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Stuart Mews
Stuart Mews*
Affiliation:
University of Lancaster
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Extract

In the anxious second half of 1940 certain developments took place which cardinal Heenan, the late archbishop of Westminster, was to describe, somewhat grandly, as ‘the opening chapter of the modern history of religion in Great Britain’. He was referring to an unprecedented series of events which led up to and flowed from a letter to the Times in December extolling the five peace points of pope Pius XII. The letter was signed not only by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Westminster, cardinal Hinsley, but also by the two Anglican primates and the moderator of the Free Church council. Such a public manifestation of religious harmony reflected the national unity of the hour and was further reinforced a few months later by two joint meetings which were each addressed by both catholic and protestant leaders. But the pressures for national and religious cohesion which were at their height in 1940–41 were to decline with the passing of the immediate threat and to be effectively countered by the resurgence of older and more powerful denominational suspicions and susceptibilities. What might have been an ‘opening chapter’ turned instead into little more than an isolated essay in inter-church relations. As such it would hardly justify closer scrutiny but the episode is more significant because it throws light on several problems which arise when religion has to function in a modern society at a time of crisis. More particularly it draws attention to the pressures and constraints involved in the mobilization of religious commitments in the national interest and to the strategic considerations which impelled church leaders to opt for a particular course of action when confronted by a complex web of national needs, institutional inhibitions and popular sentiment. This paper does not attempt a comprehensive analysis of the various facets of the situation but concentrates on those aspects which relate to the Roman Catholic church in England.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 20: The Church and War , 1983 , pp. 409 - 430
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1983

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References

1 Heenan, [John C.], [Cardinal Hinsley] (London 1944) p 181 Google Scholar.

2 Ibid 8-11; Daily Maii, Yorkshire Post 18 March 1943.

3 In his Golders Green sermon of 1935: Heenan pp 51-62.

4 Church Times, 24 June 1915; B[ritish] W[eekly] 20 May 1915.

9 Guardian 10 June 1915.

6 Der Geist Deutschen Kultur, quoted in T.F.A. Smith, ‘German War Literature’ Contemporary Review CIX (1916) p 633.

7 The Outlook for Religion (London 1917) pp 80, 40.

8 Lay Thoughts of a Dean (London 1917) p 308.

9 Arms and the Clergy (1914-18) (London 1934) p v.

10 See also the double-edged comment in the Church Quarterly Review April-June 1941: ‘We need only say that one could hardly imagine any pages more completely characteristic of their much loved author.’

11 Programme Directive by Basil Nicolls, 4 June 1940, quoted Briggs, [Asa], [The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom vol iii The War of Words (London 1970)] p 216 Google Scholar.

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17 Tablet 17 April 1915; Pope Benedict XV and the Belligerant Nations (London 1917).

18 Times 24-25 April, 7 May 1918; Tablet 4 May 1918. For a comprehensive treatment of both catholic and protestant reactions see Mews, Stuart, ’Religion and English Society in the First World War‘ (Unpub University of Cambridge Ph.D thesis 1973)Google Scholar.

19 [Archives of the Archdiocese of Westminster] B[ourne] P[apers] (many of Hinsley’s papers have been wrongly filed amongst the papers of his predecessor, cardinal Bourne) 1/76 S.J. Gosling— A. Hinsley 3 February 1939.

20 Bodleian Ms Eng. lett. C 301/127 W.E. Orchard— J. Marchant 26 January 1938.

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22 BP 1/124 C.C. Martindale— V. Elwes 8 August 1939. A similar offer of assistance was also made by German Catholics.

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24 BP 1/124 L.M. Feery— V. Elwes 16 August 1939.

25 Speight, Robert, The Life of Eric Gill (London 1966) p 274 Google Scholar.

26 BP 1/124 L.M. Feery— V. Elwes 16 August 1939.

27 Templewood, [Viscount, [Ambassador on Special Mission (London 1946)] pp 56f, 167fGoogle Scholar; Hamilton, Thomas J., Appeasement’s Child (New York 1943) p 109 Google ScholarPubMed.

28 [Archdiocese of Westminster] H[insley] P[apers] 2/217 D. Mathew — A. Hinsley 10 February 1940; BP 1/124 Lord Perth— A. Hinsley 11 August 1939; A. Hinsley —Lord Perth 14 August 1939; A. Hinsley —Goma Y Tomas 18 August 1939.

29 HP 2/217 A. Hinsley —Lord Phillimore 1 June 1940.

30 HP 2/217 W. Starkie — A. Hinsley 11 June 1940; A. Hinsley — W. Starkie 15 June 1940.

31 HP 2/217 A. Hinsley —W.S. Churchill 21 October 1940; Maquis del Moral— V. Elwes 25 October 1940; Notes on Propaganda in Spain by the Maquis del Moral (typescript).

