Article content

Michael Coren, prolific columnist, biographer and broadcaster, has converted to Anglicanism from Catholicism. And he is complaining that people are saying mean things to him on the Internet. Neither is a surprise.

He has complained in these pages and over the weekend in the Toronto Star that “right-wing Catholics” — which used to be Coren’s media brand — are making too much out of it. Hardly. People pay attention because Coren is one of Canada’s more interesting journalists, and has been a champion of the role of faith in our common life.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Father Raymond J. de Souza: Michael Coren converts, Michael Coren complains Back to video

Coren converting is a God-bites-man story. It happens

He was worth following decades ago when he was a practical atheist, though his father was Jewish. He was interesting when he became Catholic in the 1980s after reading Chesterton and other literary converts. He was still interesting in the 1990s when he was a lapsed Catholic, sulking after some of his journalism was received poorly in some Catholic circles. He remained interesting when he subsequently became an evangelical Protestant, before becoming Catholic a second time. As he launched himself as a Catholic super-apologist — publishing Why Catholics Are Right in 2011 — he was interesting enough that his book became a bestseller. And Coren will be interesting even if he tires of Anglicanism and opts for Deepak Chopra-ism or, more exotically, Islam, though the latter would likely require him to stop selling his latest book, Hatred: Islam’s War on Christianity. Coren converting is a God-bites-man story. It happens.