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Posted on 04/23/2006 2:02:04 PM PDT by Coleus
TONY BLAIR has been attending private Roman Catholic masses in Downing Street conducted by a Franciscan friar renowned for helping convert members of the Establishment to Catholicism.
The prime minister, an Anglican, participates in the services, although he does not take Communion with his wife Cherie, a Catholic, and their children. Sources disclosed that the ceremonies are conducted in the sitting room by Father Michael Seed, the friar who prepared the Conservative MPs John Gummer and Ann Widdecombe to become Catholics.
The Blairs, whose four children are Catholics, have been quietly attending mass at Downing Street and Chequers since 2003 because security worries curtailed visits to Westminster Cathedral and to other Catholic churches. News of the services may rekindle speculation that Blair is interested in converting to Rome under Seed’s guidance after he leaves office. He has previously said he has no plans to convert and only attends services so the family can worship together.
For the Downing Street services, Seed normally dresses in the dark brown habit of a Franciscan Friar of the Atonement, over which he wears vestments. A chalice and paten for the bread are placed on a table covered by a white cloth in the Blairs’ sitting room. Members of the family are understood to take part in readings in the services. Private services of mixed denominations are rare, although an increasing number of non-Catholics attend mass in churches. There has never been a Catholic British prime minister and Cherie is the first Downing Street spouse to be a member of the Roman church.
The Blairs have made similar private arrangements at Chequers, the prime minister’s country residence in Buckinghamshire. The family previously worshipped at the Catholic church in nearby Great Missenden where they were regularly treated to the anti-war opinions of Father Timothy Russ, the parish priest. Russ has also conducted services inside Chequers. Other priests conducting masses at the weekend retreat include a Royal Air Force chaplain and a Dominican from Oxford.
The Blairs first had to modify their church-going in the security alert which followed the Al-Qaeda attacks on America on September 11, 2001. They then visited a range of London churches on Sundays and holy days in a “random rotation” so no regular pattern of attendance could be detected by potential assassins. The switch to masses at Downing Street occurred because of raised security following the invasion of Iraq.
Seed declined to comment this weekend on his contacts with the Blairs. Downing Street also refused to comment on “a private matter”.
You mean the Labour Party knows about and allows this? You mean a British PM and his wife are allowed to believe in God? Surely, this is grounds for a vote of no confidence!
I thought liberals hated religion.
Good for the Blairs. Its nice to see that Cherie has some use after all! ;-)
Actually whats amazing here is members of the 'European Ruling Class' seriously practicing Christianity instead of New Age 'fill-in-the-blank' or the latest craze ....Islam!
Prince "Elephant Ears" Charles seems to be the one into Islam.
Ping!
The Royals attend church each Sunday
I thoght Blair converted YEARS ago.
Blair may have converted. But the English have a long history of anti-Catholicism, and until fairly recent times excluded Catholics from the government.
After all, one of Blair's jobs is to suggest names to the Queen for appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury, and such measures as that. The Queen is still nominally the head of the Anglican Church, but of course she does what her Prime Minister tells her to do.
What's curious is that Blair and his wife appear to be flaming liberals on social matters. You wouldn't think that would draw them to Catholicism. When I saw Franciscan friar, my first thought was liberal priest; but it says Franciscan Friar of the Atonement, and I'm not sure where that order stands.
I don't think he's allowed. Don't forget there are guidelines for royalty and holding public office and, I think, one of them is to be Anglican.
True if you count the early 19th century as 'recent'. The Catholic Emancipation Act was passed in 1829!
Royalty, yes; holding public office, emphatically not (since 1829 - see previous post).
Hillaire Belloc was opposed for Salford in 1905 with the in-your-face campaign slogan, "Don't vote for a Frenchman and a Catholic" (he was only half French.)
Belloc, never one to avoid a fight, stood up at a public meeting and delivered the following:
"Gentlemen, I am a Catholic," he said, and took his rosary out of his pocket. "As far as possible, I go to Mass every day. This is a rosary: as far as possible, I kneel down and tell these beads every day. If you reject me on account of my religion, I shall thank God that he has spared me the indignity of being your representative."
He got a standing O for that - and took the seat by some 800 votes.
