Malcolm McMahon

His Grace The Most Reverend
Malcolm McMahon
OP KC*HS
Archbishop of Liverpool
Church Roman Catholic Church
Archdiocese Archdiocese of Liverpool
Province Province of Liverpool
Appointed 21 March 2014
Installed 1 May 2014
Predecessor Patrick Kelly
Successor Incumbent
Other posts Chair of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference Department of Education and Formation, the Catholic Education Service (CES)
Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic Trust for England and Wales (CATEW)
National President of Pax Christi, the International Catholic Movement for Peace
National Ecclesiastical Advisor to the Knights of Saint Columba
Orders
Ordination 26 June 1982
by Basil Hume
Consecration 8 December 2000
by James Joseph McGuinness
Personal details
Birth name Malcolm Patrick McMahon
Born (1949-06-14) 14 June 1949
London, England
Nationality English
Denomination Roman Catholic Church
Residence Archbishop's House, Salisbury Road, Liverpool
Previous post Bishop of Nottingham (2000-2014)
Prior of Blackfriars, Oxford (2000)
Prior Provincial of the English Province of the Dominican Order (1992-2000)
Alma mater University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
Motto 'Non Nisi Te'
(None but you, Lord)
Coat of arms
Styles of
Malcolm McMahon
Reference style The Most Reverend
Spoken style Your Grace
Religious style Archbishop

Malcolm Patrick McMahon, OP, KC*HS (born 14 June 1949) is an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Since 2014, he has been the ninth Archbishop of Liverpool. Previously, he was Bishop of Nottingham from 2000 to 2014.

Early life and ministry

Malcolm McMahon was born in London, the second of three brothers and studied mechanical engineering at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology before working for London Transport. In 1976, he decided upon an ecclesiastical career and joined the Dominican Order. Making his religious profession in December 1977, McMahon studied philosophy at Blackfriars, Oxford and theology at Heythrop College. He was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Basil Hume on 26 June 1982.

He served as chaplain of Leicester Polytechnic for the 1986/7 academic year, whence he served in a London parish. McMahon later became Parish Priest of St Dominic's in Newcastle upon Tyne (1989), and of St Dominic's in Haverstock Hill (1990). He was elected prior provincial of the Dominicans' English Province in both 1992 and 1996. In 2000, he was elected prior of Blackfriars, Oxford.

Episcopal career

Bishop of Nottingham

On 7 November 2000, McMahon was appointed Bishop of Nottingham by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 8 December from Bishop James Joseph McGuinness, with Bishops Victor Guazzelli and Patrick O'Donoghue serving as co-consecrators, in the Cathedral Church of St. Barnabas.

McMahon's name had been mentioned as a possible successor to Cormac Murphy-O'Connor as Archbishop of Westminster[1] and to Kevin McDonald as Archbishop of Southwark. He serves as Chair of the Department of Education and Formation of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Chair of the Catholic Education Service, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic Trust of England & Wales, Ecclesiastical Advisor to the Knights of Saint Columba, and President of the British Section of Pax Christi, the international Catholic peace movement.

Archbishop of Liverpool

On 21 March 2014 Pope Francis appointed Bishop McMahon as the ninth Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Liverpool.[2] Archbishop McMahon was enthroned at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King on 1 May 2014, the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, before a congregation of three thousand.

Views

Archbishop McMahon has said that there is no doctrinal reason preventing priests from having wives:[3]

There is no reason why priests shouldn't be allowed to marry. It has always been a matter of discipline rather than doctrine[...]It is a question of justice for those men who want to be priests and to have a wife. Marriage should not bar them from their vocation but they must be married before they are ordained. The justice issue also applies to communities which could be deprived of the Eucharist because there aren't enough priests.

He considers clerical celibacy as a "spiritual necessity". In a pastoral letter read in the Diocese of Nottingham on Sunday 25 October 2009, then Bishop McMahon said:[4]

Another aspect of priesthood that is often challenged is that of mandatory celibacy for our priests. Yet the celibate priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church has always been understood as a special gift that we should treasure. In our tradition, celibacy is not a mere external rule but a spiritual necessity.

He also supports the role of women in Catholic Church, but is against the ordination of women as priests:[5]

I look forward to the day when women play a greater role in ministry and take up more of a place in the Church, but not in sacred orders.

In the same pastoral letter, Bishop McMahon said:[6]

In the Mass, the Church follows the words of Christ himself when the bread and wine are consecrated; it has not made up these words, neither does the Church consider that it has the authority to make such a change. In a similar way only men are ordained in the Church because to ordain women would be to devise something that Christ did not institute.

In April 2010, Bishop McMahon appeared on the BBC's Hard Talk to discuss the Church's response to the sexual abuse of children. He defended the work of the Holy See and the Church in England and Wales on this and expressed the hope that the Vatican would become more open and transparent in its treatment of victims and perpetrators.

Personal info

In his free time, the Archbishop enjoys playing golf and listening to live music and opera but also admits to being a fan of Norah Jones.

Portrait

On 21 March 2017, Hardman Portrait published a portrait of Archbishop McMahon to be displayed to the public in the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Crypt. Archbishop McMahon is depicted in choir dress, mirroring the black and white portrait of his predecessor Archbishop Richard Downey. The portrait is one of a series of works depicting current members of Liverpool society alongside their predecessors.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ Thompson, Damian (6 February 2009). "Paddy Power suspends betting on Bishop Malcolm McMahon for Westminster". The Daily Telegraph.
  2. ↑ BBC News – New Archbishop of Liverpool named as Bishop Malcolm McMahon
  3. ↑ Wynne-Jones, Jonathan (8 November 2008). "Catholic Church has no reason to stop priests from marrying, says leading bishop". The Daily Telegraph.
  4. ↑ http://www.catholicnews.org.uk/Home/News/2009/Pastoral-Letter-for-the-Year-of-the-Priest-from-Bishop-Malcolm-McMahon-OP
  5. ↑ Wynne-Jones, Jonathan (8 November 2008). "Catholic Church has no reason to stop priests from marrying, says leading bishop". The Daily Telegraph.
  6. ↑ http://www.catholicnews.org.uk/Home/News/2009/Pastoral-Letter-for-the-Year-of-the-Priest-from-Bishop-Malcolm-McMahon-OP
  7. ↑ https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7Xi1IqXUAAMvXp.jpg:large
  8. ↑ Chambre Hardman [@HardmanPortrait] (21 March 2017). "Archbishop Malcolm McMahon 2017 - Soon to be shown @LiverpoolMet" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

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Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
James Joseph McGuinness		 Bishop of Nottingham
2000–2014		 Succeeded by
Patrick McKinney
Preceded by
Patrick Kelly		 Archbishop of Liverpool
2014–present		 Incumbent
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