Closet Catholic In the White House? (you be the judge)

Creative Minority Reports ^ | April 15, 2008 | Patrick Archbold

[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.

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."

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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."

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.

Color me skeptical, but I don't think so.

[Uri’el-2012]

It is more than a little disingenuous for biblical literalists to directly quote the words and translations of long dead Catholic councils of priests, bishops and popes, as manifest in the English bible you are citing, as a refutation of the now living Catholic priests, bishops, and pope.

The real message of Christ, and the reason he was assassinated by the priests, was that you don't need any churches or priests. You have a direct personal access to God. The bottom line is that God doesn't give a damn which pew your ass is in, but he cares a whole lot about what is in your heart. However, that doesn't mean that you are denied that access because of the church you attend or don't attend or if you don't use weird spelling so that you can Jedi-Mind Trick God into not thinking you not typing His name.

172 posted on April 15, 2008 1:24:48 PM MDT by Natural Law

I pray one day you will come to understand that the Holy Word of Elohim
is as John says is the pre-existent one: Yah'shua.

And that in order to come to know the creator of the universe,
you must seek Him out in His Word, not in man-made Traditions.

It is ignorant and anti-Semitic to state that Yah'shua
was assassinated by the priests , when you are the anti-semite.
You are aware that Yah'shua was/is a Jew and you are rejecting Him and His brothers.

NAsbU Matthew 25:40 "The King will answer and say to them,
'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these
brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

Anyone who seeks to be covered with the "blood of the lamb" must have
been part of the killing of the lamb. So if you reject killing the Passover Lamb
then you are not covered by the blood of the lamb and you reject YHvH's salvation.

Elohim YHvH has communicated with us through His Word.
He has communicated to us from outside our time-space continuum.

He does not communicate to us through some man-made corporation.
He said he would send another like himself ( Ru'ach HaKodesh )
to assist us in understanding His Holy Word.

If you understand the language of Elohim, it is very clear that:
"Yah has become my salvation" is the Name that most refer to as Jesus.
The name Yah'shua means "Yah has become my salvation".

YHvH

Yod Hey in Hebrew is the Name of Elohim.
vav is man in Hebrew; Yah became man for our salvation.
He has become our Go'el
The letter Hey is the breath of Elohim.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai

[Uri’el-2012]

Peter's quoting Exodus 19:6. Do you dispute that Israel had a class of priests who were set apart from the rest of the people?

Yes but the temple is gone and Yah'shua is our High Priest ( see Hebrews 3 - 13)

b'SHEM Yah'shua

[Natural Law]

Your posting was a completely wasted exercise in reductio ad absurdum.

[Uri’el-2012]

Mazol Tov

b'SHEM Yah'shua

[Tax-chick]

But it has some cool html coding that I certainly couldn’t do, although I can post a picture of a cat (if anyone wants one).

[EDINVA]

The Doles had been members of Foundry Methodist in DC for decades; it’s the church the Clintons attended when they arrived at the White House. It didn’t take long for the Doles to leave that church. Guess their hearts, their minds and their doors were a little TOO open ;)

[Beloved Levinite]

“What do you think? “in all seriousness” ... give me a break”

I’m not Catholic, so I wouldn’t know. I thought you being Catholic might know the protocol in receiving the Pope. Do only Catholics need to bow & kiss his ring, or is it required of others?

[Beloved Levinite]

“Jimmy Carter honored the terrorist Arafat today, he put a wreath on his grave, a despicable act for the former US President.”

Wow, that it staggering! What a slap in the face to Americans and also to our Jewish friends. Just staggering & reprehensible.

May Jimmy Carter pay a heavy price for this act of treason.

[Beloved Levinite]

tioga,

Did you follow up to see if that priest was in fact fired, or just moved to another parish or obscure monastery? The shuffling of priests remains one of the biggest problems.

[Beloved Levinite]

...and BTW, I’m truly sorry to hear your story.

God Bless.

[Natural Law]

"...or just moved to another parish or obscure monastery?"

If the priest in question is not being criminally prosecuted I have no problem with moving him to an obscure monastery or to a similar location void of children. After all, the church is in the redemption business.

note: Monks and Brothers reside at monasteries, priests rarely do.

[maryz]

Your vav is in the wrong place.

[Uri’el-2012]

Your vav is in the wrong place.

?? Could you be more specific, please.

[lastchance]

It is satire and I am a loyal daughter of Holy Mother Church.

[dangus]

Yeah, but Elizabeth Dole is a cofounder, with Christine Todd Whitman, of “It’s my Party, Too (IMP-PAC)” (Notice, the abbreviaions only fit “It’s My Party.” IMP=PAC seeks to oust conservatives who are pro-life, anti-gay, etc., etc., etc. IOW, they are anti-conservative.

[defconw]

ROFLMAO. I don’t think we are supposed to tell anyone these things. ;) Blessed to be RC!

[lastchance]

Gay men who are attracted to teenage boys are not very good marriage prospects.

[Tax-chick]

Awww, now don’t be so judgmental ... they just need to meet the right woman! ;-)

[defconw]

Well I just got to see the Holy Father's arrival at Andrews and the walk with President Bush. They both looked awesome. Nit sure I have ever seen Papa Bene looking so good and vital. WOW!

If President Bush wants to come home, I would be proud to share a kneeler with him.

[EDINVA]

I looked up the IMP-PAC site, which seems to be pretty exclusively Christie Todd Whitman. It has joined forces with something called the Republican Leadership Counsel. The RLC lists among its partners various ‘moderate’ and/or ‘centrist’ Republican groups, i.e., Log Cabin Republicans, Republicans for Choice and others distinctly NOT conservative.

The RLC also lists as a partner the National Republican Senatorial committee of which Sen. Dole was chair (as were Rick Santorum and George Allen). Their site still shows Sen. Dole as chair, but it’s Sen. Ensign. The Republican Governors Conference is also a partner.

Unlike the other partners which have specific constituent groups, these two are neither moderate nor conservative groups. Unlike IMP-PAC and RLC, they are elected Republican organizations dedicated to the election of Republicans to either the Senator or to governorships. As such, they have to work with all GOP-oriented groups to see that Republican candidates are elected, regardless of where they fall within the political spectrum.

I don’t see that Sen. Dole had anything to do with founding either IMP-PAC or the RLC organization. It could be she did, but I see no evidence of that, and it seems contrary to everything else about her. Do you have more info ?