Editor’s Notes

Rise of the ex-Anglicans
11 July 2008

Anglicans who are considering becoming Catholics in the wake of the General Synod's vote on women bishops will be familiar with horror stories. They will have heard all about the cool response others received from some English Catholic bishops and lay people. But they may not be aware of another story, which has even gone unnoticed by many Catholics. This is the story of the rise of ex-Anglicans within the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

The rapid ascension of former Anglicans to positions of influence was underlined by the recent appointment of Canon Christopher Tuckwell as Administrator of Westminster Cathedral. Canon Tuckwell was once a vicar and is now in charge of the mother church of Catholics in England and Wales.

I am constantly surprised to discover that people I had long considered cradle Catholics are in fact converts. It is perhaps like the feeling Jews have when they read the (possibly apocryphal) book Him Too?, and discover that a host of apparently gentile celebrities belong to the Chosen People.

I was received into the Church 10 years ago, which makes me a newcomer, compared to those who have achieved positions of prominence in the Church. Many of them came over long before the 1992 Synod vote on women priests and have deeply absorbed the spirit of Catholic Christianity.

There is the bishop Alan Hopes, the theologian Fr Aidan Nichols, the author William Oddie, the politician John Gummer, the broadcaster Johnny Vaughan, the commentator Charles Moore, the power blogger Fr Ray Blake and the charity director Neville Kyrke-Smith. There is even a possible Archbishop of Westminster: Abbot Hugh Gilbert of Pluscarden.

My advice to Anglicans: look beyond the difficulties of your reception and see that the Catholic Church is a place where your God-given talents can flourish.

Luke Coppen, Editor