Thought For The Month July 2026

Are you a Catholic? Am I? Is the Pope?

The Editor often beseeches me to keep my Thoughts short and divided into bite-size segments so, ever-obedient, that is what I have tried to do here. I would ask you please to read the next paragraph, otherwise you won’t get what I am talking about (nothing new there then, I hear you say); after that, you can dip into the other paragraphs at will, or ignore them all, or cut to the answers at the end. The score for each question is out of 5.

This Thought first saw gestation back in February when the BBC broadcast a series showing the Traitors winner, Harry Clark, trying to come to terms with what being a (lapsed) Catholic means and seeking an audience with the new pope, Pope Leo, to help him reconcile his conflicted emotions about his faith. It set me thinking about what it is to be a member of a church (rather than just someone who just pops in from time to time) and asking myself if I could be a contented Catholic, crossing to Rome as many Anglicans did when women were first ordained, and then consecrated as bishops. Each question Harry asked, I asked myself; you can follow suit. There is no obligation and you are allowed to cheat (but God will know!).

1. Are church buildings important to you?

Harry was bowled over by St. Peter’s in Rome – who would not be? – especially since most Catholic church buildings in the UK are pretty naff, as the Anglicans purloined all the best ones when Henry VIII broke with Rome. Unfortunately, while there are still many beautiful Catholic cathedrals on the continent, Catholics tend to fill them with images of the Virgin Mary, all peaches and cream in a blue tent, together with pictures of Jesus’s Sacred Heart looking like a large emoji.

Scores: Harry: 4; David 2.

2. Are saints important to you?

It is said that the Catholic Church has a saint for every day of the year and then some; I recall being at a Catholic service where we prayed to most of them in alphabetical order. When after ten minutes we had only got as far as Cuthbert, I sidled out. I am quite happy for them all to pray for me but I’m afraid Saints Wilfred, Xavier, Yves and Zak won’t feature much in my own prayers. Harry though was mesmerised by the gift shops in Rome and the plaster images of the saints. I wish him luck getting his souvenirs back on Ryanair.

Scores: Harry 4; David 1.

3. Is church leadership important to you?

The meeting with Pope Leo was a beautiful turning point for Harry; the Pope himself handled the situation with great sensitivity. The Roman Catholic Church has been lucky in that all its popes in my lifetime have had obvious charisma and natural leadership qualities. The same cannot be said about the leaders of the Anglican church. After the disastrous period with Justin Welby being forced to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury, the first thing the new lady did was to reiterate his pledge to pay huge sums in reparation for historic slavery, despite the fact that so many of her own churches need money spent on them now simply to keep them from falling down.

Scores: Harry 5; David 0.

4. Are abstinence, confession and absolution important to you?

On the first one of these Harry and I see totally eye to eye – he was encouraged to fast before going to confession and it did nothing for him at all except make him yearn for food. Me too. But confession is different. He clearly felt uncomfortable about going to confession after a gap of many years and if he did so, then this was edited out of the programme. The Church of England includes a General Confession in services where we own up to doing lots of things wrong, and not doing lots of things that we ought to have done – but nothing specific. Personally I would like, say, a five-minute private slot where I prioritised and pondered the big things that I have done wrong during the week – plenty to choose from. The trouble is that I have rarely come across a priest I would feel comfortable sharing them with. I can’t help worrying that at some stage they would be used against me…

Scores: Harry 2; David 3.

5. Are doctrine, liturgy and music important to you?

This was something of a shock. For Harry, being a Catholic is more like belonging to a big family. He showed no interest in the teachings of the church or in church services – he sat at Mass at one point observing rather than taking any part. Worship and music went unmentioned. The idea too that you had to do things with and in your life as part of being a Catholic was scarcely developed.

Scores: Harry 0; David 5.

YOUR SCORE

21-25 Best pop out and buy a rosary tomorrow.

16-20 You’d probably fit in any church where you detected a whiff of incense.

11-15 You don’t have to go to Mass, and you don’t have to follow the rhythm method (unless you want more children).

6-10 I believe the Wee Frees have vacancies.

0-5 Are you a Mormon?

David.