Director of the Catholic Union, Nigel Parker, writes:
The Times survey of the views of around 1200 Anglican priests published this week has provoked many responses, including a letter from the Catholic Union published in The Times this morning. The headlines have mostly been about the view that Britain can no longer be described as a Christian country and the high degree of support expressed in the survey for the Church of England to change its traditional teaching on marriage and sexual morality though not on assisted suicide. Definitions of a “Christian country” may vary but we still have Christianity as an established religion and The Times survey found little evidence of formal disestablishmentarianism. We heard earlier this year from Chris Trott, UK Ambassador to the Holy See, that Vatican officials had been struck by the UK’s “indelible Christian heritage” while watching “the most Christian coronation of any country in Europe”. Christianity is still woven into the fabric of British life in countless ways and it is the mission of the Catholic Union and its members to uphold and strengthen the Christian and specifically Catholic elements of our society. By chance, I read this morning some words of Cardinal Hume: “We have to change in order to be able to change our society…A little light can make a difference, many little lights a great difference”.