Tony Blair Leaves the Anglican Church
Waited Until He Left Office as Prime Minister to Convert to Roman Catholicism
Last night, according to CBS news, the former Prime Minister was received into the Catholic Church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Conner, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the UK.
There had been rumor that Blair, 54, the longest serving Labour Party Prime Minister, was planning a conversion. Recently he has been attending Mass and has taken courses to lead to inclusion in the Catholic Church. Blair earlier this year had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI.
Blair, who relinquished his office as Prime Minister in 2007, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He attended Durham's Chorister School as youth, then an English boarding school, Fettes College. Not an outstanding student, Blair was arrested at Fettes after being mistaken for a burglar. He was climbing a ladder to get back into his dorm after hours.
Taking a break from schooling, Blair worked as a rock and roll music promoter. He then attended Oxford and St. John's College. All the while his interest in music remained, as he played guitar and was a singer in a rock band, "Ugly Rumors".
His mother died of cancer during his Oxford years; it was a major blow to the future politician.
His influence for converting mostly likely was spurred by his wife, Cherie Booth, whom he met after graduation.
Together the Blair's have four children.
Shortly after Blair's graduation from Oxford he joined the Labour Party, where his views were generally left-wing and socialist. In fact, Blair considered himself a socialist and stated so.
He stood for Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on May 02, 1997. Here he continued to favor liberal ideas and increased spending on health and education. He also introduced a national minimum wage.
Many Americans remember Tony Blair and his resolute support after the terrorist attack on New York's Twin Towers. He had been a good friend of President Bill Clinton, sharing many of the same ideas on liberal policy, but with the global threat of Islamic terrorism, Blair and President George W. Bush worked together to defeat what they viewed as a common enemy.
Blair was often punished and degraded in the UK press as being Bush's lapdog, but his impassioned speeches and actions showed much independent thought.
In the United States, Blair is probably the best known British Prime Minister since Winston Churchill. Both stood close to the United States during dark periods.
Currently, Blair is a special envoy to the Middle East on behalf of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia.
The Church of England, which was created by Henry VIII, in the 16th century, has not always had good relations with the Roman Catholic Church. It was the Roman Catholic Church from which Henry VIII broke, as he wanted to get a divorce and marry in order to have a son and royal linage.
The Catholic Church and its followers in England were often persecuted in the years after the break, though a more tolerant attitude exists now.
Sources used to compile this report include the official web site of the Parliment of the UK, CBSNews.com and Wikipedia.org,
Published by Richard Davis
Born and raised in Chicago. Traveled a bit. Lived a little. Miles to go. View profile
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5 Comments
Post a CommentGood for Mr. Blair.
it is in the united kingdom constitution that a catholic cannot by prime minister, as his policies fipped and flopped so does his religion,i had a bet he would turn muslim lost that one should of thought no way was cherie going to wear a burkha
Rich, Tony is just heading off the Spanish Inquisition II. Who knows, papacy for Tony when he's finished as special envoy? You don't have to be a priest or cardinal to be pope. I once applied.
Bloody Papist! Then again, I'm Catholic... but then again, I'm not English!
Well.... Tony used to serve with me as an alter boy. Even then he was a peacemaker. He didn't care if he was in the wrong church. As he used to say to me, "Wine is wine". We both drank to that!