Well, I don't know enough to comment on what you suggest is an "English" fixation -- i.e., the way they do things in England? But I think your first instinct is likely to be correct. Or more exactly, it's an example of creeping evangelicalism, seeing how conservative Catholics and evangelicals have been political allies much of the time for a few decades now, and how young Catholics without much discretion avail themselves of the very numerous online "resources" offered by evangelicals. Another sign of this is the not uncommon belief among young Catholics that the theory of evolution is counter to the doctrine of the Catholic church.