32 Templewood p 32.

33 Ibid p 55.

34 Times 12 August 1940; HP 2/13 A. Hinsley —Editor, Times 21 August 1940; A. Hinsley — Duke of Alba 13 August 1940, Duke of Alba— A. Hinsley, 21 August 1940.

35 BWS September 1940.

36 BP 1/141 A. Bevin —Lord Fitzalan, 1 June 1940, A. Hinsley —C. Suhard, 4 June 1940.

37 HP 2/219 D. Retchford — A. Hinsley, n.d.; Barbara Ward, ‘The New Propaganda’ The Month 917 (November 1940) p 285.

38 HP 2/219 C. Dawson— A. Hinsley 17 July 1940; the greater part of this letter was reproduced in Sword of the Spirit Bulletin 2, 23 August 1940.

39 BP 1/141 A. Hinsley — D. Woodruff —Editor, Times —manager, Press Association 13 July 1940.

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44 HP 2/219; ‘The Sword of the Spirit: What the Movement Stands For’ (leaflet).

45 Bodleian Ms Eng. let. c301/152 W.E. Orchard— J. Marchant 14 May 1941.

46 Notes de Mgr Montini 17 août 1940, Pierre Blet et al eds Le Saint Siege et la guene en Europe, Juin 1940-Juin 1941 (Vatican 1967) p 113; Heenan p 188.

47 HP 2/219 T.L. Williams— A. Hinsley, nd; copy in Coverdale Deposit, Archives of the Archdiocese of Westminster.

48 For the distinction between norm-oriented movements and value-oriented movements see Smelser, Neil J., Theory of Collective Behaviour (London 1962)Google Scholar. Archbishop Williams is remembered as a supporter of the movement by Mrs Freda Beales whose help and hospitality I gratefully acknowledge.

49 Jerrold, Douglas, Georgian Adventure (London 1937).Google Scholar

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51 HP 2/219 L. Fairfield — A. Hinsley 12 January 1941.

52 Tablet 28 December 1940.

53 HP 2/219 B. Ward— A. Hinsley 7 January 1941.

54 HP 2/219 L. Fairfield — A. Hinsley 12 January 1941.

55 HP 2/219 Note by Hinsley on letter from B. Ward 7 January 1941.

56 HP 2/13 J.W. Welch— V. Elwes 12 September 1940; HP 2/219. Lady Winifrede Elwes— V. Elwes 9 September 1940.

57 The text of the letter was drawn up by Miss Ellis and archbishop Godfrey: HP 2/141 W. Temple— A. Hinsley 30 November 1940. A. Hinsley — W. Temple 2 December 1940.

58 HP 2/141 R. Hope — D. Mathew 26 June 1940; A. Hinsley — R. Hope 27 June 1940.

59 Heenan p 193; for Bell’s speech: Bell, G.K.A., The Church and Humanity (1939-46) (London 1946) pp 48–57 Google Scholar.

60 Heenan p 193.

61 HP 2/219 A.F. C Beales— V. Elwes 16 May 1941.

62 Ibid.

63 Gooch, H.M.—S.M. Berry June 1941 quoted in [Henry] Townsend, [Robert Wilson Black (London 1954)] pp 132-3Google Scholar.

64 Townsend p 134.

65 BP 1/174 R. Hope — V. Elwes 5 May 1941; B. Ward — A. Hinsley, 20 May 1941.

66 BP 1/174 C. Dawson— A. Hinsley 13 June 1941.

67 Jasper, R.C.D., George Bell, Bishop of Chichester (London 1967) p 252 Google Scholar.

68 BP 1/174 Minutes of the executive meeting of the sword of the spirit 16 July 1941; T. Bodkin — B. Ward, 10 September 1941.

69 For a detailed discussion of these developments see Michael J. Walsh, ‘Ecumenism in Wartime Britain. The Sword of the Spirit and Religion and Life, 1940-1945 (1)’ Heylhrop Journal, July 1982 pp 243-58. For the subsequent development of the Sword into the Catholic Institute for International Relations, a name adopted in 1965, see Walsh, M.J., From Sword to Ploughshare (London 1980)Google Scholar.

70 Mathew p 263.

71 Brown p 100.

72 BP 1/174 M. McGrath— A. Hinsley 15 November 1941.

73 For a discussion of the problems of role conflict, especially in a situation of ideological dialogue see Maclntyre, Alasdair ’The Christian-Communist Rapprochement: Some Sociological Notes and Questions‘, Martin, D. ed, A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain 2 (London 1969) pp 173–186 Google Scholar.

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