Atavistic tribes: England should be a Catholic country

Last night’s Spectator debate was stressful in parts, cheek-clutchingly painful in others but also stomach-clutchingly funny, snortingly, chortlingly, chucklingly hilarious at moments. At these debates, the punters come in with their for-or-against cards and are asked their opinion as they come in the door.

Oh my godfathers, Dom Antony Sutch was running out of time, with his booming funny but serious speech urging the audience in favour of unity (selling indulgences for swing-votes), taking up a theme from Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor’s thoughtful speech.

The Cardinal argued that the starting point should not be the Reformation (which had robbed England of her tradition and heritage) but rather the moment in 1982 when Pope John Paul II knelt together with The Right Revd Dr Robert Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury in front of the tomb of St Thomas a Becket. The author Piers Paul Read was left with the more difficult and less popular task of arguing about Catholic moral teaching, which my colleague Ed West describes on his blog.

Back to the prize ring for another bout…

Well it’s back to prize ring for another Catholic-themed mental boxing match. It’s the Spectator-hosted debate to be held at the Royal Geographical Society at Kensington Gore. A new set of sparring partners come together for a friendly debate on a frivolous but promisingly entertaining topic this coming Tuesday: “England should be a Catholic country”. Discuss.

There are some heavyweight champions throwing punches in this match. On the “For” side we’ve got Cardinal Cormac “The Red Belt” Murphy O’Connor, Dom Antony “The Sometimes Furious” Sutch OSB, and Piers Paul “The Shack-Attack” Read while the “Against” side consists of Matthew “Rage against Relics” Parris, Lord “Vorpal Bunny” Harries and Stephen “The Tattooed Bruiser” Pound.