Contrary to reports, Harriet Miers was not raised as a Catholic

Catholic Church records and the White House both refute what has become a boilerplate part of discussions about Miers, the White House general counsel and nominee for the Supreme Court.

News stories, commentaries and editorials nationwide have repeated the description that Miers was brought up Catholic but now attends an evangelical Protestant church.

However, according to White House spokeswoman Maria Tamburri, "Harriet Miers did not grow up Catholic."

When news reports first quoted the nominee's acquaintances as saying she had been raised a Catholic before joining an evangelical Protestant church in 1979, the editor of the Texas Catholic, newspaper of the Dallas Diocese, began checking records of baptisms and other sacraments.

"The Diocese of Dallas has no record of Harriet Miers or her immediate family ever having been a member of the Catholic Church," said Deacon Bronson Havard, spokesman for the Diocese of Dallas and editor of the newspaper. "We have checked all known sacramental records."

Miers' longtime friend, Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht, has been variously quoted as saying Miers was "raised Catholic," or that her family attended both Catholic and Protestant churches or that she "had a Catholic upbringing."

Since her nomination was announced Oct. 3, those comments have evolved into the widespread assumption that Miers was a baptized Catholic who left the church as a young adult to join Valley View Christian Church with a full-immersion baptism. Several local and syndicated newspaper columnists have raised theological concerns about the favorable spin some evangelicals have given to the idea that Miers' left the Catholic Church to "find Christ" as an evangelical Protestant.

Miers might well have occasionally attended Catholic churches as a child or young adult, but there is no evidence that she ever considered herself a Catholic.

Deacon Havard also said as an active Catholic and journalist for 35 years in Dallas he has never heard anyone refer to Miers as a Catholic or former Catholic until the current set of rumors.

He noted that a local Episcopal church has pews dedicated to her parents and that she worshipped there with her family on a recent trip to Dallas. Deacon Havard also said it was reported locally that Miers on the same Sunday attended a worship service by a group that split from Valley View Christian Church, which she and Hecht, among others, recently left.

In the presumption that it is true that Miers was never Catholic:

(Note: personally I do not want to get into pro or anti abortion issue; this is more of an examination of spin doctoring and how it impacts the perception of Miers' judicial philosophy than something that should be construed as pro-abortion or anti-abortion)

The reason this is important is because it goes to the heart of why conservatives are being asked to trust the nomination of Miers.

Very early in the game, Miers was billed as a former Catholic. While that may not mean all that much to some, it means a lot to Catholics.

And also to evangelicals who know what that means.

Catholics are brought up to believe in God, the sanctity of life (anti-abortion), and marriage (anti-gay and anti-divorce). These are very strict beliefs with Catholics.

Claims were made very early (apparently as early as Oct. 3, the day of the nomination announcement) that Miers was a former Catholic. This helped grease the wheels for the spin that she would overturn Roe v. Wade if appointed. Judge Hecht supported this belief. Neither the WH nor Miers bothered to correct the mis-impression until this time, and even then it was not corrected by them, but by third party investigation of records.

Meanwhile, announcements like that of Hecht, Leo Leonard (a Catholic), Dobson and other evangelicals resounded in the news, in the controlled vacuum in which there was relatively little hard facts known about Miers, and those hard facts which did exist tended to point to a moderate rather than a conservative with a strict constructionist philosophy that would be consistent with overturning Roe v. Wade.

Without this spin, there would have been much more focus on the liberal aspects of Miers' record. Dobson, Hecht, and Leonard were used as political shielding for the crucial first week of the nomination against otherwise skeptical conservatives, Catholics, and Christians.

The spin has been uncovered to be just that. And the White House has been exposed for its opportunism and deliberate mishandling of the introduction of the Miers nomination.

Check the Catholic and evangelical blogs. They are filled with references to Miers' supposed views based on these early but false indicators. With the initial national attention to the nomination over, these initial but less than truthful impressions linger in the public consciousness.

To add to this, Hecht vouched for Miers' ability as a lawyer. Yet just how much that he says about her judicial philosophy and abilities can be trusted, given that this information has now been demonstrated to be incorrect?

A lot has been written of Miers' character based on these initial impressions-- all of which now need to be revisited.

Dobson, Leo, Hecht, and others are either playing the American public on Miers' views, or have themselves been played.

See also:

How do we know Miers is pro-Roe?

http://info-theory.blogspot.com/2005/10/overview-how-do-we-know-miers-is-pro.html

"What of the President's actions? Here there is conclusive proof that Bush is pro-Roe in the nomination of SCOTUS justices. Furthermore, through the disconnect on the Dobson solicitation, it is evident that this predisposition in nominating pro-Roe justices extends to Miers. Why else would the White House lie to Dobson about Miers being a first pick while providing him no guarantees on Miers? This is an extremely risky move and demonstrates sufficient mens rea for the conclusion that Bush has intentionally nominated a stealth pro-Roe justice."

More on the religion angle. Her "conversion" seems more of a spiritual awakening than a move away from the RCC or any other church, and the splitting off from Valley View appears to be related to worship style, not to any substantive differences in faith.

Anyone more familiar with evangelicals and Dr. McCarty may want to clarify further.

Miers grew up in Dallas attending Catholic and Protestant churches, said her sister-in-law Elizabeth Lang-Miers [pretty close relative], a state appellate judge. Miers' mother "imbued" her children with a strong sense of Christian faith, said Lang-Miers, but she added that she wasn't sure whether Miers considered herself Catholic or Protestant growing up.
"My impression at the time and since was that she considered herself, if anything, Catholic. But she really didn't consider it very much," said Hecht. ...
Ron Key, a former minister at the church, said Valley View has supported Christian ministries that try to persuade unwed mothers to consider adoption over abortion. ...
But Hecht also said that both he and Miers have recently left the church, joining about 200 others who are forming another congregation after disputes about staffing, governance and worship style since the arrival last year of Barry McCarty as "preaching minister."
Miers attended a Sunday gathering of the disaffected group two weekends ago, said Key. He left the church staff this summer after more than 30 years and has been preaching to the as-yet-unnamed second congregation.
Wilson, the Valley View office manager, acknowledged that the split is painful for the church. "We're in transition," she said. She noted that Miers attended Valley View while visiting a few weeks ago. "She's still on the membership rolls here," Wilson said.
But Hecht, who has resigned as a church elder, maintained that Miers was joining him in leaving the church. Key said Miers called him and his wife, Kaycia, on the night before Monday's announcement that she would be the high court nominee. "She simply asked for us to pray for her. My wife asked, 'Could you tell us why?' She said, 'You know me better than that.' We said, 'OK, we'll pray for you.'"
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/176/story_17640_1.html
In March 2004, Barry McCarty was named Valley View's "preaching minister." Under his leadership, the church began to shake things up a bit, in part to attract new younger members. Likely a church in your neighborhood has done the same thing in recent years, trading its organ for a guitar, tossing out some of the 18^th- and 19^th-century tunes and opting for what is euphemistically known as "praise music."
At Valley View, these stylistic changes didn't sit well with all of the congregants. This summer, 100 people left the church, led by Ron Key, who had been a pastor there for 30 years. Among the walkers was Nathan Hecht, Miers' frequent defender. Hecht recently resigned from his position of elder at Valley View. Key's group--which reportedly voted Sunday to be called Cornerstone Christian Church--is meeting at a Doubletree Hotel in north Dallas. Last Sunday, with Hecht at the piano, the Cornerstoners got to sing their old favorites, like the staple "What A Friend We Have in Jesus."
http://slate.msn.com/id/2128077/

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