Catholicism does not fall quite so neatly into conservative and liberal factions as is sometimes supposed. Thomas McMahon, the former RC bishop of Brentwood, who has died aged 89, was a case in point.
So traditional in his liturgical tastes that he spent millions commissioning the architect Quinlan Terry to give his undistinguished cathedral in Essex a neoclassical makeover, McMahon also led anti-nuclear prayer vigils and supported street demonstrators against American foreign policy.
