In the 175 years since this paper first appeared, the Church in England and Wales has been continuously refreshed and renewed by the arrival of Catholics from overseas – from Ireland, the Commonwealth, Europe and the wider world In 1850, the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales deepened the misgivings of those who were already alarmed by the growing presence of Catholics in Britain’s rapidly industrialising society. These misgivings – like today – were bound up with immigration. The small but growing population of recusant Catholics had been bolstered by the arrival of Irish workers, who had helped to build the canals and later the railway network. In the years after 1840, this flow of migrants massively increased due to the potato famin