Did you all see Newt Gingrich on Greta van Sustren’s program on FNC analyze the Notre Shame situation and the recent moves of the Obama Administration regarding religion?
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Once again, converts sometimes are the Church’s best defenders while its “cradle Catholics are its greatest detractors – Father McBrien anyone? Tom
How is it Gingrich was received into the Church on March 29, 2009? I thought that was to happen at the Easter Vigil?
Gordon: I imagine that is none of our business.
He nailed all the key points! Great interview.
Gordon: My fiance came into the Church back in early February, sometimes it just makes more sense for a person not to wait until the Vigil or to wait beyond it. Why does it matter when Newt Gingrich came into the Church, what matters is that he did. [When he was received is a rabbit hole.]
I’m very very pleased and excited that the former speaker is now Catholic and saying really great things in his recent interview. My question regarding timing of his entry into the Church was brought about more the angle of wondering whether different Diocese use different days in terms of when new Catholics are received into the Church. [When he was received is a rabbit hole.]
An another note–it would be great if we took some opportunity to make sort of visible support in the local parishes, etc.. (as Mr. Gingrich suggested) for the unborn on the day and hour of Obama’s commencment address.
paule: Newt always does–nail all the key points–sans teleprompter.
Is this story being covered anywhere in the American mainstream media outside of Fox?
I ask because I participate on several debate boards (where people post a message, often with a link to a current news story, and we all argue. Good times, man.) And, I have not seen this mentioned on any of them. There’s always someone quick to post the “Pope Says Condoms Kill!” or “Pope Cuddles Holocaust Denier!” stories, but this hasn’t shown up.
Neither did the Nancy Pelosi story – the one last summer where she said silly things about Church teaching and got dressed down by a dozen bishops. I don’t think it was discussed in major outlets, outside of Fox news.
Interesting, I think, the sorts of stories that get the majority of coverage. If it makes Obama or the Democratic party look bad…. you never hear it. But, if it’s something that can be used to make the Pope look silly, then it’s everywhere.
The clip of the interview is here:
http://www.foxnews.com/ontherecord/
I wish more bishops would get themselves on tv and defend the Church against these attacks by Obama. They ARE attacks, and they have to be acknowledged AND fought! (The letters are nice, but….) A lot of lay people of our church don’t seem aware of how all the issues add up to a war on religion. Good for Newt.
Other than his suggested course of action for May 17th (lame), I thought Mr. Gingrich did very well in portraying the real nature of the “intensely secular” Obama administration (which is merely the most radical of the endless succession of Wall Street administrations – i.e. the most true to their goals). I noticed that Fox’s crawlers about who exactly was “upset” about this Notre Shame decision somehow neglected to mention the numerous bishops who have raised their voices in protest. For Fox it was a matter for “anti-abortion activists” and “conservative Catholics,” nothing more. Then again, I wouldn’t pin too many hopes on Fox when it comes to the culture war, and now, the faith war.
No TV. Thanks for the link to the clip. I will try to see it later. Is this the interview where he brings up P. Cater\’s adreess? if not can someone give a 10 word summary?
For Gordon:
The RCIA is supposed to be for the unbaptized convert. Baptized converts from other Christian denominations may be given private instruction in Catholic teaching and received at any time. If a baptized but totally uncatechized convert from another Christian denomination needs basic instruction in the Christian faith (rather than Catholic distinctives), the RCIA might make sense. But the idea that all converts must go through RCIA and be received at Easter only shows how the RCIA has been turned into a general purpose instruction program rather than a recovery of the catechumenate of the early Church as it was sold to Catholics after Vatican II. In the early Church all adult converts were unbaptized. Since the 16th century, that’s not been true. The people who got the grand idea of restoring something from the early Church failed to take stock of how the 20th century differs from the 2nd century. Some things happened in between.
Newt Gingrich is a loyal American, and I believe he is a loyal Catholic, it’s been a long journey for him as it has been for quite a few of us. Thank God for his grace in leading us. Seek and you shall find, knock and the door will open, ask and it shall be given you. I have always believed that these words had nothing to do with anything material, but always to do with ‘truth’.
I find the rabbit hole refreshing. How awful that converts are told to wait and how scandalous that, for many. the first exposure to the Faith is RCIA.
Now, if only the present Speaker would convert
A good interview. Mr. Gingrich should have corrected Fr. Jenkins on the air. As a new convert, one could say that his wisdom comes out of the mouth of babes (from a length of being Catholic perspective).
Actually , I appreciated his modesty. How uncharacteristic of the celebrity converts today.
I thought it was a superb interview.
I’m prepping my Newt 2012 t-shirts as we speak!
Not having cable I didn’t see the interview, but from the accounts above it sounds like Newt knows his Faith and is humble about it. Thank God for that! Contrast that with another recent high-profile convert, Tony Blair, who just told the Holy Father that he was wrong about homosexuality – as reported by Fr. Blake at the St. Mary Magdalen blog.
Dennis, you are right. the National Statutes for the Catechumenate are routinely ignored. I couldn’t go through RCIA because of a health problem and I had to shop around for a priest who would follow what that document said. It was sad. I had already read the catechism and was ready to make a profession of faith. I was told I had to go through RCIA because I had to get into the social life of the parish. So RCIA is very much part of the new social club model of the Church.
I think we should rejoice at his conversion and focus our criticism on cynical pieces such as this:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-03-26/the-audacity-of-poping/2/
Some “converts,” however, were better left outside the Church: Tony Blair, for example. His wife caused a furor a little while ago by giving a pro-contraception talk to a group in Rome. Now Blair criticizes the Holy Father for upholding the Church’s teachings. This man is spreading spiritual poison. Who brought this change-agent into the Church, anyway?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6055696.ece (to read article in its entirety):
Tony Blair has challenged the “entrenched” attitudes of the Pope on homosexuality, and argued that it is time for him to “rethink” his views.
