Margaret Thatcher was forever the thrifty Methodist grocer’s daughter of Grantham. Her father was both lay preacher and Conservative Party stalwart. They attended the Methodist church several times every Sabbath and heeded many then Methodist strictures against theater-going and dancing. Her family’s social life was enmeshed in the church’s sewing meetings, youth guilds, and missions work, as she recalled to the Catholic Herald 35 years ago.
“Methodism is the most marvelous evangelical faith and there is the most marvelous love and feeling for music in the Methodist Church which I think is greater than in the Anglican Church,” she then remembered. “But you sometimes feel the need for a slightly more formal service and perhaps a little bit more formality in the underlying theology too.”
Although married in John Wesley’s London Chapel, Thatcher later converted to her husband’s Anglicanism.
I mean this as an observation, not a criticism. I have read elsewhere that Mrs Thatcher became an Anglican when she discovered that, according to convention, the patronage which passed through her hands as Prime Minister could only be exercised by Prime Ministers who were members of the Church of England. Hence her confirmation as an Anglican only when she entered Downing St. A reminder, to us, of how important a role the PM played in those days in ecclesiatical appointments, something of an anachronism, to say the least. However, all this is from memory. Perhaps Pageantmaster can confirm – or correct.
Thanks for posting this article; it is quite readable and informative, and I would have missed it otherwise.
Of course, Margaret Thatcher did not “convert” to Anglicanism. People can only convert to a different religion from another great religion (like Judaism) or from none. But I sympathize with writers who need a verb in this case. What else is there? Crossed the aisle? Switched over to…? Became…? Stepped up to? Went down market to…? I’m probably missing something obvious.
David, generally speaking you are right, but I would submit that we can take conversion sometimes in the sense of μετάνοια in which case the change of ecclesial allegiance could indicate a deepening of Christian faith, a new seriousness about that which one had always believed.
Yes, but that doesn’t seem to quite fit this case, though maybe it does. The deeper problem is that a lot of people will say “I was baptized a Methodist.” “I was baptized a Catholic.” Or whatever. My father taught me as a child–perhaps this was an old-fashioned childhood–that a person is baptized a Christian, and then one could say “in the Methodist church.” So when reporters from out there in the world talk about “converting” from Methodism to Anglicanism, I grow concerned that they are overlooking the manifold and deep affinities between these traditions–their mere Christianity–in favor of perceived differences. I am not putting this very well. I just find that students, the media, secularists, and others tend to overlook the fact that Christians are not always disagreeing and dividing and differentiating but in fact hold fundamental truths in common. Know what I mean?
Yes, I know what you mean. When preparing people for baptism, usually adults for the baptism of their infants, I draw their attention of course to the promises and affirmations that they make. One of them is that they believe in the Holy catholic Church. I draw attention to how in our Roman Catholic service books the words are printed with a small C; at least they are here in England. The message being that baptism is into the universal Church of all Christian people, even if, in accord with RC teaching, it is into that particular expression of Christian faith.
Yes. Btw, related to the media coverage of Margaret Thatcher’s death, am I being overly sensitive or has it in fact been the case that the coverage of her was “balanced,” i.e. with plenty of negative commentary, whereas when liberal lions like Teddy Kennedy die, the coverage is uniformly positive, the tributes glowing, bordering on hagiography. I wonder why that is….
Perhaps “joined with…”
#1 Sorry not to get back to you before now, but to be honest Father Tee, I was unaware at the time that Mrs Thatcher had become an Anglican, although certainly the role of PM in relation to senior appointments in the Church would have been taken very seriously indeed. If that was the reason that she became Anglican it does show a certain integrity and commitment. I don’t remember much mention of her Christian faith at all and certainly not from her bluff Yorkshire press officer, image consultant and enforcer Bernard Ingham. Her image was rather carefully controlled – which may be why some of the more personal and indeed human aspects of her character were rarely seen, which was a pity.
I was reading this from Cranmer this night which suggests that indeed Christianity was central to her thinking and motivation. Thanks also for pointing me to her speech to the Church of Scotland.
She did appoint Lord Carey as Archbishop. Watching him in +Justin’s installation I was musing on how different things would have been for the unity of the Communion if he had not retired when he did and the useless Williams was appointed under Tony Blair. She did try to give the CofE a chance to reengage with evangelism and mission. What a pity it was not taken up.
#6 David Hein – interesting you should say that. Some of the UK press, notably the BBC are doing their best to portray Thatcher in an unfavourable light and work up a storm prior to her funeral. However, beyond a few of the usual suspects among the deadbeat 60’s talking heads and Trotskyist anarchist groups it is not being taken up. Many of the ordinary people being interviewed remember her for enabling them or their parents to become homeowners and shareholders. Perhaps the snark they are showing tells us more about the BBC than about her.
Re Pageantmaster and the BBC above – I read in the paper today a well-known retired BBC person saying that when you came before the internal promotions committee one of the questions you might be asked would be, ‘Which Prime Minister in history do you admire most?’ It was well known, he said, to be career death if you replied ‘Margaret Thatcher’.