What about the Eucharist, the true presence, the resurrection,being a reason?

What a pleasant surprise to read this, Mr. Speaker.  I made a similar journey over the last 16 years.  As a Southern Baptist, I visited the Vatican in 1995 and was fortunate enough to attend a Mass with Pope John Paul II.  I also saw Mother Teresa a few weeks later.  They both exuded peace and happiness, like I had never seen before.  For the next five years, I entered a journey that changed me forever.  In 2001, I converted to Catholicism and have joy and peace unlike I ever expected.  Peace to you and thank you for sharing your story!  God Bless!

May God bless you Speaker Gingrich. Knowing you to be a historian and lover of history, it sounds like a line from Blessed John Cardinal Henry Newman is appropriate “To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant”. Welcome home sir, welcome home.

NEWT FOR PRESIDENT!  Thank you for sharing you story with us.  The insight you have mentioned inyour article is something many of us feel in regards to our faith and the church.

Praise the Lord and welcome home! A beautiful testimony!

Welcome Mr Gingrich! Glad to see you here!

@Dennis:  Re-read the article; thank you.

May God bless you Speaker Gingrich!  Welcome home!

Mr. Gingrich is on his third marriage, and has been divorced twice.  His positions on immigration, capital punishment, the war in Iraq, and social justice are at odds with the Church.  So why are all these Catholics so thrilled that he was somehow allowed to join the Church? At what point does a conservative become a “Cafeteria Catholic?”

Michael,
Should we not rejoice when someone comes home, simply because he is a sinner? Just because he might not be a very good Catholic yet, doesn’t mean it’s not a cause for rejoicing and praise to God that he has come into full communion with the Church. It just means that he, like all true Catholics and well… all of humanity… needs to pray more and allow God to work in his life more. He’s made a start in the right direction, how many of us have yet done as much? God bless and know you and he both have been added to my prayers!

George W. Bush managed to declare his past off limits to criticism by adopting a religious conversion narrative. Newt is trying to do the same. It won’t work.

Callista was a Catholic the entire time she was in an adulterous relationship with him. What’s her excuse?

How good conection Mr. Gingrich with mr George Weigel?
:)

I agree with Michael Salcido. I was surprised to read about his three weddings, and I wonder about that surely marvellous catholic woman who married a divorced man and take him to the Catholic faith. No doubt, I am really glad to see anybody embracing the Truth but I am unsure about the convenience of presenting Gingrich and his wife as catholic models.

@Michael, I’m the last to defend any kind of divorce, but he went through the annulment process. The other issues you mention are all prudential judgment and faithful Catholics can have diverse opinions. Do you dislike him because he’s a conservative and you are a Democrat first?

I agree somewhat with Michael Salcido’s comments.  While we should forgive others of their past faults (like Mr. Gingrich’s three divorces, cheating on a hospitalized wife, etc.), that doesn’t mean we need to forget.  Only his future actions will prove/disprove whether his conversion is sincere.

Congratulations, Mr. Speaker. I concerted last year and have found the intellectual rigor, the order and solemnity, and the defense of Truth to be the “one True Thing”. For the insatiable thirst for more, read the heavyweights: Maisie Ward’s biography on Chesterton, C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters, & the Abolition of Man, Flannery O’Connor’s Spiritual Series (excerpts from The Habit of Being), essays from Hillaire Belloc, essays from John Courtney Murray, and read First Things and A Catholic Thing… Great resources and there are many, many more… God Bless!

Newt joined the Catholic church bec he’s running for president and needed to do something about his “divorce problem.” It all goes to show how anything’$ po$$ible if the price i$ right. BTW, how many know that back in ‘09 Newt’s first public act as a newfound “Catholic” was to endorse a RINO who supported both abortion and same-sex “marriage.” ? (Dede Scozzafava, NY-23-CD).Callista ought to be excommunicated and kicked out of that choir she sings in for having a six-year adulterous affair and breaking up the (second) marriage of this troubled man. Instead, she markets herself as a “devoted Catholic.” She didn’t even have the decency to find someone her own age who was single. If this is appropriate behavior for a “lifelong Catholic,” then it’s no wonder there was a Reformation.

Reply to the post of Michael Salcido on Tuesday, Apr 26, 2011 6:02 PM (EDT):
Many would probably agree that those who had some element of scandal to their lives should remain discreet about their conversion if they have some canonical impediment.  But an honest examination of the record shows that Newt Gingrich (“NG”) apparently has no such impediment.  The woman of NG’s first marriage is deceased, may she rest in peace.  Gingrich’s “second marriage” was no marriage at all since the “second wife” had herself been married before, thus rendering this “second marriage” a nullity on ligamen grounds under Canon Law. The Diocese of Atlanta ratified this as a matter of law in a 2000 annulment.  As such, NG was free to marry his present wife and they enjoy a licit sacramental marriage.  For those who respect Canon Law (and at a bare minimum, the legal process and the logic thereof), there is no problem here.  I am assuming in good faith that the comments of Michael Salcido (“MS”) were rash and that MS was ignorant of the facts.

With regard to the other issues raised by MS, to wit—immigration, capital punishment, the war in Iraq, and social justice, NG does not deviate from Catholic teaching on these issues.  On each of these issues, there are many legitimate ways to achieve the end of an ethic consistent with Catholic teaching.  Welcoming the stranger does not mean endorsing anchor babies or Fannie Mae mortgages for illegal immigrants. (See Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 2429, which states, “He (the immigrant) should seek to observe the regulations issued by legitimate authority for the sake of the common good.”).  Helping the poor, consistent with Catholic teaching, does not necessitate an ever-increasing welfare stipend.  Creating dependency on the welfare state and denying men financial emancipation and freedom in the greatest economic powerhouse on earth is NOT a Catholic social value.  Fundamentalism rejects creativity and erudition, not Catholicism.  Liberalism itself is guilty of a form of fundamentalism which posits that anyone deviating from LBJ’s great society is a heretic guilty of deviating from Church teaching on “social justice”.  Nonsense. Conservatives have a lot to contribute to the discussion and NG is a prime example of the good that can be accomplished when we open our minds to fresh ideas which are faithful to the magisterium of the Church.

