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 will pray for you, brother.
Wow! That explains why all my Bibles disappeared suddenly after JPII died ... then they (magickally?) reappeared a few weeks later ... subtly different. I've been trying to figure that one out for a couple of years, now.
Papers: Jesuits Were Warned about Abusive Priest
By Barbara Bradley Hagerty
National Public Radio
October 29, 2007
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15683354 [with audio]
Father Donald McGuire sexually abused two teenaged boys in the 1960s. That much is public record: He was convicted in a criminal trial last year.
As recently as nine weeks ago, Jesuit leaders insisted that they had no knowledge of any other abuse by the renowned priest. But documents show that over the past 38 years, Jesuit leaders were alerted many times about McGuire’s behavior — even as criminal and civil cases were under way. That raises the question: What happened to those records?
Father Donald McGuire, shown here with nuns from Mother Theresa’s order, the Missionaries of Charity, was convicted in 2006 of sexually abusing two boys in the 1960s.
The Janesville Gazette/AP
Documents in the Case
Lawyers for several of Father McGuire’s alleged victims have obtained documents that show the Jesuits were repeatedly alerted to his alleged sexual abuse, beginning in 1969. Read some of those documents:
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2007/09_10/2007_10_29_Hagerty_PapersJesuits.htm
Amen!
“would read appypappy’s posts on these religion threads and say to themselves, what a godly man, i wish i could walk the walk of Christ as he does?”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1998965/posts
Are you trying to make protestantism look ridiculous?
ROTFLMAO!!
Where do I get my dagger??
I just read the sewage at our buddy, BL’s link:
“In confirmation of which I hereby dedicate my life, soul, and all corporal powers, and with the dagger which I now receive...”
Hey!! I'm a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus, darn it!! I'm a Grand Knight and a Past Grand Knight, a past officer of my Assembly!! And I didn't get any stinkin’ dagger??
Where's my dagger??
One must question the good faith, or failing that, the intelligence, of folks who would believe such tripe.
sitetest
not a single Catholic on this forum is going to dispute the fact of the abuse or the cover-up. not a single Catholic on this forum worships the Catholic CHURCH, we follow the Catholic FAITH. so rail on about the Church, the abuse, the coverup, you get no arguments there. does that somehow free you up to bash the Catholic faith of your fellow freepers? i don’t think so. Guess God will be the judge of whether that is godly behavior or not.
connect up the dots for me, please, i don’t follow you.
I’ve passed your request along to the Religion Mod, who should be checking back in before long.
Hey it’s better than Obama’s faith-hating the white man and being totally angry!
The dagger goes with the double secret Fifth Degree. Didn't you get the memo?
One must question the good faith, or failing that, the intelligence, of folks who would believe such tripe.
Regarding the authors of the websites ... charity demands that I not assume that they are committing the sin of slander. So, they're either morons or lunatics. As to the folks who post on this site ... We're not allowed to "read minds".
So I won't.
Thanks. I appreciate all y’all doing what must seem a totally thankless job.
The Oath of the Knights of Columbus - or Malta - or Jesuit Oath is hate mongering material and not allowed at all on Free Republic. Nor are references to sites which host hate mongering material allowed here.
Well, that’s a refreshing change, because I’ve seen some priest abuse apologetists, claiming the scandal has been way overblown.
Yes, as you say, we shall let Christ be the judge.
Last chance was being sarcastic, to cut the legs off of the fundies that rant about this stuff
“The dagger goes with the double secret Fifth Degree. Didn't you get the memo?”
Obviously not. * chuckle *
sitetest
The auto-flagellating albino monk assassins will be along shortly in their silent invisible black helicopters to deliver it.
Do not post from websites that link to hate mongering material - including the above, Jack Chick, Jesus-is-Lord.com, KKK, Aryan Nations, National Alliance, Christian Identity, anti-Semitic websites et al. That includes Biblebelievers.org.
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