About Andrew Cusack
Writer, web designer, etc.; born in New York; educated in Argentina, Scotland, and South Africa; now based in London. read more
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Britain: a ‘Catholic country’
The Original Church of England Overtakes the New One?
Catholics have overtaken Anglicans as the country’s dominant religious group, according to the Sunday Telegraph, as more people attend Mass every Sunday than worship with the (Anglican) Church of England. “This means that the established Church has lost its place as the nation’s most popular Christian denomination,” Jonathan Wynne-Jones reports, “after more than four centuries of unrivalled influence following the Reformation”. Sunday attendance at Anglican services has dropped a whopping 20% since the year 2000. Catholic Mass attendance in the past six years, however, has also dropped a dramatic 13%, a decline assuaged by the arrival of thousands of Polish immigrants since Poland joined the European Union.
AS WONDERFUL AS this headline is, it is very far from giving an accurate depiction of the current state of affairs. The author of the piece, Mr. Jonathan Wynne-Jones, has been attacked in the past by the Evangelical Alliance, in that circumstance for his sensationalist reporting of the prospect of “violent revolution” against by Christians against the government.
“Of course, post-Blairite Britain shows few other signs of being ‘Catholic’,” writes Fr. Nicholas Schofield of the Archdiocese of Westminster, “especially with the high abortion rate, recent laws permitting same sex partnerships and euthanasia by neglect, and the secular, politically correct Big Brother nature of government.”
While in many areas the influx of Poles has led to the retention of parishes that had been marked for closure, other areas, such as the Diocese of Lancaster, are forced to go ahead with such closures.
It was also recently announced that Greyfriars, the Franciscan permanent private hall (PPH) at Oxford is to close down. To this day, well over 150 years since Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Britain still has not a single Catholic university. (A number of smaller Catholic tertiary institutions exist, however, either in their own right or as parts of larger universities).
Most of all, the Church is still a primary target of the eternally power-hungry political class. All three political parties have shown their complete disregard for Catholicism, most recently by supporting the forced closure of Catholic adoption agencies. Labour long ago banned its once-mighty Catholic right wing from exercising any influence; the Liberal Democrats, now lead by an outright atheist, forced out Catholics (among them the renowned human rights campaigner Lord Alton) with their abortion policy from the 1990s onwards; David Cameron’s Conservatives find the Catholic Church an easy target to take pot shots at in hopes that they will prove to liberal urban voters how hip and with-it they are, suffering no penalty in the mean time. It used to be said that there were three forces in British society no politician could afford to alienate: the Trade Unions, the Brigade of Guards, and the Catholic Church. These days, it’s par for the course for the more ambitious members of our political class to attack all three in a single breath.
What’s more, many of the Catholic Bishops of England & Wales are among the least enthusiastic in the Church today, whose unity with Rome wavers (as Damian Thompson has pointed out on his blog) from lukewarm acquiescence to outright hostility. Despite this, there are some bright stars: Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, for example, and one hears good things coming from Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue of Lancaster. (It goes without saying that we hold very dear our own Cardinal O’Brien in Scotland).
Canterbury, the Anglican primate, is often overshadowed by Westminster, the head of the Catholic church in England & Wales.
And yet, there is a sense in which the Anglican Church has been revealed for the complete folly it is. The Archbishop of Canterbury is still the spiritual leader of the state, but the Archbishop of Westminster is the spiritual leader of the nation. One looks to Canterbury for an easy headline, a cheap attack on traditional Christianity, or a ready example of farce. One looks to Westminster for serious moral guidance. (Whether one gets it is another story).
So there is still a long way to go before we can justifiably call Great Britain a ‘Catholic country’ once more. But, with the grace of God, the prayers of Our Lady of Walsingham and All the Saints, and the dedication of Catholic lives of holiness and sacrifice, there is no doubt that it is attainable. There’s naught to do but to keep going.
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Excellent article! But no mention of former Prime Minister Tony Blair converting to Catholicism?
Perhaps all the remaining Anglicans will follow suit in singing “Should I stay, or should I go?”
Merry Christmas to all!
Andrew –
Thank you for this interesting essay. Would you agree that England is not really Catholic, but rather Catholics are the largest group of practicing Christians – if this information is correct? And then, just like in the US, many Catholics are nominal or ritual Catholics without accepting some of the more difficult aspects of Catholicism? It is a difficult time for the Church.
Thank you again and have a very Happy Christmas.