Mr. Ginrich’s positions on various political points are consistent with what a thoughtful Catholic, in good conscience, may hold. As to his previous marriages, he acknowledges that mistakes were made. What is the Church about if not forgiveness? He has had his current marriage convalidated. Surely his assent to our Faith is a cause for rejoicing!

Michael, faithful Catholics can disagree on the best approaches to address all of the issues that you cite.  And certainly the Church recognizes that all of us are sinners and are worthy of forgiveness ... even those of us who may be divorced.  There are no conflicts whatsoever between “conservatism” and Catholic doctrinal truth.

What reason did he give? Nothing at all. This is as shallow and superficial as it gets. If he saw the Dalai Llama, who is equally or more peaceful and happy looking, would he have become Buddhist? Only if there were 40 million Buddhist voters.

You would expect more from a PhD on his reasons. So, he was impressed by the big basilica. Who wouldn’t be? They don’t all convert. I just sense a secularist neo-con who knows that religion is a political tool to screw votes out of the people.

Re. the post of Michael Aalcido -
Far too terse a dismissal of anyone, Mr. Gingrich or anyone else, sir! I “worhsip” no man or his views, but I am familiar with several of Mr. Gingrich’s, and I find him brilliant, reasoned, possessed of one of the keenest analytical minds of our time. His views, whethter they end up being yours or not, were most certainly arrived at with intellectual honesty and a passion for justice. Your use of the term “social justice” should be elaborated, so that anyone at all can identify just what areas of “social justice” you find him errant on. Very poorly constructed criticism. Given the infinitessibly tiny information you have shared, you make it nearly impossible to know what you’re talking about, since you only hint and drop bumper-sticker political lines. As well as one can infer from this poorly structured attack, it appears you are a liberal and/or Democrat who finds the entire thought processes and ethics of Conservatism to be anathema. If so, one would hasten to inquire just how a political party fanatically obsessed with allowing abortion can square with the will of God and His Church. As to his divorces and, for that matter, any other aspect of his personal history, this remains his personal life, it obviously occurred prior to his conversion to Catholicism (are we to reject converts because they failed to adhere to Church law prior to their conversion?), and it is something he will be reconciling with a higher party than you ... with his God. On the other hand, your phraseology, that “...he was somehow allowed to join the Catholic Church,” well, I suppose it was a rash move - the Church should be reserved solely for people who think they are as righteous as you obviously regard yourself to be. Tell me, do you ever get out and talk with holy priests and people of faith? What an inverted, smug, insulated outlook. I pray that you get rid of your judgmental attitude and learn to embrace many individuals, of diverse backgrounds, personal histories, and viewpoints,as possible. Christ seemed to run afoul of the local prigs by attending Saint Matthew’s parties and inviting into His Church all those sinners you would rather keep your hands clean of. Please, sir ... come out of yourself and embrace Christ. I am positively THRILLED that this wonderful gentleman has joined our Church. May God bless him always, and you.

@ Michael Salcido

Be careful when using the term “social justice”. Social justice cannot be hijacked by those who would use it as an excuse for government to steal from some and give to others, to pick winners and losers, to take away our responsibility to each other by submitting to the state.

As a “cradle Catholic” and a husband whose wife was just welcomed to the Catholic faith this year; welcome.
To Mr. Salcido, I haven’t been able to follow him since March 2009, but it is possible that his political beliefs have changed since then. 
If he followed the same process as was carried out in my church then his divorces had to be cleared by the church, because there were two divorces, quite possibly by Rome.  And he’s admitted his wrongdoings publicly, which we are not called to do as Catholics, and part of the year long RCIA is the Rite of Reconciliation: what happened there is between him, the priest, and God. 
It is out place to celebrate all the new Catholics that have entered the faith fully in the past week, leave the rest to the rest.

How many of our fellow parishioners are also “on” their second or third marriages?  With multiple divorces and/or co-habitations?  As He said, “The one you are with is not your husband…”  And yet, the mercy of the Lord invites us all to come to Him in our sinfulness and brokenness.  This is the great love of Christ for His Church!  The issues Mr. Salcido mentions are indeed serious ones with which many Catholics struggle.  What makes us Catholic is that we struggle with them together, in a family of faith that was founded by our Lord and which has sustained us for 2000 years.  Mr. Speaker, welcome home indeed.

Being Catholic does not mean being perfect Mr. Salcido!
On the contrary…Mr. Gingrich is seeking truth as we all are. I say good for him and God bless him for his honesty. “he without sin can cast the first stone” remember that one? He is currently married in the church and that is what counts.

To Michael Salcido - I think Gingrich’s own account makes it perfectly clear that he’s on a journey. His entrance into the Church is a major milestone, but by no means to end of the road. I’m sure the Holy Spirit will continue to work on him and grow him into the Christian Christ wants him to be - since he’s shown himself to be open to the working of the Spirit. As for his marriage, I don’t see how his devoutly Catholic wife could have married him in the Church without his first marriage being annulled, or that she would have married him outside the Church. But seeing as how I don’t know the facts of the case, if their marriage is NOT recognized by the Church, there’s time to rectify that, too. God is long-suffering and gives us ample time to get our act together; you should do likewise.

Re:—Posted by Ron Thomski on Tuesday, Apr 26, 2011 11:11 PM (EDT):Reply to the post of Michael Salcido on Tuesday, Apr 26, 2011 6:02 PM (EDT)Thank you Ron for your post—your points to Michael Salcido are very well and clearly made. I too welcome Newt (and all who have made this choice in Faith) home! Most often we just don’t know all that a person’s history involves—the good or the bad. We can’t sit in judgement, we don’t know what’s in their hearts and we certainly haven’t lived their lives or walked in their shoes. We have to look at “where are they now?” We trust that in Her Wisdom, the Church has such things in place (for the benefit and protection of all) as the Annulment process (I’ve been through it and received countless graces, blessings and healing as a result!) and marriage prep.. again for the good of all. Who among us is perfect? We strive for perfection knowing we fail, but on a daily basis make amends for our failings and ask God for and receive His forgiveness. The Holy Church is all of us uniting and supporting each other in prayer and working toward our Crown in Heaven one day!

