Posted on 04/15/2008 8:07:25 AM PDT by NYer
Daniel Burke at the Washington Post thinks that President Bush might be pulling a Tony Blair. Burke tells of the Catholic based culture that rules the west wing and some other lingering suspicions.
Shortly after Pope Benedict XVI's election in 2005, President Bush met with a small circle of advisers in the Oval Office. As some mentioned their own religious backgrounds, the president remarked that he had read one of the new pontiff's books about faith and culture in Western Europe.While this concept of a Catholic run White House may be humorous to some, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus says that it is not so far fetched.
Save for one other soul, Bush was the only non-Catholic in the room. But his interest in the pope's writings was no surprise to those around him. As the White House prepares to welcome Benedict on Tuesday, many in Bush's inner circle expect the pontiff to find a kindred spirit in the president. Because if Bill Clinton can be called America's first black president, some say, then George W. Bush could well be the nation's first Catholic president.
***
"I don't think there's any question about it," says Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and a devout Catholic, who was the first to give Bush the "Catholic president" label. "He's certainly much more Catholic than Kennedy."
Bush has also placed Catholics in prominent roles in the federal government and relied on Catholic tradition to make a public case for everything from his faith-based initiative to antiabortion legislation. He has wedded Catholic intellectualism with evangelical political savvy to forge a powerful electoral coalition.Finally, Burke hints that some close to the President might not be suprised if he pulled a Tony Blair one day by converting after leaving office.
"There is an awareness in the White House that the rich Catholic intellectual tradition is a resource for making the links between Christian faith, religiously grounded moral judgments and public policy," says Richard John Neuhaus, a Catholic priest and editor of the journal First Things who has tutored Bush in the church's social doctrines for nearly a decade.
Moreover, people close to Bush say that he has professed a not-so-secret admiration for the church's discipline and is personally attracted to the breadth and unity of its teachings. A New York priest who has befriended the president said that Bush respects the way Catholicism starts at the foundation -- with the notion that the papacy is willed by God and that the pope is Peter's successor. "I think what fascinates him about Catholicism is its historical plausibility," says this priest. "He does appreciate the systematic theology of the church, its intellectual cogency and stability." The priest also says that Bush "is not unaware of how evangelicalism -- by comparison with Catholicism -- may seem more limited both theologically and historically."Color me skeptical, but I don't think so.
Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, another evangelical with an affinity for Catholic teaching, says that the key to understanding Bush's domestic policy is to view it through the lens of Rome. Others go a step further.
Paul Weyrich, an architect of the religious right, detects in Bush shades of former British prime minister Tony Blair, who converted to Catholicism last year. "I think he is a secret believer," Weyrich says of Bush. Similarly, John DiIulio, Bush's first director of faith-based initiatives, has called the president a "closet Catholic." And he was only half-kidding.
I stand corrected, you did say Bishop. Sorry for my mistake. I have no idea what bishop you refer to, there are many decent ones even here in the USA.
I stand corrected you did not lie about our pope. OK?
The Pharasees were the most devoted & scripturally educated of God’s chosen people, were smart enough to know that only God could forgive sin.
Last thing I'll ever do is leave it up to the Deacons and Elders in any Christian or quasi-Christian organization to control the flow of information in and out of the congregation.
I'm sure the Pope will agree with me ~ listen closely to him this week.
Well, remember they were arguing with Jesus who actually authored the work. In any biblical trivia contest I would bet on Jesus over the Pharisees.
This guy looks virtually identical to the current Pope. Folks who've met them both have remarked on this very close resemblence.
Anyway, Mr. Wargo, the Pope, and I have the same voice quality over the telephone.
This weekend if you receive a call from "the Pope", be careful how you deal with it.
Wow. (shuddders....)
no, i do not have any relatives in the FLDS, i assure you. i have never personally laid eyes on a polygamist in my life.
John 20: 21He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. 22When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 23Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
Act 1:24And praying, they said: Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, 25To take the place of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas hath by transgression fallen, that he might go to his own place. 26And they gave them lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Seems pretty clear to me. And that's all that matters, right? Perspicuity, right? Private interpretation, right?
Is there an infallible interpreter of Scripture on this forum?
The Pope IS a Bishop (the Bishop of Rome).
Re-read Matthew 15:1-20 and chapter 23, and get back to us on Jesus' high praise of the Pharisees.
This is why there is far more child molestation in public schools than there has ever been in the Catholic Church, because the public schools refuse to follow the commandments of YHvh and promote marriage.
Hey, Chuck, has it ever occurred to you that Jesus, according to the Catholic Church, raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament? Did you know that it was Martin Luther and the other Reformers who demoted it to a merely civil contract?
124 posted on April 15, 2008 12:08:54 PM MDT by Campion
If you were to reread John 2 and Numbers 19, you would see that The water of purification was a mixture of water with The water that Yah'shua changed was not the water we think The water of purification was used to remove sin under the old covenant. This is the beginning of the New Covenant as outlined in JEREMIAH 31:31 Yah'shua by this miracle pointed to His power to remove sin. Yah'shua demonstrated that He was greater than the Red Heifer. Later He would become the Pesach Lamb, Yah'shua in Hebrew means YHvH is my salvation. See: Exodus 15:2; Psalm 18:2; Psalm 27:1; Psalm 62:1; Psalm 62:2; Psalm 62:6;You always seem to change the subject in order to deflect the truth of my statements.
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai
the purpose of changing the water of purification into wine really meant.
the ashes of the red heifer mixed with cedar wood
and hyssop and scarlet materiel (Numbers 19:6)
of, it was not drinking water. It was the water of purification
as detailed in Numbers 19.
By the act of changing the water of purification into wine, Yah'shua
ended the OT means of removing sin also pointing
to the the wine blessing in the Passover Seder.
Numbers 19:9 'Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer
and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and the congregation of the
sons of Israel shall keep it as water to remove impurity; it is purification from sin.
removing sin forever to all who would call on His Name for salvation.
Psalm 62:7; Psalm 118:14; Psalm 119:174; Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 46:13;
Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 51:5; Isaiah 56:1; Isaiah 19:20; Isaiah 43:3;
Isaiah 43:11; Isaiah 45:21; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16; Hosea 13:4
Ever heard the term "accountability partner"? Tell us what it means, if you have.
Jimmy Carter honored the terrorist Arafat today, he put a wreath on his grave, a despicable act for the former US President.
Contact Information: The Carter Center
Mailing Address:
The Carter Center
One Copenhill
453 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30307
Phone:
(404) 420-5100 or (800) 550-3560
E-mail:
carterweb@emory.edu
I never said anything about John 2, sorry.
As in Matthew 8:8 the priest leads us in asking forgiveness from Christ, he does not assume the power of absolution unto himself.
you are SO right! thank you.
JFK was indeed President, he just wasn't Catholic. He may have been baptized "Catholic", but he didn't practice it and opposed church doctrine, not to mention he could care less what the Pope thought (and ironically the Catholic bashers claimed that, if elected, JFK would be a puppet of the Pope)
Since JFK never observed Catholic beliefs, that would make George W. Bush the closest thing we've ever had to a "Catholic" President.
Yes, very ironic. Kennedy "proved them wrong" by becoming their puppet.
Aw, shoot. I didn’t know there was an Opus Dei albino monk on thread; I try to be so careful!
Can you put me at the end (alphabetically, you know) and let me live until after my beach vacation? Fatima would want you to!
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