Harold
Harold,
“England is not really Catholic, but rather Catholics are the largest group of practicing Christians” — I’d say that’s a very astute observation. Likewise, I agree that most Catholics, in Europe and the United States, are so-called cafeteria Catholics. That was definitely my experience in most of Italy and Spain, recently.
Merry Christmas to all!
Peter
Of course, given that Her Majesty has not converted/reverted (nor obviously can she), Britain is not formally or principally a Catholic country. The best that can be said is that British Catholics have pulled even with British Anglicans, with the EU playing some part in eroding the primacy of the state church, with the state church playing its own successful part in eroding the very foundation of its own accord, and then to suddenly top it all off, you have Tony Blair returning to the fold with all the deep religious humility of a rock star celebrity, and presto! ‘Britain becomes a Catholic country’.
Christian unity is preferable to a Catholic takeover, is my own view, so with that impossible pipe dream in mind, might I wish a very happy Christmas day to all of you. Merry Christmas!
Very bad news:the Popery has won!
But England is as atheist as other countries in Europe.
It is a ray of hope in a culture seemingly trapped between the pincers of the neo-pagan revival and Islam – two expressions of what René Girard calls “the primitive Sacred.” May dear, poor old England recall one day she is the dowry of Our Lady. Merry Christmas and a joyous Yule
Sadly, this news was just used as an excuse for having a kick at the poor old CofE by people who are no friends to religion.
Good God – this terrifies me.
The lights really will have gone out again; the old terror will be back, when all thought it invicibly slain; and the Jesuits shall at last step out from behind their quivering curtains and regain the reigns of power.
But I doubt it. Protestants – i.e. CofE + Methodists, Baptists, Free Church, etc, etc – still out number the Catholics an awful lot.
And no one looks to Canterbury OR Westminster for much of anything, these days, though I would agree that more Catholics look to W than Anglicans look to C. Not much in that, though.
Just wait till Sentamu or Nazir-Ali has Lambeth, though, and we can peel off the homosexualist/liberal vandals and drop them summarily into a ready bin. That pruning will go a long way.
Putting all competition aside, though, I would say both CofE and RC in England are in similar and similarly serious sorts of trouble. Though I am an Anglican, and Reformed till I die, etc, I hope to see both regain their true vigour and character in the future. I would much rather see an honest RC and honest CofE church in the land, than one or the other scooping everyone or some people because of the other’s problems. Let Christians have a true choice.
Have a splendid Boxing Day, everyone.
Good post! This is of course Chrimbo spin and piffle, also largely to do with Mr Blair’s “conversion”. You don’t mention, though, that Catholics in this country may well soon be outnumbered by Muslims. Also, I don’t remember the last time Cameron’s Tories took potshots at the Catholic Church. My impression of Cam & Co. is that they would actually be quite happy with the sort of Catholicism espoused by Mr. and Mrs. Blair.
Yesterday the BBC’s 24-hour news channel was leading in the morning with the Archbishop of Westminster’s sermon at Midnight Mass. Dr Williams came in second place, followed by the Holy Father. It was a nice to see, especially since the Cardinal had talked about refugees and Williams about global warming. (The Pope’s sermon was about world peace, or some such.) At the same time though, I just felt very sorry that Cormac couldn’t have preached about the Faith, or the Sacraments, or Prayer, or even about Christmas. Clearly the Catholic Church’s “triumph”, though it may indeed prove shortlived, has been bought at a tremendous spiritual cost.
You consider “a Catholic Country” attainable when the Catholic Church has shrunk 13% in the last 7 years? That’s some irrational optimism.
I’m curious whether one sees a lot of children coming from faithful Catholic families in England and Scotland. Here in the States the Church has its strengths and weaknesses, but I’m always filled with excitement for the future when I see the families of orthodox and traditional Catholic with their 3,4,5,6+ children lining a pew. These are the families from which vocations are blossoming and these are the beautiful signs of Church’s slow but unmistakable renewal underway in the States.
Does one see such families in England and Wales? With the birth rates abysmally low, I have to think that the future belongs to faithful Catholics that embrace the Church’s teaching on openness to life.
Absolutely ridiculous to refer to England as a ‘Catholic Country’. The English are dismally apathetic towards faith and belief. A recent poll revealed, that 42% of Britians view religion as ‘Dangerous’. Now one could conclude, that England has become quite hostile towards religion. Yet, Britian retains the dreadful ‘Act of Settlement 1701’.