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Rick Santorum’s Virginia Church and Opus Dei
The New Republic ^ | March 6, 2012 | Molly Redden

Posted on 03/08/2012 3:53:19 PM PST by HokieMom

Rick Santorum’s Catholic faith is an obvious centerpiece of his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, and it is rare for him to speak without referencing his religious beliefs. It is also rare, however, to hear him speak about his particular church, St. Catherine of Siena, which he and his family have belonged to for at least a decade. Even his 2005 manifesto on his personal faith and politics, It Takes a Family, did not mention the church. I was curious to learn more about it, so last Friday morning, I attended a 9 a.m. Mass there.

St. Catherine is a modern, low-slung brick building that sits in the affluent and hilly Washington suburb of Great Falls, Virginia. It is a notably conservative congregation—its neat grounds include a “garden for the unborn,” and the schedule offers a Latin Mass each Sunday featuring Gregorian chant sung by a professional choir.

The church claims 3,400 parishioners. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and his wife attend Mass there; at one time or another, so have Redskins quarterbacks, the head of the National Rifle Association, and former FBI director Louis Freeh. (Members of the Branch Davidians once blocked the parking lot with a protest targeted at Freeh after the Waco raid, someone familiar with St. Catherine told me.) The church also suffered brief notoriety eleven years ago when FBI agent Robert Hanssen—then a member of the congregation—was arrested for selling intelligence to Russia. Mostly, the church is home to families with school-aged children—“big families, seven-, eight- or nine-children families,” as one parishioner told me. (None of the half-a-dozen parishioners I interviewed would agree to be quoted by name, and the parish office declined interview requests.) Bishop Anton Justs of Jelgava, Latvia, who oversaw the creation of St. Catherine in 1981 .....

(Excerpt) Read more at tnr.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: catholicpoliticians; fairfaxcounty; opusdei; santorum; santorum2012; va2012; virginia
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To: netmilsmom

“Please stop smearing our future VP (God willing).”

Future VP? Are you kidding me? On Romney’s ticket?

I guess there is a divide in the non-Romney vote that is evident in this statement. Many of us just don’t find Romney acceptable at all, no matter who the VP is. The last thing I’m worried about is getting either Newt or Rick on the ticket with Mitt because:

a. Mitt’s never gonna pick either of them anyway, and

b. Even if he did, it would not make me any more enthusiastic about Mitt-the guy is a liberal from Mass with zero evidence of any conservative accomplishments in his background.

I don’t want Rick on the ticket with Mitt, I WANT TO DERAIL MITT!!! And I think there’s still time, and I think Rick is our best shot of doing it.


21 posted on 03/08/2012 4:48:27 PM PST by lquist1
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To: HokieMom

I know Santorum was pro-abortion before running for office, but has Santorum ever explained why he was in support of removing the pro-life plank from the party platform in 1996?


22 posted on 03/08/2012 4:58:39 PM PST by ansel12
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To: HokieMom

This Southern, evangelical peckerwood has no problems with Opus Dei. Try again.


23 posted on 03/08/2012 4:58:43 PM PST by Psalm 144 (“I think we ought to listen to Alinsky.” - Govenor G. Romney, father of Bishop Willard M. Romney.)
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To: HokieMom

What’s next, he was a choir boy?


24 posted on 03/08/2012 5:18:10 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Abortion? No. Gov't heath care? No. Gore on warming? No. McCain on immigration? No.)
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To: HokieMom
St. Catherine also has ties to Opus Dei, an extremely conservative organization that encourages members to knit their Catholic faith with policy-making.

This is not true. Opus Dei does not focus on politics either within the Church or in government as far as I have understood it. It is more of a halfwaypoint between being a normal parish member of the church, and being completely dedicated to the Church as a monk or nun. Opus Dei fills a need for Catholics who want more from their Catholic life, but live in the secular world with families and jobs of their own.

25 posted on 03/08/2012 5:20:48 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: Vince Ferrer

That is my understanding, and I completely respect that focus and effort. C. S. Lewis once wrote that a fanatic is one whose faith is more robust than one’s own. Imagine that . . . taking one’s faith seriously. No wonder the left and the materialist right doesn’t get it.


26 posted on 03/08/2012 5:34:41 PM PST by Psalm 144 (" Ithink we ought to listen to Alinsky." - Govenor G. Romney, father of Bishop Willard M. Romney.)
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To: Vince Ferrer

Exactly right, Vince.


27 posted on 03/08/2012 6:53:56 PM PST by oldsicilian
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To: lquist1
Kudlow was discussing a possible Romney/Santorum ticket yesterday.

It does sound unlikely--if not as unlikely as a Gingrich/Santorum or Paul/Santorum ticket. A lot of conservatives would still not vote for Romney if Santorum were his running mate. Of course Kudlow as mainly thinking of the economic issues, not the social issues.

28 posted on 03/08/2012 8:39:40 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: netmilsmom

Pope John Paul II canonized the founder of Opus Dei. That presumably gives some indication of his attitude towards the organization.


29 posted on 03/08/2012 8:41:56 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus

BTTT


30 posted on 03/09/2012 5:28:12 AM PST by HokieMom (Pacepa : Can the U.S. afford a president who can't recognize anti-Americanism?)
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To: lquist1

>>Future VP? Are you kidding me? On Romney’s ticket?<<

LOL!!!

On Newt’s ticket.
This is FR afterall.

You inserted Mitt. I SAID I was a Newt supporter.


31 posted on 03/09/2012 6:31:26 AM PST by netmilsmom (Happiness is a choice)
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To: netmilsmom

“LOL!!!

On Newt’s ticket.
This is FR afterall.

You inserted Mitt. I SAID I was a Newt supporter.”

My sincerest apologies. I did not see that you were a Newt supporter. In that case, we’re on the same page, I’m a Newt supporter too.


32 posted on 03/09/2012 5:04:35 PM PST by lquist1
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To: lquist1

>>I’m a Newt supporter too.<<

High five!
I’m praying he takes the South and talks to Rick. The two of them would make a heck of a team.


33 posted on 03/09/2012 6:18:22 PM PST by netmilsmom (Happiness is a choice)
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