I wonder how Mr. Gingrich’s conversion compares with Tony Blair’s?  I was very pleased with Blair’s conversion - somehow he managed to put it off until after leaving office - but here was a worldly, intelligent man coming to the faith.  Since then, however, he has managed to align himself with every heterodox teaching under the sun.  And his wife, Cheri, has certainly been his full partner in championing heresy.  With friends like this…  But Newt reminds me of people just like me: with mottled pasts, yet trying somehow to get things right.  I hope (and pray) for his success in the faith.  And I pray he does better than the Blairs.

Reply to Ron Thomski on Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:11 PM (EDT):
Newt’s first wife, Jackie,is NOT deceased. Also, his second marriage to Marianne was indeed a valid marriage. Jesus’ statement that the Samaritan woman had five husbands (Jn 4:18) implies she was really married those five times. Thus, for him to divorce Marianne only further compounded sin. This is why his being granted annulments is incongruous. All he did was exploit a cottage industry of declaring valid marriages null/void according to the parsing of men. (Mt 15:9) And how “Catholic” is Callista when she knowlingly committed adultery and then married a twice-divorced man in a ceremony that was not performed by a priest? Someone at the office was definitely sleeping at the switch on this one. They never should have been allowed to get away with this.

It breaks my heart to see some of you, my brothers and sisters all, treating your new brother, Speaker Gingrich, in this way. 

Jesus ate with prostitutes and tax collectors and I for one am both of these.

May God have mercy on us all.

So, this man had previous marriages and may have atough time dealing with his work and colleagues in politics.  You and I do not know if he has a good relationship with his clergy to talk about things in his life and what he has shared during confessions.  Leave those issues between Newt and the Lord.  Remember, when you sins are obsolved—God forgives AND forgets! As Catholics, we need to try to do the same.

I am also a recent cnvert, and welcome Newt. We must assume that his year of RCIA combined with his being such a public person made his conversion proper with all the annulments etc arranged properly.
    We are all sinners and the Catholic Church is especially suited to receiving us all and to nourishing our faith walk.  There is one problem, however, and that is those who put their political views above the clear teachings of the Church to criticize a person on a political basis rather than recognizing a victorious conversion.  Very often those who put their political ideas above the teachings of the Church are actually ignorant of the Catechism. The real problem, however, is not recognizing the primacy of the Magisterium over any purely political idea.

For those who wonder at his marriages - I am sure this would have been examined behind the scenes and rectified. In many similar situations some of the previous marriages are declared as non sacramental and therefore invalid and an annulment granted or some process of investigation is started. No doubt we do not know the whole story.

It is a matter for rejoicing that Gingrich found his spiritual home.

some of the commenters here = brood of vipers

interesting story!

but not to worry, if you are worried about his running for the
presidency. our brother catholic, former congressman, former
speaker of the house, former husband, will not win the office.
A faithful Catholic can not obtain the high office of President!
he would have to get the Catholic vote!!! and we all know where
that vote goes don’t we…

Welcome home speaker. To the only Church on the planet founded by the Savior himself. The Church of Teresa of Lisieus, Francis, Clare, St.Anthony, Sr.Faustina, our Blessed Lady…the church that civilized the western world. God Bless you and Calista.
Robert Epperly
Author, Sons of Thunder, the story of Joe and Paul.

Pope John Paul asked for forgiveness for the attrocities of the Inquisitions conducted by overly-zealous Catholics.  Then the current Pope tells the world that the Catholic church is the only true church.  And you are inspired by this man?  Why shouldn’t he look happy, content and peaceful?  He lives in luxury, has every need tended to, doesn’t worry about paying for health care, doesn’t have to lift a finger to do anything for himself, and people are nice to him wherever he goes.  Sigh.

I agree that the reasons he articulates are highly superficial.  And with his past I have a terribly hard time taking him seriously.

But, just as I try to believe that maybe some of those who attend Mass only on Christmas and Easter need to be welcomed with open arms in hopes that a light of faith and commitment may turn on one of these days—I guess I have to bite my tongue and believe that Newt’s conversion is to be celebrated.

Please don’t disappoint us Mr. Gingrich!

Um, folks, Newt Gingrich is engaging in some convenient time-warping here.

“Jesus of Nazareth” (the first volume) was not published until 2007.

This is all pretty simple:  Despite the fact Mr. Gingrich has allegedly committed adultery, and is on his third marriage, we should accept the Church who has approved (?) the annulment of his three marriages.  We should forgive these major issues and certainly welcome him into the Church.  I am a conservative, so I have no bad feelings about Mr. Gingrich, but knowing how others think:  Given the history of his actions, we should not be so quick to support his future presidential bid.  CERTAINLY, there are other Catholics (or others who share the Church’s morals) who can be a better example to our children and do a much better job of representing our country than Mr. Gingrich.  Once again, we can forgive, but not totally forget his somewhat “questionable” history.

I am a memeber of the fraternal noble order of Knights of St John in the catholic church(KSJ) and such stories especially from a man of conviction brings joy to my heart. It makes me proud of our lord Jesus Christ who keeps working on all people in the Eucharist. His wife was a positive influence on him all these years. she was a vessel for christ.Her personal wittness was a powerful tool for him.He could feel her conviction as a catholic every part of the world the visited and this must have impressed him tremendously.His constant contact and experience of the holy eucharist brought about this conversion. I would say our solemn Mass is always a thing of joy. Meeting with christ face-to-face each time we attend Mass is the greatest gift God has given us.I never taught i would admit to this fact about Gingrich but he has a side that i would love to emulate; and that is to open your heart to change.I am sure this was a long thought out decision.Sometimes change is necessary even in the face of the contrary. kudos to Newt Gingrich and welcome to the catholic church. God loves you.

Welcome home to Rome! Glad to have you as part of the flock.

That’s the beauty of the Holy Mass!  We pray for All our brothers and sisters wherever they may be. God bless you. Reading your faith journey is so inspiring. Receiving the Holy Eucharist is the closest to heaven on earth. It is something worth dying for!

