[axel f]

Nice hitpiece on Brownback. He's up for re-election next year, and I have a feeling the left will go out to defeat him. This stupid article is only the beginning.

[sinkspur]

Brownback's silence about his ties to Opus Dei begs the question: What does he have to hide?

Nothing. Opus Dei's not everybody's cup of tea, but hanging out with McCloskey doesn't mean Brownback's in the group. In fact, there's no evidence he is.

Is Brownback running for anything? What's the Hutchinson News got it's panties in a wad over?

Ya just can't win with these clowns: practice your Faith overtly and get criticized for shoving it in people's faces; remain quiet and discreet, and get accused of hiding something.

[DPB101]

The left is terrified of Opus Dei. It is Richard Melon Scaife,Newt Gingrich,Wayne LaPierre, Ken Starr and Bob Jones all rolled up into one and cloned ten thousand times over.

No members have bothered me yet but I bought double locks for my door just in case. I got enough trouble with Neo-Nazis, Klansman, militia members and right wing extremists in my neighborhood. They make so much noise, it is hard to sleep at night.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

"I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish - where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source - where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials . . ."

Of course, Hennedy took his Catholicism about as seriously as he took his marriage vows.

I'm not a Catholic, but I prefer Hillaire Belloc's statement to the mainly Protestant electorate of his constituency when he ran for Parliament:

"Gentlemen, I am a Catholic. As far as possible I go to Mass every day. This is a rosary. As far as possible I kneel down and tell these beads every day. If you reject me on account of my religion, I shall thank God that He has spared me the indignity of being your representative."

Belloc won the election without debasing himself before bigots.

[rwfromkansas]

If Brownback can lose an election, pigs can fly.

There is no chance he will be defeated.

[LadyDoc]

Members are expected to attend Mass daily, pray the rosary daily, read the gospels daily and make a weekly confession. Not exactly a schedule a busy senator like Brownback can keep.

Typical hit piece.

There are a lot of Catholics who attend daily mass and read the bible and pray the rosary or a similar prayer every day...

Even some famous people who are busier than the average Senator manage to do it...

As for the priest that converted this Senator, wasn't he the same one who converted Robert Novak?

As for the crap about "self flaggelation" and "reading the mail" ...this was part of most convents and men's orders before Vatican II. The "flaggelation" is a limited thing, done during the recitation of psalm 101...once a week, and more symbolic than real. This is discussed in the novel "the Nun's story", by the way.

What people don't realize is that many Catholic "orders" have first, second and third orders. The first order is cloistered/full time people who pray a lot and take very strict, very formal vows that can only be released by the Pope.

The second are usually priests who preach or teach.

The third order is two types: People with simple vows (most American sisters are third order, who use a simplified version of the cloistered order, live in common, and whose vows are easily released by the bishop.

Then you have the lay third orders: Lay people who follow a limited rule of prayer, such as the "daily mass and daily rosary" (nowadays they usually say the psalms instead), and live simply.

Most Catholic parished have third orders, usually Franciscan, but there are also Carmelites and Dominicans.

These groups have different "charisms". This is the style or way you follow the Lord. Franciscans tend to stress living poorly and working with the poor. They also are pacifists in their tradition. Carmelites tend to emphasize prayer and the duties of one's daily life as a prayer, copying the way Jesus prayed a lot but lived simply as a carpenter for 30 years. Etc.

I have no idea of Opus Dei, but their fruits tend to be good, and their enemies a bit liberal. Personally, they are too rule oriented for me. If this senator wants to join Opus dei, he'd be this "third order" type and would have to study a year or so before he could join, and could leave without any big deal.

[LadyDoc]

Most people who go to daily mass don't mention it.

I derived my strength from daily mass and communion.

Vince Lombardi, Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers http://www.catholicnoles.net/imsports/

Another is Peggy Noonan (mentions it in one of her books).

Another is Thomas Burnett, one of the Flight 93 heroes:http://www.catholicity.com/commentary/20020927.html

And Father McCloskey has a web page, in case you want to read what this priest actually believes.http://www.frmccloskey.com/

[7 x 77]

Well, there's no question that JFK wasn't beholden to Catholic priciples.

[7 x 77]

I don't know much about Opus Dei, but the "weird" practices that the author discribes were traditionally common among the church's saints. For instance, Thomas More wore a hairshirt, slept on a wooden matress without a pillow, got up in the middle of the night for prayer, and went to prayer several other times during the day, went to daily mass, etc.

[RAT Patrol]

Ridiculous! So the Hutch news people want a religious litmus test for gov't now? Shame on them!

[Holden Magroin]

Rintoul's anti-Christian rant is what really "speaks volumes." Reading your members' e-mail is certainly no more extreme than killing an unborn child.

[iconoclast]

Get back to us when you find a snake handler in the Senate.

Does this crap really fly in Kansas?

[Rushian]

How come I had read from the day he was elected that Brownback was Catholic? As for the JFK BS, he should have been kicked in the @ss for going to Houston and submitting himself to the Baptist Preacher Inquisition!

[Zack Nguyen]

If Brownback were linked with the National Council of Churches, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, or some other leftist group, the media wouldn't bat an eye.

[jonefab]

A politician's religion doesn't matter. But a constituency's faith in that politician to conduct himself in the open - both privately and professionally - is critical to that politician's career and credibility.

I wonder how this reporter felt about Clintoon's conduct in private? I suspect this doesn't "wash".

[conservonator]

Brownback was lured to Catholicism by Opus Dei guru Father C. John McCloskey III.

Lured?