Comments on: Newt Gingrich Opens Up On Catholic Conversion

By: Tito Edwards

Tito Edwards — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:09:38 +0000

Well said Maria!

By: Maria

Maria — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:14:00 +0000

I have heard the speeches of Mr. Newt Gingrich for a long time, long before his Catholic Conversion. I always wondered if he was Catholic. I am surprised to hear that he has converted recently. I would like to tell him not to mind the voices of this Godless, amoral generation. If this generation likes him, like it does Obama, he would be worthless. Mr. Ginggrich, be strong, be just, and do everything you can to change this country back to God to Whom it belongs.

By: Donald R. McClarey

Donald R. McClarey — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:25:11 +0000

“That’s a pretty elementary distinction.”

One would think.

By: S.B.

S.B. — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:21:55 +0000

Wow. From MZ’s “response” over at Vox Nova:

Having been so impressed by his current wife’s piety, he finally joined the Catholic Church and has appointed himself spokesman for all that is good and holy. To this, the usually suspects give an amen and thank God for Newt’s libido finally finding a Catholic girl to satiate it and leading him to the Church.

Is anyone stupid enough to believe such a ridiculous caricature? Saying that God can bring good out of evil in no way equates to “thank[ing] God” for the evil. That’s a pretty elementary distinction.

By: For The Floor « Vox Nova

For The Floor « Vox Nova — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:40:00 +0000

[...] the Catholic Church and has appointed himself spokesman for all that is good and holy. To this, the usually suspects give an amen and thank God for Newt’s libido finally finding a Catholic girl to satiate it [...]

By: DarwinCatholic

DarwinCatholic — Thu, 28 May 2009 02:37:46 +0000

Aside from the notoriety and the added salaciousness of it being known that he and Callista were having an affair prior to his having divorced his most recent wife — Gingrich’s case doesn’t necessarily sound all that different from some of the run-of-the-mill conversions I’ve dealt with helping out on RCIA team. It’s very common to have someone coming in through RCIA be the spouse or “significant other” of a current or lapsed Catholic. It’s also pretty common for both to have prior marriages or entanglements that need to be sorted out before they can be accepted into the Church.

In both the Austin and Los Angeles dioceses, where I have experience, the policy is not to let people into the Church until their current marriages or living arrangements have been regularized. Unless things are vastly different in DC, I would thus assume that Newt and Callista’s prior marriages were declared to be invalid and their existing civil marriage blessed prior to his being received into the Church. (If things weren’t done that way, I’d consider it highly problematic.)

I suppose it’s a matter of taste whether one talks about God “using” such relationships to bring people into the Church or one simply observes that it happens often, but my experience is that it is quite common for people to come into the Church as a result of the influence of someone he or she has slept with in the past outside of wedlock.