While the Church of England is losing members by the day, its Catholic counterpart has more followers in England than in living memory. The latter phenomenon is primarily due to recent Polish immigration, although there are also home-grown reasons. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, for example, converted last December. The conservative stance of Catholic bishops is also proving increasingly popular. The head of the Anglican Church, on the other hand, has upset some of his faithful by referring to the nativity story as a 'legend' and suggesting the partial introduction of Islamic Sharia law. A report by Birgit Maaß