. . . but it just goes to show that there's substantial anti-Catholic prejudice still obtaining in Britain. Read Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies and Westward Ho! . . . it's obvious and offensive. I ignore it and enjoy the stories anyhow, because much of the rabid anti-Catholicism in England is originally political and grew out of the wars with Spain and the problems with Ireland.
I'm not sure that the two examples you quote - both over 100 years old - are very convincing as evidence for the 'still'! I must say that in our own time I see very little sign of it (too few of us British, alas, are that exercised by religion of any sort).
Incidentally, worth pointing out that there have plenty of examples of devout Catholics holding senior posts in government, of which the most notable current example is Secretary of State for Education Ruth Kelly.
I was over in Scotland in the 90s, and anti-Catholicism was alive and well there!
Scene on the Forth Bridge, late one night:
"Don't jump, for the sake o' good old Ranger!"
"Ah doan support Ranger."
"Ah well then (a life's at stake) for the sake o' good old Celtic."
"Ah doan support Celtic."
"Aweel, then, jump, ye bluidy atheist!"
No, it's perfectly true, although it's diminishing. I grew up an Episcopalian, have English relatives. Catholics are "not quite the thing."
I spent a year at Jesus College, Cambridge, as a visiting scholar. One thing I found I simply couldn't talk about even with the greatest circumspection was Ireland. They were totally irrational on the subject of the Irish.
Perhaps some of that is breaking down, but there's an old, old, knee-jerk response to Catholics. Blair would want to keep it to himself until he leaves office.
Scotland I grant you - especially in the Western central belt and the Western Isles - but that's another country! Far less easy to make a case for it being an issue still in England.
But socially I'm sure there's still a problem, because unless you're an old English Catholic family the religion's associated with the Irish . . . who seem to be the Mexicans of England.
"...but it says Franciscan Friar of the Atonement, and I'm not sure where that order stands."
they have kind of an interesting history:
http://www.atonementfriars.org/page/history2.htm
History of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement
On December 15, 1898 Lurana White and two companions traveled to Graymoor to look after the abandoned chapel of St. John in the Wilderness. Every year the Friars and Sisters celebrate December 15th as Foundation Day. The communities began to grow very slowly in the Episcopal Church. Father Wattson joined Sister Lurana at Graymoor in the Spring of 1899 after making his novitiate with the Holy Cross Fathers in Maryland. He professed his vows as a Friar of the Atonement in June 1899 and took as his religious name Paul James Francis.
As time developed the founders became more convinced that one of their major ministries was to pray and work for Christian Unity. By 1908 Father Wattson along with a friend from England, the Revered Spencer Jones, established the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. The Father Founder would speak about the Octave in later years and say that "the first fruits of the Octave was the acceptance of the Society into the Roman Catholic Church" in 1909.
Many people began to visit Graymoor.
In 1910 with the building of the railroad along the Hudson river, men began to come looking for shelter. Father Paul offered the only place available, a chicken coop. The Founder always referred to these men as Brother Christophers - Christ Bearers. The small chicken coupe turned into St. Christopher's Inn. The Inn still serves Brother Christophers today.
As the number of Friars increased, they were sent out to the "missions", first to Texas and then to British Columbia. It was not until 1949 that the Friars first went to serve the people in Japan. Shortly afterwards they opened the friary in Rome, Italy. In the late 50's they opened their first friary in England. The 60's the Friars went to Brazil and Jamaica, West Indies. Today the Friars serve in parishes in the United States, Canada and England. They also serve in Ecumenical Ministry in the United States, Canada, England, Japan and Italy. Friars serve in Social Ministry in the United States, Canada, England and Japan. The Friars invite interested men to become members of their community.
"I thought liberals hated religion."
Depends on the liberal.
Last I checked, our Lord and Savior hadn't registered a political preference. I think it's a mistake to try to pigeonhole people as being religious or not as a result of their secular political ideas. If for no other reason than people tend to rise (or sink) to our expectations.
Good for PM Blair. Here's hoping the Brits shed their history of virulent anti-Catholicism.
I agree with you--provided you don't classify killing babies as a "political idea."
"I agree with you--provided you don't classify killing babies as a "political idea."
I do not. Infanticide is a moral issue. However, my point of view is not shared by all Democrats, or all Republicans for that matter.
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