It's analogous to the way the Society of Friends wryly adopted the originally-contemptuous word "Quaker" --- or we proud Southrons will ironically call ourselves "rednecks."
Besides, Thomas Peters (CatholicVote) also has a blog called "American Papist." So he uses this term for himself--- and entre nous
Thanks for the info, around here it seems to get different reactions.
Here are some
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?SX=52f97ca75917e9c1dc4aa5a6df1bfc5a53aae6aa;m=all;o=time;q=deep;s=chaput%20denver