Newt Gingrich and Tony Blair sit on opposite sides of politics. They also live on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but they have both recently swam to the same side of the River Tiber.

They have both become Roman Catholics.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the former Speaker of the House had recently converted. He was previously a Baptist.

Before I moved to New York City, I had met only a handful of Protestants who were interested in becoming Roman Catholic. But the appeal appears greater in the US.

It’s got me thinking. Becoming a Roman Catholic is a very serious business. It ought not to be done lightly. I think that the Catholics themselves would agree. (Why else would the verb 'to convert' be used?).

I can’t imagine swimming the Tiber, and I’m troubled by it. There is too much to swallow in Roman Catholicism: theologically, ecclesiologically, pastorally, and politically. But I won’t write about these matters now. The errors in Roman Catholicism are well documented.

Instead, I have been trying to work out the appeal. Gingrich and Blair both appear to have been influenced by their wives. But there must be many reasons.

Now this is all a bit of fun (please don’t take this too seriously), but I reckon that there are at least six kinds of Protestants interested in converting to the Roman Church:

1. Rebellious Converts: These reject their Spartan evangelical upbringing and revel in telling their parents during summer holidays that they are now going to mass!

2. Mystery Converts: These reject the hype and loudness and ‘certainty’ of their Protestant church, and seek to simply sit in quiet mystery for a moment.

3. Unity Converts: These are deeply confused about the thousands of different options and splits for which the Protestants are famous. (‘If you don’t like it, then start another church’!) And these Protestants find some assurance in the fact that Rome at least has the appearance of unity - even if he has to live in Rome.

4. Historical Converts: These simply admire that the denomination is older than their pastor. They want some roots beyond 'this ministry has been around for 20 years, so it must be doing something right'.

5. Political Converts: Who find inspiring the stand of Rome in the political arena against some things inspiring: like abortion and euthanasia and ordaining women as priests.

6. Admiring Converts: Who admire one or more particular Roman Catholics (Like Richard Neuhaus, or Henri Nouwen or some friends maybe) and seek to find out what ‘they have that I don’t have’.

Have I missed anyone in my list?

Do share: what is the appeal?