Well - as Matthew pointed out in our comments - it has become official: Tony Blair was received into the Catholic Church. In a country where a Catholic still cannot be king, the former prime minister has now converted to the Church that Jesus Christ founded. We've talked about the possibility before, but now it's more than speculation, he is actually Catholic.
I'm curious what others think. I know Tony Blair was not the biggest supporter of life, but perhaps his position will begin changing now. We can only hope and pray, since he still has a powerful voice in England. And our prayers are with him as he begins receiving the Sacraments.
God bless,
Jay
I must admit that I have very mixed feelings about this.
My first reaction is: do we really need more pro-abort pro-gay marriage "catholic" politicians? Accusing me of intolerance and a lack of charity at this point would likely be justified.
My second reaction is: give the man the benefit of the doubt, assume that his priest made sure that he repented, and mind my own business. I must admit I'm projecting my own disappointment with Canadian clergy upon clergy in the UK. Our "catholic" former Prime Minister, Paul Martin, described himself as a devout Catholic. When the Knights of Columbus at his parish asked their priest about his status given his pro-abortion pro-gay marriage stance, the priest said there was no trouble at all with separating personal faith from public life. When Bishop Henry described Paul Martin's stance as "morally incohenert", the priest said Bishop Henry was a "shit disturber" and "you can quote me on that".
This leads to a third possibility: Mr. Blair is acting in good faith as his priest approved of the situation and the responsibility for waiting until candidates express sufficient repentance lies primarily with the clergy.
My current thinking is that there are graces available to Mr Blair in the Catholic Church and we should rejoice that he receives them and pray that he makes the best of it. That being said, I believe there are also greater graces available outside the Catholic Church for people of integrity who remain outside when they realize that their faith is incompatible with that of the Roman Catholic Church.