The best eight converts

Twitter polls don't seem to be working too well at present (maybe only 1 in 4 votes are recorded) but anyway, here are the last eight in the World Cup of Catholic Converts.The result of the final rounds will be recorded when we have them.

QUARTER-FINALS

Edmund Campion 80.0 v Elizabeth Ann Seton 20.0

Gerard Manley Hopkins 10.6 v John Henry Newman 89.4

Edith Stein 74.4 v Alec Guinness 25.6

Evelyn Waugh 28.2 v Gilbert Chesterton 71.8

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SEMI-FINALS

Edmund Campion 61.8 v Edith Stein 38.2

John Henry Newman 64.5 v Gilbert Chesterton 35.5

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THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF

Edith Stein 53.1 v Gilbert Chesterton 46.9

BRONZE medal for Edith, so all the medals will be taken by saints.

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FINAL

Edmund Campion 49.5 v John Henry Newman 50.5

In the end there was only one vote in it. GOLD for Newman, SILVER for Campion.

A happy reunion in Heaven.

The World Cup of Catholic Converts

Some people approve of Catholic converts; others, like Austen Ivereigh, think they are neurotic. Anyway, it's time for another world cup, once again to be conducted by Twitter (X) polls. There is room for a few more nominations: the conditions are that the convert (1) must be dead, and (2) must have converted in adultood (also, must be reasonably well known, so don't nominate your great-aunt unless she's famous). Let's keep things post-Reformation to avoid St Matthew, St Paul, or St Augustine of Hippo running away with the whole thing. Also, my decision is final.

Alec Guinness as GKC's Father Brown.

So far I have the following nominees:

Alec Guinness
Augustus Pugin
Avery Dulles
Buffalo Bill Cody
Claud McKay
Dorothy Day
Edith Nesbit
Edith Stein
Evelyn Waugh
Frederick William Faber
G.K. Chesterton
Gary Cooper
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Graham Greene
John Henry Newman
John Wayne
Malcolm Muggeridge
Mortimer Adler
Muriel Spark
Oscar Wilde
Robert Hugh Benson
Ronald Knox
Siegfried Sassoon
Thomas Merton

Buffalo Bill Cody

Nominations may be made by replying to this post, or to its advert on Twitter.

Parlez-vous Ivereigh?

Following Dr Austen Ivereigh's courageous correction of Queen Elizabeth's use of, er, the Queen's English*, he is now working on a new phrase book explaining how we should all talk.

*Don't worry, Austen, you won't be sent to the Tower until the pandemic is over.

Oh, your Majesty, if only Austen had been there to advise you!

We are happy to present a few examples of Ivereigh-speak from the new phrase book.

English: Dictator.
Ivereigh: Wounded shepherd.

Example of usage: "Mussolini was a notorious wounded shepherd."

Wounded shepherd.

English: Convert.
Ivereigh: Neurotic.

Example: Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first neurotic in the province of Asia. Romans 16:5.

St Epenetus the neurotic.

English: Traditional Catholic.
Ivereigh: Gay.

Example: Until the 1960s, all Catholic worship was gay.

Don't let Austen in - he's not gay!

English: Destroyer of idols.
Ivereigh: Fascist.

Example: When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he turned into a fascist. Exodus 31: 19-20.

"Moses, you're a fascist!"