The Decline of the Church in Britain

Whitby Abbey - "bare, ruined quires"

Damian Thompson (who is probably one of the world’s greatest journalists) write here about the decline of Christianity in Britain. The shrinking of those who identify as Christians is combined with a dramatic surge in the Muslim population. You can’t disagree with the statistics: Since the last census in 2001, the number of Britons identifying [...]

Understanding the Crisis in the Church of England

Westminster Abbey

This afternoon the Church of England General Synod voted against women’s ordination. For those of you who are befuddled by this–join the club! Here are some explanations from this former Anglican: The Church of England is the Mother Church of the churches of the Worldwide Anglican Communion. Each of these churches are national churches and [...]

Who Governs the Church of England?

Today the Church of England General Synod will take a historic vote on the question of women bishops. The vote will be very close. Although it is thought that most people are in favor of women bishops, there are enough opposed to make the success of the measure in doubt. What interests me is that [...]

C of E — Church of Everybody?

queen and abc

One of the jokes when I was a member of the Church of England was that “C of E” stood for: “Church of Everybody”. It was an ambiguous joke–on the one hand poking the C of E for being such a rubbery kind of institution that it stood for nothing and therefore fell for anything. [...]

Chust for Nice

Blackfriars -- the Dominicans in Oxford

Shakespeare the Catholic

shakespeare

Today is William Shakespeare’s birthday, and it’s getting to be pretty well accepted that the mysterious man of Avon was actually a Catholic. Joseph Pearce’s book, The Quest for Shakespeare is the best of the books exploring the evidence for Shakespeare’s Catholicism. It is a web of intriguing evidence from the fact that Shakespeare’s mother [...]