One of the Church of England's leading academics has announced that he
is converting to Catholicism.

Canon Edward Norman, chancellor of York Minster, has become
disillusioned with the Anglican Church and its lack of authority.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Dr Norman said: "There is a
big hole at the centre of Anglicanism its authority. I don't think it's
a Church; it's more of a religious society."

His attack carries particular weight because of his academic pedigree,
which has established him as a highly-regarded intellectual in the
Church. Dr Norman was Dean of Peterhouse, Cambridge, for 17 years and is
a former Reith lecturer. In his new book, Anglican Difficulties: A New
Syllabus of Errors, he is scathing in his assessment of the Church's
level of argument and debate. "Every disagreement, in seemingly every
board or committee, proceeds by avoidance of principled debate. Ordinary
moral cowardice is represented as wise judgement; equivocation in the
construction of compromise formulae is second nature to leaders."

Highly critical of the lack of leadership, he predicts that "Anglicanism
is going to tip into the sea". He plans to be received into the Roman
Catholic Church by a Cambridge contemporary, Fr Dermot Fenlon, after he
retires as Chancellor at York Minster.

Dr Norman will be leaving before the Church decides whether to
consecrate women as bishops. Though, he was initially supportive of
women's ordination, he is now against it. "We were told that a whole
dimension to humanity was missing from the ministry, but that enrichment
hasn't happened.

His conversion to Catholicism is the most high profile since the former
Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Graham Leonard, went over to Rome following
women's ordination in 1992.

END