I'm not particularly concerned about the denominational affiliation of political leaders as long as they don't attempt to impose their faith on others (and don't believe that the apocalypse is a good thing and that they can and should help bring it about) and Blair's affinity to Catholicism has been rumoured for some time.

[ 22 December 2007: Message edited by: Proaxiom ]

Here we go:

"It is unavoidable. It is your destiny. You, like your father wife, are now ... mine."

[ 22 December 2007: Message edited by: Proaxiom ]

quote:

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Originally posted by N.Beltov:
And you get wafers! I mean, what's better than wafers, right?"

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quote:

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Originally posted by aka Mycroft:

[T]here are still completely anachronistic ties between the British state and the Church of England. The PM, for instance, essentially appoints Anglican bishops including the Archbishop of Canterbury (technically, he sends a list to the Queen who makes the appointment but the Queen, by convention, always "chooses" the name the PM puts at the top of the list.) Having a Catholic PM, aside from breaking a prejudicial barrier, would also have forced the British government to address some of these entanglements and make some effort to separate church from state - at least to the extent of ending the practice of having the Prime Minister making ecclesiastic appointments.

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While I agree that the establishment of the Church of England is an anachronism, your description of the process isn't really accurate. The list is prepared by the Crown Appointments Commission, which includes representatives of the relevant diocese and ecclesiastical province (ie, York or Canterbury). They create the list. However, Mrs. Thatcher on at least one occasion reversed the order of the list and was widely criticized for it. And the commission does include several purely political members, like the PM's appointments secretary.

quote:

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Originally posted by Malcolm French, APR:

While I agree that the establishment of the Church of England is an anachronism, your description of the process isn't really accurate. The list is prepared by the Crown Appointments Commission, which includes representatives of the relevant diocese and ecclesiastical province (ie, York or Canterbury). They create the list. However, Mrs. Thatcher on at least one occasion reversed the order of the list and was widely criticized for it. And the commission does include several purely political members, like the PM's appointments secretary.

On your subsequent point, there have been several non-Anglican Prime Ministers - including the current one. They were simply more deliberate in removing themselves from the process.

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quote:

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Originally posted by brookmere:
A minor quibble about the thread title, Blair is not "converting" to Catholicism because he's already a Christian. He's not giving up one set of beliefs for another. He's just changing denominations.

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"Conversion" is the word that would normally be used, but among Anglo-Catholics (which would have included Blair through most of his time as an Anglican) it would also be referred to with a number of colourful terms such as "poped," "paped," "gone to Rome" and "swum the Tiber."