A listing of Britain’s top 100 lay Catholics by The Tablet magazine (March 18) shows the high degree of acceptance and prominence reached by Catholics in recent years. Among those heading the list of influential largely practicing Catholics (or “cultural Catholics” whose work and lives are still shaped by the faith) include: Mark Thompson, director of the BBC, Ruth Kelly, the 38-year-old Secretary of State for Education (and member of the conservative lay order Opus Dei), Cherrie Booth, prominent lawyer and wife of Tony Blair, Michael Martin, first Catholic Speaker of the House of Commons since the Reformation, Chris Patten, first Catholic Chancellor of Oxford since the Reformation, and film director Anthony Minghella.
The editor finds a number of patterns in this list: Irish immigrants have made notable headway among British Catholics, although the old original or recusant English Catholic families are still a force in the land The formative influence of Catholic schools is also still evident. While Catholics have succeeded in business, the law, politics and the arts (Catholics appear to have a corner in producing comedians), they appear not to have the same impact on science and medicine, which may mean a deficiency in Catholic schools teaching science or “even a prejudice against Catholics, given their clear ethical positions, particularly in controversial areas of medicine….”