Speaking to the gay magazine Attitude, the former Prime Minister, himself now a Roman Catholic, said that he wanted to urge religious figures everywhere to reinterpret their religious texts to see them as metaphorical, not literal, and suggested that in time this would make all religious groups accept gay people as equals.
Asked about the Pope’s stance, Mr Blair blamed generational differences and said: “We need an attitude of mind where rethinking and the concept of evolving attitudes becomes part of the discipline with which you approach your religious faith.”
The Pope, who is 82, remains firmly opposed to any relaxation of the Church’s traditional stance on homosexuality, contraception or any other area of human sexuality. He has described homosexuality as a “tendency” towards an “intrinsic moral evil”.
Clearly Mr. Blair’s “conversion” to Catholicism was half-baked.
I recall hearing a story from Alice Von Hildebrandt many years ago about her husband’s conversion to Catholicism, and how he was not permitted to enter unless he embraced unequivocally the Catholic Church’s teaching on the use of artificial contraception. Of course, he reflected and studied and subsequently embraced the Church’s understanding of this issue and was received.
I fear Mr. blair was permitted to enter under false pretenses and may, unless he sincerely repent, end up putting his soul at great risk for doing so.
Jane,
What? Does this guy even know what the Catholic Church is? “Rethink”…”Metaphorical”. I can’t believe this individual actually lead people does he think he is going to use his influence to change fundamental church teaching? Is he nuts?
Tony Blair is indeed a change agent, he is a Fabian. Their “coat of arms” is a wolf in sheeps clothing. That is their stated purpose, the GRADUAL transformation of society to socialism/communism rather than violent revolution as done by the Bolsheviks. They gain positions of power in various collectives (organized groups) and engineer consensus via group dynamics. I would be wary of Newt. His “Contract with America” went by the wayside when his party had the power to scale back intrusive government and they expanded instead. Judge the fruit.
As to the “rabbit hole”…I’m in RCIA patiently waiting for Easter vigil, in fact missed the beginning of RCIA the year before I entered and waited for it to start again. There is a guy in my group who was baptized late last year and I came into the group understanding more about the Bible and Catholic theology than he does, not that that is a lot. I’ve learned some of pro-Vatican 2 points in RCIA and some negatives about the early Church. It’s been kind of a mixed bag. I think the powerful and connected are received into the Church whenever they want to be, like most things in life. It’s too bad, it detracts from the universality of the Church.
After reading the article in Jane’s link my question is not why Blair joined the Catholic Church but what were his reasons for leaving the Anglican Church?
I think the State worshippers, i.e. Catholic Democrats, aren’t happy with this development because they don’t want an intelligent person with media
access like Newt pointing out the obvious, i.e. that the Democratic Party is the enemy of the Catholic Church and the unborn. Tom
I challenged a local fundamentalist talk-radio host show here the other day
about Newt’s conversion to the Catholic faith. This clown seemed to intimate
that Newt had converted for political reasons, since he hadn’t been all that
strong a “Baptist bible-believing” person anyway. (Since when is it politically correct to be a practicing Catholic these days?!) He also seemed miffed that Newt hadn’t supported Mike Huckabee in the primaries. I said that I saw him as a great thinker and an intellectual who obviously did his homework before making such a serious decision, and that he obviously had been searching for the truth when he decided to come into the Catholic Church.
The fundy became very flustered and said that he looked forward to heaing Newt speak in public about his conversion, and how he would “tack back and
forth between the Protestant teachings and the Catholic Church.”
I was at least given the opportunity to make my points about the Church having protected and preserved the bible, leading others to a true “relationship with Jesus Christ,” and having a profound effect on intellectual leaders in
the world.
Welcome home, Newt, and God bless you on your journey.
I have little patience for these fundies and when they crow about how many former
Catholics they have in their ranks I reply,
“Well, we need some place to send out trash”
Welcome Newt
I’m very pleased that FoxNEWS can be relied upon to give us outraged faithful Catholics an outlet to our frustrations over the Notre Dame scandal. Predictably all the other networks have either completely ignored the issue or have done the darndest to downplay it, or simply ridicule it.
I think the bashing of “Fundies” is inappropriate, and we should refrain from it.
Challenging others, in charity, with the truth is fine. But no need to disrespect them. Indeed, there are many “bible believing Christians” who have looked at this website, and seeing such uncharitable words could have a negative impact on their perception of Catholicism or their decision to convert.
LCB,
Perhaps it is just me, but I consider the term “fundies” to refer to a specific type of behavior rather than to a specific group of people. That being said, I think it entirely appropriate to “bash” and even ridicule “fundies” as long as it is clear that the comment is directed toward the behavior.
Critique them. Do not bash them.
By bashing them you do not aid their conversion.
Grace works its own way out in the lives of everyone, and in its own time. It isn’t for us to judge the worthiness of the recipient. God isn’t finished with any of us yet.
It’s a bit unfair to criticize Ton Blair for his heretical views. He is, as are we all, a product of his formation. How many cradle Catholic laypeople share those views? How many of them have been grievously misled by their priests and bishops, who decline to teach the truth for fear of giving offense or of appearing insufficiently “progressive?”
My return to the Church was ignited by reading “The Good Enough Catholic,” which laid out a nice, intellectual defense of cafeteria Catholicism. I bought into that for a number of years, until, by the grace of God, I was put into contact with orthodox priests and laypeople who introduced me to the truth of Catholic teachings. It didn’t happen overnight, and it certainly would not have happened had I been criticized and vilified by those who beat me to the treasure of Catholic orthodoxy.