A recent Anglican commentary is urging Protestant leaders to respond more forcefully to Catholic apologetics, with Eucharistic theology at the center of what the author sees as a growing wave of high-profile conversions to the Catholic Church.
Daniel Waterland, an Anglican archdeacon and master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, writing for Anglican Ink, acknowledged the increasing influence of Catholic thought in public discourse. He cited converts like YouTuber Cameron Bertuzzi, author Casey Chalk, and Vice President JD Vance as emblematic of a broader shift that has drawn both fascination and concern from Protestant observers.
“Protestants in recent decades have ceded much of the public space to Catholics,” Waterland wrote.
He pointed to prominent right-wing Catholic voices such as Jack Posobiec, Matt Walsh, and Michael Knowles, who “have no trouble openly proselytizing for their denomination,” while many Protestant commentators remain comparatively silent.
While he acknowledged the fervor of Catholic evangelists, Waterland questioned whether they fairly represent Protestant tradition.
“This crowd seems to evince almost no familiarity with the confessions, catechisms, or teachings of classic orthodox Protestantism,” he wrote. “They show no evidence of having read a single book by one of its many gifted theologians. Only the lowest-hanging fruit is discussed, and even then in the most misleading of ways.”
His sharpest critique centered on the Eucharist — often a focal point in conversion stories.
“The idea that a kill shot against Protestantism is that Rome has the sacrifice of the Mass while Protestants have only empty symbols is laughable,” Waterland wrote. “While that might be true for many non-denominational churches, and even churches in denominations that once held to a richer eucharistic theology, it is not the case for many other Protestant churches, and especially for historic Protestantism.”
In his article, Warterland did not elaborate on how Protestant theology understands the Eucharist beyond symbolic representation.
Waterland also expressed frustration with what he sees as a one-sided dynamic in religious dialogue: “Catholics are regularly outraged when Protestants try to convert them, or talk as if they aren’t part of the one true, catholic, holy, and apostolic church,” he said. “But these pro-Catholic apologists have no problem with proselytizing evangelicals.”
He added that many see evangelicalism “as a field ripe for harvest.”
Waterland called for a renewed engagement by Protestant leaders and intellectuals, especially in countering what he views as misconceptions about their doctrines, such as the assumption that Protestants lack a legitimate ecclesial authority structure or the oversimplification of their objections to papal power.
“Pro-Rome online apologetics have become chock-full of out-of-context quotes or simplified, two-dimensional versions” of theological debates, he said, including those over “the power of the pope over the civil realm and the eucharist.”