While it’s indeed a joy to learn of a new convert’s decision to join the Catholic Church, I’d find it far easier to be even more joyful if the explanation wasn’t part of a clever political packaging tactic. Remember that Mr. Gingrich brings with him a lot of baggage with him into either any political campaign he enters or church he decides to join. This is true now, as it has been throughout his long political career, and will be till he finally retires from the public eye. Hopefully the Republican Party’s primary/caucus nomination campaign will help him reach that day soon.
  While some writers have rightfully noted that Mr. Gingrich and his wife Callista should be forgiven for their past moral sins insofar as their history of mutual adultery, and Speaker Gingrich’s prior marital breakups; voters, including Catholic voters, are not required to demonstrate the same kind of generic “forgiveness” when it comes to determining who they want to have as their president, and legislators in Washington or their respective state capitols. The same goes for mayoral offices, selectmen, aldermen, (elected representative) town meeting members and dog catchers.
  Needless to say, I wouldn’t give Newt Gingrich my vote to serve me or my fellow countrymen in any of those capacities. Forgiveness belongs to the Divine; forgetfulness or the lack thereof belongs to the voter(s.) Just as prolifers should have never forgotten Ted Kennedy’s switch for, views, votes and campaign actvities on behalf of legalized abortion and its political supporters; we have a divine obligation to forgive him as the Church forgave him and pray for his soul. That’s a tough one. But God doesn’t allow for “gimmies” on the putting green of life where the crucial strokes have to be made.  He does allow for us to “call on” the cheaters in the fields they’re endeavoring in, be it in sports or politics. And God expects us to use this allowance to “call on” those politicians who violate His word and commandments when we get behind the voting curtains.
  Newt Gingrich’s conversion to Catholicism doesn’t merit him any gimmies in the field of politics. Especially so in the wake of his recent and horribly lame explanation for his adulterous behavior with his present wife (who was one of his top aides) at the very same time he was trying to hound Bill Clinton out of office for [his] sexual dalliances and sleazy cover-up which inevitably led to his impeachment by the House for perjury.
  I have both ADHD and Bipolar disorders and they can do a lot of things on a person’s mind; but had anybody come into my office attempting to excuse away his skirt-chasing on some “wrap-myself-in-Old-Glory” patriotic blarney as Gingrich coughed up during a live interview a few months ago, I would’ve gladly tossed out such bog-trotter with instructions to find another but far more naïve shrink who’d buy into such garbage. Yet this was offered up by a man who wants us to combine both the divine obligation of forgiveness with political forgetfulness of his seamy record of character blemishes, despicable judgment and self-righteous hypocrisy … all neatly explained (er excused, however lamely) due to his over-exertions on performing some patriotic duties in his role as Speaker. Such brass, gall and chutzpah deserved scorn and long memories by Republicans and Independents (where cross-over primary voting is allowed) next year.
  Don’t be gulled by such self-serving balderdash printed above or his patently hypocritical attempt to curry favor with Catholic voters through the production and hawking of a video about Pope John Paul II’s first visit to Poland in May, 1979. That was the moment when Solidarity really got off the ground and gained the necessary encouragement for its eventual takeover of the Lenin Shipyards the following year. Guess who Gingrich backed in a letter/column put out by Human Events last February when things were heating up in Wisconsin? Governor Scott Walker, the working man’s best friend. LOL! 
  I cannot fathom why people who are avowedly prolife Catholics can bring themselves to vote for this disgraced former Speaker—who had to resign his office due to the revelation of his character flaws, and by now this isn’t any “dark secret” that’s just oozing out of his dossier – just because he claims to be prolife? Would a real prolifer support cutting WIC, prenatal health and nutrition programs for young women, drug and alcohol rehab programs, and job safety inspection programs (OSHA) … around the time we marked the centennial of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of NYC? Boy, oh boy…that’s some prolifer for the GOP.
  In fairness to Gingrich, he’s not alone. Unfortunately, he has far too much company in the party which he has largely shaped over the years from a reasonably conservative alternative to the Democrats to a radicalist cult of socio-economic Ayn Rand groupies. I wonder how long it’ll be before the (real) prolife social conservatives within the GOP are pressured to lock arms with the toss-grannie-the-poor-especially-poor-kids-and-their-single-moms-under-the-bus. Perhaps that’s when they’ll learn how it felt to be a fiscally liberal, but socially conservative prolife Democrat when the more organized and unified pro-choicers took over the Democratic Party. But on the whole, and this is incontrovertible…and I’m saying this as an Independent…at least the Democrats aren’t using disingenuously packaged propaganda/talking points, etc. used to do nothing more than to falsely con voters into believing they’re THE party of God-fearing Americans; voters take heed and chances for their souls by voting for the “socialistic” and “hedonistic baby-killing San Francisco Democrats.”
  The Democrats are far from saintly, especially on abortion.  But they haven’t been so stupidly dishonest to insult the voters by saying they’re THE (patriotic) party of God and “family values.” 
  Forgiveness is divine. Political forgetfulness is optional. When mortal sins and character flaws are excused in patriotic terms as Gingrich attempted recently, voter naivety isn’t optional: it’s dangerously delusional.

Welcome, Newt! It would be a pleasure to have an admittedly sinful Catholic in the White House, a man I can identify with. Eliminate Titles 9 and 10; get the government out of the condom business. Go it, Newt!

The Church’s teachings on personal forgiveness are one thing, and they don’t necessarily apply to the choices we make when we stand inside the voting booth.

Gingrich’s previous marriages were ANNULED so why are people throwing stones? The Church has the power to bind and loose - you can’t be more Catholic than the Church. No one can insist he isn’t free to marry when the Church has declared he IS. If he committed adultery, we must assume he confessed it at his 1st confession before he was received into the Church, therefore he is now a Catholic in good standing - on par with the rest of us saved sinners. That doesn’t mean I’d vote for him, but I certainly don’t presume to judge him or claim to see into his heart.

Mr. De Florville, you ask for too much.  Praise God that Mr. Gingrich, or anyone else, comes to the fullness of the Faith.  The article was about how he became Catholic.  God calls in many and varied ways.  And He calls as He wishes, not as any of us decide.  We have no reason whatsoever to doubt that Mr. Gingrich has embraced all of the Church’s teachings.  Our role is not to pick apart his journey to the Catholic Faith, but to pray for him to stay faithful to the Faith of Our Fathers.

