Wednesday, April 16, 2008

NEWS ANALYSIS: Is George Bush leading America's first truly Catholic presidency?

I almost had to laugh out loud, but the author does make an interesting point ... read on for more details. From the Houston Chronicle:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/5701922.html

The 2005 West Wing meeting was just one indicator of how a Methodist president has surrounded himself with Roman Catholic intellectuals, speechwriters, professors, priests, bishops and politicians. These Catholics — and thus Catholic social teaching — have for the past eight years been shaping Bush's speeches, policies and legacy to a degree perhaps unprecedented in U.S. history.

In fact, with all due respect to John F. Kennedy, the nation's first and only Catholic president, some have begun to call the Bush White House the first truly Catholic presidency.

Bush has placed Catholics in prominent roles in the federal government and relied on Catholic tradition to make a public case for everything from the faith-based initiative to anti-abortion legislation. He has wedded Catholic intellectualism with evangelical political savvy to forge a powerful electoral coalition.

2 comments:

Patrick said...

". . . sees in Bush shades of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who joined the Catholic Church last year."

Ha! Who knew?

Patrick said...

I was also glad to see that the article gave at least a cursory mention of the disconnect in the social-justice teachings of the church and Bush's policies and actions as president.

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