I believe Blair's conversion is just tip of the iceberg of some
Roman overtures within the Anglo communities. The Catholic Church
under Cardinal Ratzinger and now Pope Benedict has launched a quiet
'offensive' to encourage ecumenism while attempting to garner more
converts. I personally feel that within this century, the Church of
England may be greatly reduced in numbers and possibly even
reunited with the Roman See.
Firstly there are greater number of Catholic Churchgoers than
Anglican Churchgoers in England. This shows the growing influence
of Catholicism within the heart of Anglicanism.
Catholic churchgoers now outnumber Anglicans for the first time
since the Reformation partly due to the massive migration from
Catholic countries, according to new research.
Church of England services are no longer Britain's most popular
form of worship and have been overtaken by Catholic mass, a study
by the organisation Christian Research has found.
The large number of EU nationals from Eastern Europe who have
immigrated to the UK in recent years have swelled the numbers
attending masses across the country.
Estimates for church attendances in 2006, based on previous years'
figures, reveal 861,800 Catholics attended services every Sunday
compared with 852,500 Anglican worshippers
Secondly, the overtures to frustrated Anglo Catholics and
Traditionalist Anglicans have begun to bear fruits.
Three Church of Ireland parishes have asked to be received into
full communion with the Catholic Church, The Irish Catholic
newspaper reports this week. The decision would pave the
way for over 400,000 Anglicans to become Catholic.
The parishes, located in the counties Down, Tyrone and Laois, are
members of the traditional rite of the Church of Ireland. The rite
emerged in 1991 after the House of Bishops of the Church of Ireland
decided to start ordaining women. Traditionalist Anglicans rejected
this decision as a "defiance of both Scripture and
Tradition."
A plenary meeting of the Traditional Anglican Communion, the
umbrella organization for traditionalist parishes, decided to
petition Rome to be received into full communion with the Holy See.
While only a few hundred Anglicans in Ireland will be affected if
an agreement is reached, the Traditional Anglican Communion itself
has over 400,000 members who could all join the Catholic
Church.
According to a statement from the Traditional Anglican Communion,
"the bishops and vicars-general unanimously agreed to the text of a
letter to the See of Rome seeking full, corporate, sacramental
union."
Hence while official Anglican-Catholic ties are governed by Pope
Leo XII Apostolic Curae (which nullified Anglican orders) and
historic hostilities, there is a quiet offensive going on to reach
out to the more Catholic part of the Anglican Communion. 