Regardless of what Mr. Gingrich has done in the past, like all of us, he can repent and find favor with Our Father and be welcomed into heaven. This is a first step and now being a member of the one true church he CAN be saved. Will he? It is up to him and how he lives his life as a Roman Catholic. Our Father judges the heart and whatever Mr. Gingrich says need not be judged by us for Our Father already knows. We should hope and pray that his conversion was a sincere one and until we have reason to believe otherwise we should welcome him and pray for him. Believe me, if this was a political ploy, as some seem to think, he will answer one day and nothing we can say will come close to what he will face if it is true. But, again, that is between him and Our Father. We need not worry, he will deal with all of us in his own time. Pray for Mr. Gingrich and get your own spiritual house in order because if this world does not turn around we will see our Savior in our time and to think that what is written can’t possibly be for us is pure arrogance. I encourage everyone and Mr. Gingrich to go to http://smwa.org/Veronica_Lueken.htm then pray.

Gaby, your take on Newt Gingrich’s annulments will no doubt do wonders for the spirits of the thousands of non-politician, non-celeb convert Catholics who have either waited for years for theirs’ to come through or are still awaiting a decision. When guys like Gingrich get such relatively soft-glove treatment and many other Catholic converts and those desiring to become Catholics don’t have highly paid media flak catchers and PR writers help them dodge the sniping and backstabbing (most often from family members) as they try to cross the Tiber ... it just makes me sick to my stomach. Is Friar Tetzel hovering about Washington, DC lately? Sure seems so.
  Binding and loosening…well, Jesus didn’t use those words to give today’s higher-ups in our diocesan chanceries a free pass to bind up the annulment process for the non-celebs while giving the likes of Newt Gingrich a very loose interpretation of what it means to be married or not. Even Henry VIII’s case looks SOLID compared to this skirt-chaser.

“Forgiveness is divine. Political forgetfulness is optional”  - FTW!

It’s hard to improve on that. Newt is experiencing suspicion because he EARNED it!

Let’s be real, folks. Welcoming Brother Newt is proper, because after all, maybe the leopard has changed his spots. But keep your hand on your wallet because, as The Man says, “be as innocent as a dove, but be as wise as a serpent”.

After reading Steven’s screed, if I have to choose bet the current occupant & Gingrich, I vote Gingrich. Get your facts straight. Gingrich did not resign nor did Clinton as he should have. Prudential judgments.

Steven, you’re way over the top. Einstein said that if you can’t describe something briefly, you don’t understand it. Your verbose rant was tedium itself, for the simple reason that Newt’s article did not address anything political, making your remarks a textbook non sequitur ... there was no context for your analysis because his article gave nothing in that area to analyze, and so you were having an argument with yourself.

The fact that a political figure makes a religious move proves only that he, like everyone else, lives a three-dimensional existence and is capable of reversing his position on vital matters. Concluding anything more is nonsense. Newt wrote about his conversion, not about justifying himself or qualifying himself for the “Catholic vote.” And what an oxymoron that is! Since when do most Catholics honor God when they cast their vote for every abortion rights political snake, simply because he’s a member of Daddy’s and Grandpa’s favorite political party, the Democrats? I harbor no messianic illusions about any political candidate or figure, including Ronald Reagan, who cowtowed too much to Nancy’s hatred of pro-lifers to really cash in his political capital and “get it done.” I do know that when I hear Newt Gingrich speak, I am hearing a brilliant individual who knows how to think - and that is good enough to capture my interest in his political aspirations ... now that you’ve mentioned it, Steven! Be cool. Let’s give this man a chance.

Reading through more of the comments I was reminded of the Confiteor, especially the parts we admit fault and ask for forgiveness not only from persons divine but from our brothers and sisters. 
When is it time to let go and stop remembering past faults?  Most of them were not even faults against us.

