Roman Catholic Church Top of the Pops in the UK

from keralanext.com:

Almost 500 years after Henry VIII founded the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church is set to surpass it and become Britain's largest denomination.

A new report says immigration -- especially from Catholic countries in Eastern Europe -- is building up numbers in the Catholic Church, The Times of London reported. The Anglican Church is in a long-term decline.

In 2006, both Catholic and Anglican churches averaged 1 million people in the pews

The Catholic Church has a strong hold on many immigrants, who turn to it for help in a new country. The report found that until last year, the Catholic Church -- like the Anglican -- was declining.

The influx has also changed the Catholic Church. In the past, it was a mix of English and Irish communicants. every Sunday. But the Catholics clearly have upward momentum, the newspaper said.

Pictured is Saint George, the patron saint of England. It seems that the Emperor Diocletian had St. George tortured to make him deny his faith in Christ. King Henry VIII tried to do the same as Diocletian and the idea of Henry rolling in his grave warms my heart.

The bulk of the growth in the UK is mainly due to the influx of Poles. It has been noted that this has improved the lot of marriage minded Catholic men in the UK given the beauty and traditional values of these Eastern European women. My grandfather, an irishman, fell for one hook, line and sinker some 60 years ago. My grandmother was from Lithuania, her dad was a Russian in fact and she was an amazingly beautiful woman. I once chided my grandparents as to how on earth a goofy looking guy could snag a beauty like her. Funny, I pulled the same trick as my grandad, only my foreign beauty is from Asia. My grandma used to work at a candy store and my grandfather used to come around quite often. This was in the Depression era Bemis section of Watertown, located just west of Boston.

Anyways, I've linked to two fine British parishes: Our Lady of the Rosary in Blackfen, home of Hermeneutics of the Continuity and St Mary Magdalen in Brighton. Sometimes I like to make cybervisits to England and I dream often of the place.