Presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) talks frankly about his Catholic Faith and his relationship to other Christians.
Moderation queue is ON. I don’t want this to turn into a merely political debate about various candidates, as in, “I don’t like Joe Sixpack. I’m for Jane Bagofdonuts!”
I checked out his religion a couple of years ago, to find that he was part of an ecclesial community called Christ Fellowship. Now he apparently attends a Catholic Church, to0…
Katherine, does it say that in the video? I can’t hear it. Damian Thompson reported on Rubio’s affiliation back when he was first elected to the Senate.
I’ve worked in DC for well over 25 years, and know many of Rubio’s staff. My understanding is that for a long time he attended and considered himself (and his family) as active in both the Baptist ecclesial communion and Catholic Church.
However, over time both he and his family have become fully committed at a doctrinal and dogmatic level to what the Catholic Church teaches. When he “attends” the Baptist Church, they do so more in the way one might “attend” for a close family member.
For example, I have personally been to the Baptist Church my wife was raised in. She, and I, will attend when we go down there, because those people are literally as closer, or closer to her than many family members. She literally spent more time there as a child than she did in school. They are like family. Would she take Communion, or sing the songs, or pray spontaneously with them, NO. We are Catholic, and we will attend Mass the same day as their ‘service’ can never be a substitute for the Holy Sacrifice.
My understanding is that Rubio approaches it the same way.
The more he kept talking, the better it was sounding.
Refreshing to hear a politician speak like this about his faith. It seems clear that his faith is not superficial, and that it is integral to his world view.
It sounds to me like he believes what he is saying. He doesn’t use religion as a tool, but he allows himself to be a tool for God.
THank you for posting this.
Interesting and sincere in tone.
During some of these speeches, I have found him complex and compelling. During the debates, I don’t seem to connect.
I found it to be a very articulate testimony to his Catholic faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. He has obviously taken Peter’s letter seriously to “always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” Well done!
Filed under “Things I didn’t expect to hear during an election campaign” and flagged in case it should be relevant later.
Boom! That just happened. This sounds like a man who has thought about stuff pretty deeply. He knows what real peace truly is.
Would that more Catholic could express their faith so openly and so well.
I looked into his religious affiliation when he was first elected to the Senate and had concluded that he was an evangelical Protestant who held to the Catholic title probably as a political maneuver. Something changed since then and he started attending Mass more than the megachurch. That’s not inconsistent with the story he tells in the video.
The video was surprising. When politicians get questions like that I expect awkward answers that quickly turn into political talking points. If anything, Rubio went to the other extreme and avoided a political answer. I don’t mean this as a negative but he sounds more Protestant than he does Catholic. I don’t mean doctrinally but in his manner of speech. Catholics generally don’t talk like that. Maybe that’s a shortfall of our’s. What’s abundantly clear is that he has a genuine faith, it’s at least informed to some extent by the Church, and he just so happens to be the most electable Republican and the bookie’s front-runner. This is great news.
Of interest, New York Times(2010): Marco Rubio: Catholic or Protestant?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/us/27beliefs.html?_r=2
“For much of the last decade, Mr. Rubio has attended Christ Fellowship with his wife and children. He “comes very regularly to worship service” at the church’s Palmetto Bay campus, said Eric Geiger, the executive pastor. “
Very interesting. Thank you Father.