Catholic Faith and Practice in England 1779-1992: the role of revivalism and renewal
MARGARET H. TURNHAM

What does it mean to be a Catholic today? Catholic identity in England and Wales has been transformed as much by demographics as by doctrine. Immigration and the shift of Catholicism’s geographical centre from its northern heartland to the south has had as much impact as the Second Vatican Council. This has had significant implications for the nuts and bolts of diocesan and parochial administration but it may have had even greater consequences for the spiritual life of English Catholicism.

Change is never easy to manage and is invariably painful and disturbing, particularly for a Church which sees itself as the custodian of tradition, a still centre in an often confusing world. Change is as much a challenge to the faithful as it is to the hierarchy. Self-interest and self-preservation can all too easily be confused with the substance of faith; immobilism can prevent that openness to renewal and revival which gives the Church its Pentecostal character.