“The old Anglican prejudice against Catholics has been replaced by the secular sort.”

From an article in The Economist, titled, "The fruits of adversity":

Such discrimination may be a fading memory, but then churches have a different way of measuring time. Among the cathedral’s treasures are the remains of martyrs who died for the Roman faith at the hands of a Protestant state. (Protestants were killed by Catholics too, of course, but earlier.) Even in its finest bastions, Catholic England does not feel a place grown arrogant on a diet of unfettered power.

These days Catholic Britons—who will be welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to their shores this month—have little obvious reason to call themselves embattled. In an historic reversal, adherents of their faith have been named to one top job after another. Chris Patten, a Conservative politician (and co-organiser of the papal visit) is chancellor of Oxford University, an institution that Catholics avoided attending (until the pope allowed them, in 1896) even after Anglicans admitted them. The previous speaker of the House of Commons was Michael Martin, whose roots are in Hibernian, working-class Glasgow. And the head of the BBC, Mark Thompson, is of the Papist persuasion. Almost the only thing a Catholic (or even the spouse of a Catholic) cannot be, by British law, is king or queen.

But the senior Catholics who are hosting the pope do not talk or act as if they had laurels to rest on. Instead, they point out that their co-religionists work hard for whatever prominence they now enjoy as the biggest body of churchgoing Christians. Whereas the established Church of England is still trying to reconcile inherited privilege with a shrunken flock, their Catholic compatriots have had their muscles toned by some hard battles.

Nor does the success of individual Catholics mean that life is easy for conscientious believers, insists Charles Moore, a columnist and Catholic convert. Given the liberal, secular consensus that prevails in Britain, it would be almost impossible for a strict Catholic—one who accepted the church’s teaching on abortion, homosexuality and stem-cell research—to become prime minister, he thinks. “The old Anglican prejudice against Catholics has been replaced by the secular sort.”

Read the entire piece. And this, from an article in Our Sunday Visitor ("With historic visit, pope to challenge indifferent, agnostic Brits", Sept. 12. 2010):

But the Church, too, has been preparing. Catholic Voices, a team of 20 articulate young Catholics, have been receiving media-skills training and briefing on “hot-button issues” over the past six months, and are being heavily booked by broadcasters. [Full disclosure: I am one of the coordinators.]

But the pope will find the Church in reasonable health: Catholics, boosted by large-scale immigration, now number close to 6 million, around 10 percent of the population, considerably up from the 4.2 million reported in the census of 2001. And, after a long period of falling numbers, priestly vocations are rising again, with 150 men currently in seminaries and 40 more to join them in October. Clerical sex abuse stories have largely died down following draconian and effective guidelines introduced in 2001.

In terms of its contribution to British society — 2,300 schools, a large network of charities and aid agencies — the Church is one of the major actors in civil society. Pope Benedict will be inviting the agnostic or indifferent majority of British society to focus on that contribution, to reconsider the gift of faith that lies behind it, and to see the connection between that faith and what makes Britain great.

Read it all.

Comments

[Todd Newbold]

I love statistics, with 1 billion Catholics, a world population of almost 10 billion that equals 10%. This is incredible a minority of 10% that has a Catholics Church, School, Hospital, Charity on every street corner. God Bless the priests, nuns, and church for their poverty, that leaves the money for Gods Work - Churches, Schools, Hospitals, and Charities. What a contrast.

[Ed Peters]

"Such discrimination may be a fading memory...."

Maybe, maybe not. It could still be there, but their basic numbers are so reduced that it doesn't show up as much. My take is that Britian's new virulent anti-Catholicism is what rushes in to till the void left by Henry VIII's destruction of the English Church, a case of the sins of the father echoing for centuries.

What is consoling is to see not a few British historians frankly reappraising Hank's legacy for what it was, ego-driven plunder and terror.

[Andrew]

Yes, we definitely need a strong witness to the Faith these days...

[Virginia L. Connor]

As an Anglican Catholic, I prefer the Roman Catholic theology over anything the Churches run bu the NCC and their left-wing garbage espouses. If Anne Rice was disappointed by the RC, why didn't she seek out the Episcopal Church-which would've accepted her feminism and gay son? I left the Lutheran Church because of its liberalness and if I hadn't found the Anglican Church when I did, I would've gone RC instead. I love the Pope too and adored Mother Theresa for what she did. I also go to the RC when I can.