A Come Back of Roman Catholicism in Britain

The Christmas season of 2007 in Britain was a bit disrupted by two news stories that sounded very similarly, both directly connected with British Christianity. The first was Tony Blair’s official act of joining the Roman Catholic Church and the second was the following: first time after several hundred years the number of practicing Roman Catholics has outnumbered the number of practicing Anglicans in Great Britain. Is Britain witnessing some sort of a Roman Catholic “come back”?

Historical Catholic-Protestant Problems in England

For some Englishmen this news could, gently at least, revive some collective national memories of dramatic and decisive events of English history.

Stories about the eccentric Henry VII and his breach with Rome (together with his personal life which never loses attention) and those about his two daughters are still regularly retold and replayed on TV, theaters and on the big screen alike (a success of the film Elisabeth – The Golden Age in the autumn 2007 is the case in point).

In all this a connection between British (especially English) national pride and Protestant victory over Catholicism in English history still exists, even in a religiously free and democratic society like British one.

Guy Fawkes Night

One does not feel this in British everyday at all but on special occasions a latent British anti-Catholicism can revive, although mostly in a joking manner. Such an occasion is the “Guy Fawkes Night” on 5th November every year when British light the biggest bonfires and greatest fire works in a whole year to celebrate another “Protestant victory over Roman Catholicism” in their history.

It is more or less general knowledge in commonwealth countries that on 5th November 1605 a group of Catholic nobleman who had an issue with the policies of King James I towards Roman Catholics wanted to blow up the British parliament with barrels of powder which they smuggled into the basement of the parliament building. Guy Fawkes was the unhappy guy who was meant to light the fire from next door. But he together with all his collaborators was caught, tortured and killed. After that, the king introduced a national celebration which is still celebrated today.

The effigies of Guy (called simply “Guys”) which are placed to the fire on the occasion, at some places they are still joined together with effigies of the pope (with tiara and all). Such anti-Catholicism in a form of a joke is a typical English matter and however joking this is it still tells something of the British story and in this way connects with national identity, however indirectly.

Anglo-Catholicism

Having mentioned that, a reader should be aware that this anti-Catholicism has nothing to do with any serious stance or attitude of Anglican Church of today. Influential circles in Anglican Church (so called “High Church” or Anglo-Catholics) are, as is known, very sympathetic to Roman Catholicism and relations between the two organizations are better than ever before. Neither does the “Low Church” or more evangelical wing of Anglican Church engage in any anti-Catholic rhetoric or nurture such sentiments.