Welcome to the Catholic Church., Mr. Speaker; everything about the faith is beautiful, as you have found for yourself. You are mature enough to know that God does not interfere much with weaknesses found even in some hierarchy. Testing is what God does and if wise, we confess our part in sin and then change inside for the better, the reason Jesus came!
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What is said below can greatly help Catholics and other Christians especially in campaign 2012. Be free to comment here or via my email which NCR has.
Consider THE problem with President Obama’s April 19 “Easter Prayer Breakfast” (EPB), attended by Cardinals Wuerl and McCarrick, several bishops and priests and other-faith ministers. It is that none have pointed out the *unacceptable flaw* in the White House posture: that Mr. Obama’s “confessing” in this 2011 EPB that Jesus Christ is the “Son of God” validates his true-Christian claims.
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But did the man Barack H. Obama so confess on April 19?
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They would say he has already confessed to Jesus being the “Son of Man” (an easy one) and his “Lord and Savior” in 2010 (closer to true-Christian belief but not quite there). Yet when an oath is taken or matters of faith expressed to inform others who rightly feel confused and misled by past statements such as in the link below, it is vital to be true to *authoritative forms*—most crucially re “Son of God” – especially when secular power over Christians is involved.
Recall that Justice John Roberts had to re-do his mis-administration of the 2009 Oath of Office for Obama due to his unintentional departure from Constitution-required language.
For analogous reasons of wrong-language employed by Mr.Obama regarding the precise, authoritative and *crucial* Biblical Title “Son of God”, he is obliged to re-do his confession if we are to trust him. Part of his ‘mod’ is intentional (embellishing words inserted between God and Son) and part seemingly accidental (slip of the tongue), both resulting in his awkward and inadequate “confession” at the 2011 Easter Prayer Breakfast:
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“It calls me to praise God for the gift of our son—his Son and our Savior”.
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Again, when power over true-Christians is involved and in light of the below link on “Obama’s Fascinating Interview with Cathleen Falsani”, we would be sinning against our own grandchildren’s future to accept President Obama as having cleanly professed HE does believe that Jesus Christ IS the “Son of God”!
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http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/11/obamas-interview-with-cathleen.html
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Elsewhere in his April 19 remarks he affirmed “But nothing beats scripture and the reminder of the eternal” and in a different setting he praised walking humbly with God. So it is that I hereby respectfully request our President to re-do his confession in a clean, clear way, *provided* he so-believes.
Otherwise, mental reservations and uncertainty of personal convictions play a threatening role – as with Mr. Obama who told Newsweek Senior Editor Lisa Miller, department of religion, as late as just a few months before being elected in 2008: “I’m on my own faith journey and I’m searching … I leave open the possibility that I’m entirely wrong.”
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In his famous 2006 “Call to Renewal” speech Sen. Barack Obama was not shy about confronting conservative leaders, saying: “I want to talk a little bit about what conservative leaders need to do—some truths *they* need to acknowledge.”
And we in a respectful manner wish to talk with you, President Obama, about some truths you need to acknowledge
So, resolution of his “true-Christian problem” will result either in a true-Christian President Obama willing to defund Planned Parenthood without stalling and willing to restore the Bush conscience-protection rule for health-care workers
OR
a pseudo-christian Obama will face loss of his 2nd term because no true-Christian is ever willing to show **Zero Empathy** with his Savior (!) by Obama’s *facilitating* thousands of child-killing abortions *daily* that Jesus must suffer to see cruelly destroyed due to Obama’s ongoing diligence which is *not* required by the Constitution.
Indeed a U.S. President is not *obliged* to help women get abortions for reasons like “privacy”, economic difficulties, etc., and not *obliged* to protect funding of Planned Parenthood or to propose FOCA as he did, or anything else except—pending scrutiny—where an individual’s legal right to seek abortion is directly blocked *illegally*.
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As you will see, Mr. President, God teaches there is no justification via “common ground” for killing Jesus’ new unborn babies!
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About conscience, Mr. President, you seem on the verge of treating true-Christians like *lower animals* without consciences. Please do respect us.
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But where is the biblical authority since abortion is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible and in some biblical places the importance of fetal life might be misunderstood—President Obama might protest.
Mr. President please read and ponder John 1:3—“*all things* came to be through him [Jesus Christ], and without him *nothing* came to be”.
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Indeed God inspired St. John to teach that new human life however initiated CANNOT be excluded from “all things” and so new human lives become Jesus’ Personal Treasures that no *true*-Christian would ever wish or dare to harm or disrespect by asserting, e.g., it is “above my pay-grade” to know.
Why on earth should we trust a “Christian” who shows Zero Empathy with his own Savior and dodges the *actual* question asked by Pastor Rick Warren in August 2008: “at what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?” Given Obama’s training in law and given simple logic we all know that having the right to life is *meaningless* unless the right goes all the way back to the baby’s start of its DNA, at fertilization.
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*Physical continuity is absolutely required*, independently of personhood knowledge! IF Pastor Warren were playing with “*human* rights”, he failed to save Mr. Obama, for from our founding, we all are **created** with inalienable rights granted by Creator God.
President Obama, you owe a lot of dead babies the courtesy of admitting that you failed to answer Pastor Warren’s actual question. To spare future innocent babies from Death Roe, please answer Warren’s question now and God will forgive you even as God has forgiven Newt Gingrich for his wrong doings in the past if he is repentant.
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You are right, Mr. President, about our not being sure of exactly when God ensouls in His Image. But that doesn’t matter. God is THE Intelligent Tester down the Ages. Since we cannot be certain of exactly when such ensoulment takes place, then we must ask ourselves before *risking* murder before the Lord of Life: “Why would Jesus care *less* about His Personal Treasures, His unborn, than we humans care about our *material property* treasures?

Holy cow!  Random thought projection cum “comment.”

@steven
You said: “I’d find it far easier to be even more joyful if the explanation wasn’t part of a clever political packaging tactic.”
  My question to you is this:  How do you know that is the case?  It makes me think that your politics trump your faith. As a recent convert I find too many Catholics put politics before faith and ignore the Magisterium.  Your emphasis on your political views puts you in that category.

Like you, I am a convert from the Presbyterian Church and a former three-generation Protestant. May you and your wife embrace Traditional Catholicism and the Latin Tridentine Mass. I place you both under the Blessed Mantle of Our Lady and the Holy Cloak of St Joseph

When I read through some of the responses to my posts about Gingrich, I couldn’t help wondering why the hell I ever came back six years ago. You newt-comers have all the answers, don’t you? There are so many things I could—and perhaps, should say … if for no other reason than to get them off my chest. But, that’d be a completely wasted effort. The newt-comers have all the answers.

@Martin ... And Gingrich hasn’t? BTW, who the heck are you to judge my sfaith or my priorities. You don’t know me from a blank drywall. Yes, why DID I come back six years ago?

steven,

You make some potentially valid arguments, but they are hard to see through the smoke of your political hatred. The Magesterium is THE MAGESTERIUM. It is not the STEVEESTERIUM wherein you get to judge their actions.  Nor do you have the God given right to judge the disposition of another’s motives.

Make peace, be separate from the world, welcome all to the Church.

I wish all peoples, Left/Right/Dem/GOP/Whatever, would come to know the fullness of God in the richness of our faith. We would have a better world for it.

