In one of the rural districts the bishop was giving an illustration of the meaning of "Tradition," and, very much to my embarrassment, I found him taking me for his text. He said—"So far as I know, there were no newspapers in Our Lord's days; there was nobody taking down His sermons, as there is to-day taking mine; so that His teaching had to be by word of mouth, and much of it has come down to us as Tradition."
In the interest of the paper, Father Nugent was anxious that I should be introduced to the Bishop. But he knew, as well as I did, that the difficulty in the way of this was what might be called the Grand Vizier, Canon Fisher. "You should push forward, Denvir," Father Nugent would say, "after Mass is over, and ask to see the Bishop." Over and over again I did so, but was always met at the vestry door by Canon Fisher, with his suave smile. "Well, Mr. Denvir, what can I do for you?" "I would like to see his lordship," I would say. No use. The Canon would say—"No, no; don't trouble the Bishop; I can give you all the information you want;" and so it went on, and I was baffled in my attempts.
I ought to say that, though Canon Fisher was able to keep me from coming into personal contact with Bishop Goss, Father Nugent was too strong for him in the end; for, eventually, we got into communication with the Bishop regularly every week on the subject of his sermons. Each Monday as soon as my copy was set up, we sent him a proof, which he would read and correct and return. But his "corrections" often included the addition of altogether new matter, which made the sermon the more interesting and valuable to us. Indeed, on several occasions, we used his new matter, with slight alterations, as leaders. The very week he died we had one of these leaders in type, and it appeared in the same issue which announced his death.
When Cardinal Vaughan became Bishop of Salford, Father Nugent succeeded in getting his support and influence for the "Catholic Times," a most valuable thing for us, seeing that Manchester, though with a smaller Catholic population than Liverpool, was of more importance from a publishing point of view, as from that city can be more readily reached a number of large manufacturing towns, of which it is the centre. Again it was—"Denvir, you must see the Bishop." But this time there was no difficulty, as an appointment had been made for me. Accordingly, by arrangement, I reached Manchester one morning between six and seven o'clock, that being the most convenient time for him that Bishop Vaughan could give me, and together we discussed the best means of forwarding the interests of the paper in the diocese of Salford. I found him, besides being a man of courtly presence, as we all know, most broad-minded and genial, and keenly alive to the influence which a good newspaper would have upon his people.
Whenever I see the "Catholic Times," I feel gratified at its very existence, as a proof that my three years with Father Nugent were not altogether spent in vain. For when he placed its control in my hands on his departure for America, I found it with a very small circulation, and anything but a paying concern; whereas, when I yielded up the trust into his hands, I had the satisfaction of handing over to him a substantial amount of cash in hand, a statement of assets and liabilities showing a satisfactory balance on the right side, and a paper with a largely increased and paying circulation.
For many years previous to his death, I did not come into contact with him. Indeed it was only the year before he died that I had the pleasure—and it was all the more a pleasure as we had differed strongly during previous years on some points—of meeting him at his house in Formby. This was before his last visit to America, where he contracted the illness which terminated in his death soon after his return to England.