The former editor of The Tablet, John Wilkins, died on Tuesday. His editorship was dominated by the extraordinary papacy of St John Paul II. That Pope brought verve and clarity to Catholic teaching, and was unembarrassed about seeking to silence dissenting voices on issues such as female ordination, homosexuality, contraception and the admission of divorced and remarried Catholics to Holy Communion. As we say in a leader this week, Wilkins had grave misgivings, as did many of The Tablet’s writers and readers. He wanted to keep the debate open so that the influence of a less rigid kind of Catholicism would not be lost to future generations. He gave us an unsurpassed lesson in how it is possible to combine brilliant, independent journalism with a deep love of the Church. Hugo Young wrote in a tribute published on his retirement, “He was a friend of the Church but not its slave, an ally but not one subornable into believing that criticism amounts to disloyalty. Above all he has been a friend, through some taxing times, of The Tablet’s ever-expanding circle of readers. Without that bond, an editor will always fail. He must know how to challenge as well as satisfy them. In the challenge lies the satisfaction, for readers of a paper like The Tablet. Supplying both is what made John Wilkins a great editor.”
Brendan Walsh, Editor of the Tablet