ELM, I don’t hate Mr. Gingrich. I don’t hate the fact he converted. Nor do I hate all his politics. That said, I nevertheless strongly question the way he’s going about explaining his conversion and yes ... brushing off what happened to his previous marriages as if nothing had happened and we’re supposed to just clap our hands, raise ‘em high and say “Welcome in Brother Newt, all’s forgiven and forgotten.”
  All had to be forgiven before he could be confirmed. But as I mentioned above, Divine forgiveness, which can only come from God, is one thing ... not even the Church expects nor desires that we forget who works against Her teachings on the major (e.g. unbudgeable “intrinsic evil” issues, abortion being the top.) But, the Church, unlike some of her more uncharitably absolutist members, allows for Catholics to vote for the “lesser of two evils” when the slate only contains two pro-abortion rights nominees and any third-party prolife candidate has a slim-to-none chance of winning.
  Good luck explaining even that much which our Church allows to the vote for any proclaimed “prolife candidate”. I remember well some of the “prolife candidates” who also supported the death penalty, no-questions asked pro-gun positions, the jokes of “free trade,” “right-to-work” union-busting laws, slashing social programs and welfare (“to make these young mothers more responsible”) and on and on it went. They got clobbered and deservedly so. (Well, certainly NOT in the Sunbelt lately. Sigh, while some places are “booming economically speaking” on min. wage jobs and constant threats against any labor organizing, “prolife candidates” keep on winning down there ... even though they represent a Conservative Cafeteria Catholic’s delight of a “table fare” (ballot selection.)
  To be fair, though I’d be delighted if Jim Wallis, Jesse Jackson, Bernie Sanders, and Thom Hartmann all converted, but if they had some theological skeletons they hadn’t been forthright about, I’d be hard on them too. We can’t boast about being THE church that stands up for standards of truth and moral values if we’re going to follow favoritism as the rule for allowing people to join without having to getting those matters settled first like all the rest of the non-celeb converts have to go through.
  Well, maybe I wrote too fast; to the more holier than Holy, the more Roman than Rome/Catholic than the Pope kinds of converts that, alarmingly enough to us life-softened old-timers, are seemingly coming in bigger numbers lately ... some folks, (the more Conservative Cafeteria kind the merrier) are willing to let all the walls against moral relativism fall by the wayside, just so more of their like-minded crowd are filling the pews.
  What next, Rush Limbaugh? In fairness to Gingrich, they’ll have to let the Big Guy barrel his way in. And in fairness Henry Tudor, they’ll have to posthumously exonerate the old boy.
  Don’t be surprised. After all, we now live in an age where standards for admitting disaffected Anglican priests are loosened so they can come in and become Catholic priests within a relatively short time span; all the while sons born to Catholic parents and Baptized in the Catholic Church have at that moment in their infancy, the doors of marital bliss shut forever if they also discern a calling to the priesthood. All that’s left is the Cutie Exit Option, for which they’ll be publicly keel-hauled and raked over a coral reef.
  Before the Society of the Utmost Righteous and We Know What’s Best for The Mother Church Converts get on their high horses for Newt, and perhaps El RushbO, perhaps they should be wary that old-timers who don’t approve of separate and very unequal treatment of pundit-pontificator-pols, especially of the Cafeteria Catholic Conservative crowd ... there are others who know how to push back. Who knows, one day they might be calling for copies of Annulments. “Annullers of the World, Unite!”

A great conversion story of a man that has been deeply touched and called by the Lord to His one true church.

How sad on the weekend of Devine Mercy Sunday some of us would throw stones, and hateful coments at man that Jesus invited with open arms. Who are we to seccond guess God’s invitation?

Remember that King David was forgiven for his serious sin and God Blessed David abundantly. We all fall short of His glory and are sinners, but He loves us in spite of our sins.

Good on you Mr. Newt….you have my vote.  But they will try to destroy you first with their unfree media….take care.

steven,

I’m not sure what to say. Christ loves everybody, even those we disagree with politically. I wish you peace and acceptance and understanding. I pray that all those in authority on Earth would come to know Christ in his visible Church. I pray for an end to divisions artificially created by men’s arrogance and limited intelligence. I pray that all Catholics would unite and accept the Holy Spirit’s direction as evidenced by decisions made by the Church.

Most of all I pray for an end to the division among the faithful based on partisan politics.

Your screed makes me sad this morning. I wish you peace.

ELM, thank you for your kind and undoubtedly sincere wishes for my “...peace and acceptance and understanding.” Likewise I extend the same wish.
  I also want to extend another wish to everybody reading this thread, and others similar to it: let’s not confuse objective criticism, doubt of a politician’s motives and policy stands or actions with “hatred” disloyalty to the Gospel, Christ’s and St. Paul’s teachings on charity or even the Magisterium in the form of questioning its authority to take X Y Z stand on any given issue. If by merely pointing out where Mr. Gingrich’s stands on social/economic, and even national defense topics, differ greatly with that of the Magisterium, that’s not spreading hate-inspired rhetoric. If the facts are there, they’re there. Why is it any different for a moderately conservative writer holding on to some key doubts about a politician’s motives when he’s penning a “clarification” about his conversion within context of his overall political agenda any more hate-filled than a conservative Catholic’s about how Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden and Douglas Kmiec, e/a, can take the positions they hold on abortion and continue to receive Communion, speak at a Catholic college ... whatever the circumstances/issues might be?
  Why is it any more hate-filled to demand proof of Gingrich’s annulments than to demand proof from the White House of President Obama’s citizenship? And—for the sake of discussion—why should adult members of the laity sit back and allow themselves to treated [literally] like children and told to just merely trust the good offices of the Washington DC Archdiocese regarding the former Speaker’s annulments? Certainly non-celebs who’ve had to pay thousands of dollars to canon lawyers to appeal and receive their annulments, processes which have taken them years, would have legitimate grounds for asking this much without anyone questioning their loyalties. If they’re willing to do go that far to achieve their “pearl of a great price,” nobody has any grounds to give them the “now, we really don’t want to go THERE, do we?” treatment.
  Gingrich is a public person. He’s lost his rights to privacy long ago; even longer than before he became Speaker, thus placing him for nearly six years just two heartbeats away from the Oval Office. And now that he’s running for that office, it’s only fair to expect him to be more forthcoming and also not be trashed for pointing out where he’s taken and still takes stands contradicting Church teachings on many political and economic matters, not to mention do a better job explaining what happened back in 98 other than to use patriotic fervor to excuse his extra-marital amorous yearnings n’ doings with his former aide/now Mrs. Gingrich.
  Indeed, God forgives and we must all beforgiving of personal sin. But nowhere in our Tradition is there anything requiring us to forget the impact of a politician’s sins, especially insofar as they affected in the past—as well as on caucus nights/or election days—when we go to vote in our respective state primaries/caucuses and general elections. The Church certainly doesn’t teach us to forget where the pols stand on abortion. It teaches us to forgive even the staunchest supporters of legalized abortion, hard as that is to accept, but She doesn’t teach us to forget who the unborn’s friends and foes are from Her perspective.
  Thank God for this enormous Church that’s big enough for all of us. Heartily I pray it remains just as big for our children and grandchildren as it is now for us. And heartily I pray that it’s not hijacked by either the Right or Left. And yes, I pray that more and more people will come to realize that pointed questions of newly minted or long in the tooth Catholics running for high office or placing themselves for consideration of important lay and clerical positions within the Church won’t leave the questioners wide open for indignant howls, and shouts of “disloyalty” and “hatred.” If questioning rampant acts of favoritism leaves oneself open to insinuations and outright accusations of “disloyalty,” well ... then the Church has shrunk even smaller than what Pope Benedict predicted shortly after he was elected six years ago. And I’m not just talking about the number of active members.

