The Newt Evangelization: Gingrich to become Catholic

Deacon's Bench ^ | March 3, 2009 | Deacon Greg Kandra

[NYer]

Buried deep inside this long and wonkish profile of Newt Gingrich in Sunday's New York Times, was this little nugget that, I suspect, went largely unnoticed:

At a moment when the role of religious fundamentalism in the party is a central question for reformers, Gingrich, rather than making any kind of case for a new enlightenment, has in fact gone to great lengths to placate Christian conservatives. The family-values crowd has never completely embraced Newt, probably because he has been married three times, most recently to a former Hill staff member, Callista Bisek. In 2006, though, Gingrich wrote a book called “Rediscovering God in America” — part of a new canon of work he has done reaffirming the role of religion in public life. The following year, he went on radio with the evangelical minister James Dobson to apologize for having been unfaithful to his second wife. (A Baptist since graduate school, Gingrich said he will soon convert to Catholicism, his wife’s faith.)

PHOTO: by Nigel Parry for the New York Times.

[redhead]

"Who is the Bishop(?) from another era (no longer living) that they run old shows of he is Red Caped and he is good in his sermons but he glares into the camara and does a Dracula eyebrow thingy cant help to giggle."

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, of blessed, BLESSED memory. He was a powerhouse/fireball/crackerjack homilist. He was also quite short. He spoke of his "angel" who erased the board while the Bishop spoke on other topics. You can get videos (CDs) of his programs in several places. Happy viewing!

[livius]

Well! Finally! A piece of good news today...

Prayers for Newt. I think he’s brilliant and he’s been extremely under-utilized by the GOP.

[markomalley]

FWIW, I see him at the Shrine (The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception) on a very regular basis and have seen him attending Mass there for years (on Holy Day masses usually).

[tiki]

Oh, I think he had real beliefs, he just lacked the conviction. He had standards and he failed to live up to them, but so do I. I am a mere human, but for the Grace of God, I stumble and fall all the time, but I know with God’s Grace I can always get up and start again with firm resolve.

[Campion]

I also Like FR. Goetchel ??? the fellow with the white beard and aged.

That's Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, a Franciscan friar from a community in New York City.

He's written some good books, has tapes & videos out, etc. Definitely a good one.

From time to time you'll see a 40-ish priest with beard and a deep, stentorian, commanding voice. That's Fr. John Corapi, SOLT. He has quite a story as well.

[longhorn too]

First I would like to let all Catholics know this is not a knock on them, but on what appears to be a shallow level of the convictions of Mr. Gingrich. Being a baptist myself, there certain beliefs that would not allow me to convert to Catholicism.
I am not saying baptist are right and catholics are wrong or vice versa, but I think if you have core beliefs you should stand by them and not change for political expediency which appears to me what he is doing.

[Global2010]

Ditto to Fr. Corapi.

And who doesnt enjoy Mother Angelica.

My fave song is the Chapel of Divine Mercy....choke up every time and I dont choke up very easily.

KVs birthday is coming up and I am going to get him the one man drama DVD (we saw it live over a decade ago) of Fr. Kolbe/German Soldier who put him to death.

Yeah cant say enough positive things about EWTN programming.

Hah they have a book on sale called Catholicism for Dummies (the EWTN shopping store is on) perfect for rebuttal to non Catholic posters who like a lively debate.
(I leave the debating to the FR Apologists)

[EDINVA]

The RCC is pretty rigid on divorce/conversion issues. My brother in law began the conversion process, and midway thru was told that the RCC still recognized his first marriage, not his then-current marriage, and that he’d have to get an annulment to continue thru to conversion. No way was that going to happy. Wife #1 would never have given an annulment; Wife #2 conveniently died within a month. Otherwise, I don’t think they’d have let him convert and/or take sacraments.

[tiki]

I always thought he caved because he was having an affair.

[firebrand]

What a farce. What kind of Catholic, not to mention Christian, is she if she “married” someone who was taking her as his third? Or is he getting his first two marriages “annulled”? Farcical.

[firebrand]

How about we just go back to “a promise is a promise”? Or read the Gospel.

[Campion]

Wife #1 would never have given an annulment

An ex-spouse's permission is not required for a decree of nullity, and even their cooperation in the process is not an absolute requirement (but it is helpful).

[Dionysius]

Let me be the first on Free Republic to welcome Newt without reservation into the fold. I would be honored to introduce him to the Latin Rite.

[Campion]

How about we just go back to "a promise is a promise"?

What about people who make those promises never intending to keep them; e.g., the person who marries and then commits adultery almost immediately?

Setting aside obvious easy ones like, "suppose you marry a woman and then discover she's your sister".

Are annullments sometimes granted too easily? Sure. Should they not exist at all? I don't think that case can be made either.

[EDINVA]

Thanks for that info. Sort of surprising. There was a child born of the first marriage, and it was consecrated in a non RCC church, so I thought it had pretty solid standing in the RCC’s eyes.

[Campion]

Having children born only proves that the biology worked, not that the consent was valid. :-)

(Don't confuse this with a civil annulment, where having children definitely matters. A civil annulment is really nullifying a marriage. A church "annulment" is a conclusion that no valid, sacramental marriage ever existed.)

I thought it had pretty solid standing in the RCC's eyes.

The presumption in canon law is always in favor of the marriage, so, since your brother never successfully pursued the decree of nullity, the Church's position on his first marriage is that it's still rock solid.

[annalex]

What Campion said.

[mockingbyrd]

Come on over Newt, the water of the Tiber is fine.....

[americanophile]

yes

[ml/nj]

I think he did put up a fight at first, but then he found he was all alone.

All one has to do for the purposes of this discussion is to recall how Rush handled this. It started with vigorous defense of Newt and evolved to sometimes bewilderment. You never heard Rush say anything supportive of the Commodities Scam Queen (not counting the Operation Chaos stuff) but if you were listening you did hear Newt say nice things about her, and I'm not talking about any time when he might have been under attack. I'm thinking of times after he fell off the radar screen. I don't know about you but I have NEVER had anything positive to say about the CSQ.

Of course, I have had positive things to say about Newt. I used to only have positive things to say about him. But now things have changed, and I don't think that I am one of them.

ML/NJ