XI

THE DECISION


By this time we all knew what was about to happen. "When a man's mind is
made up," says the old Irish proverb, "his feet must set out on the
way."

Just before my brother made his profession as a Brother of the Mirfield
Community, he was asked by Bishop Gore whether he was in any danger of
becoming a Roman Catholic. My brother said honestly, "Not so far as I
can see." This was in July 1901. In September 1903 he was received into
the Church of Rome. What was it which had caused the change? It is very
difficult to say, and though I have carefully read my brother's book,
the _Confessions of a Convert_, I find it hard to give a decisive
answer. I have no intention of taking up a controversial attitude, and
indeed I am little equipped for doing so. It is clear that my brother
was, and had for some time been, searching for something, let us call it
a certainty, which he did not find in the Church of England. The
surprise to me is that one whose religion, I have always thought, ran
upon such personal and individualistic lines, should not have found in
Anglicanism the very liberty he most desired. The distinguishing feature
of Anglicanism is that it allows the largest amount of personal liberty,
both as regards opinion and also as regards the use of Catholic
traditions, which is permitted by an ecclesiastical body in the world.
The Anglican Church claims and exercises very little authority at all.
Each individual Bishop has a considerable discretionary power, and some