Welcome to the Catholic Church, Mr. Gingrich. It is always a joy to see someone come home to the Father’s house. “There is more joy over one repentent sinner than over the 99 who have no need.” Gives my heart hope for America in these discouraging days.

Note that you have not only enjoyed the blessings of communion with fellow believers, but also the persecutions we all eventually experience. Doesn’t take long. May you perservere until the end.

To the detractors here—I can’t imagine anyone becoming Catholic to get more votes… In America it’s a sure-fire formula for fewer votes!

I am really disgusted with his man.

I think given the opportunity he would behave no differently than Henry the VIII did,. I wish the Pope would tell him not to run- I bet he would change his religion pretty quick.

Everyone is getting marriages annulled.

Once can know the tree by it’s fruit and his is wormy.

Meg, your post is a psalm of balm to my sore eyes and heart. Alas, inasmuch as I’d love to see it happen if Pope Benedict did have a chat with the former Speaker; this human “font of ideas” will draw a blank the moment after our good Bavarian Pope gives his first friendly greetings, “Gruss Gott.” Brother Newt wouldn’t leave the US unarmed without talking points! Nein! Nor could we expect him to (really) listen, i.e., take in, not just hear, what Pope Benedict would have to say to him. For one, I’d be delighted to learn that the Pope would say, “Excuse me, Herr Speaker,” but I need to inquire something of the good patient Cardinal standing next to me.” While Newt’s (as usual) gallingly grinning and posturing everybody around him to as if to say “Yes, I AM still important—the rest of the assembly in the Pope’s Hall, the Pope turns to Herr Important and says rather forthrightly, “It seems as if there’s a discrepancy in your files and some papers concerning upholding the validity of your required annulment(s) aren’t included.”
  What would the Birther ex-speaker Herr Important do now that he’s been trumped by no less than the Holy Father on his annulment papers?
  Thankfully Pope Benedict is making sure not everybody is getting their past marriage(s) (plural’s appropriate enough for Herr Important). Ask Joe Kennedy III. What the Church granteth and boundeth, it can just as easily and rapidly looseneth to set things back in place. Birthers, deathers questioning bin Laden’s sudden demise, Climate Changer deniers and now Annullers!
  No point in being “disgusted” with Herr Important. It’s a lot more fun feeling sorry for him.

This is a person who demanded a divorce from his first wife while she was undergoing cancer treatment. This is a person who again insisted on a divorce from his second wife (who had been committing adultery against the first wife)when she contracted an affliction.  She was catapulted out of his life to make room for the third wife.  All this displays to me as a Catholic is that there is the hierarchy and then there is the Church.  The incense burning, the riches of expensive robes,the delay for decades of dealing with child-molesting clergy and now the embracing of this rube who expounds nonsense most of the time! I say again…there is the hierarchy and then there is the Church.  Oh, and a reminder..the Church was founded by Jesus Christ and not a silk-robed cloister of men whose purpose is to protect the image of the Church.

I was not a fan of Newt politically but I am joyful that he has come home - as far as formation and conversion is concerned it is a lifelong journey - I have doubts about certain issues yet I uphold the church’s position because I have faith that the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church and certainly has the greater wisdom…and so my journey continues and my understanding deepens- welcome home Newt from an ex-communist who is now one with you in the faith….:}

Those writing here who rail against anyone seeking redemption through an effort to embrace our shared faith should remember the words of the Our Father.  Why is it that so many cannot fully understand the power of redemption and forgiveness when our Mass reminds us so clearly every day?  Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not in to temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Any Catholic who repeats that at Mass, but fails to live it is in error. Forgiven, yes.  But, in error nonetheless. Those of you calling names in the manner of children (e.g., Herr Important), need to look with open eyes at where Mr. Gingrich’s choices have taken him.  Look closely now.  Because you will see that Divine Providence has put exactly where he belongs.  No amount of your unforgiving words is going to change fate’s path.  So, try forgiveness.  It feels really good.

For what it’s worth, I forgive you and embrace you.

I wish I were as Holy and smart as some of you. Pray for me.

All this talk about Gingrich getting special favors regarding his annulment. I’ve heard horror stories about it being a difficult and expensive process for some….but that’s not always the case. Mine went rather quickly and only cost $75 and I am certainly not rich and famous.

Shouldn’t we be as gentle as doves and as wise as serpents?

The bearing of false witness has not been accounted for even if his sexual excapades ( at least the ones leading to marriage)have.

We do christianity a disservice when we think we cannot mention or pay attention to the life a person lives - not just what they say.

I hope he decides that there he agrees with Catholics on the death penalty-but since he is trying to appeal to the evalgelicals my guess is he still wants to execute drug dealers.

And so another proof that one not only CAN serve two masters but it’s the norm in aMErica. Yet again, the bleeding heart of Jesus was wrong, the politicians and POWER again right. When the Church had Faith, before the Emperors took over, one could not be a politician and a Christian. Now look how we admire it and look to them as examples.

Since when has literary political ego-popping and parody become open season for the “I/we know how you should contemplate, think in general, follow politics, or write about politics, much less mix the topics of politics and religion in mixed company?” crowd? Odd, I thought this was a Catholic website, not a hangout for the ever-more-righteous-and-correct-than-thou-brutish-and-unforgiving-unwashed-who-should-know-better-people.
  Has this become a hyper-reactionary Counter-Reformation-style website overnight and I missed out on the “transistioning” process. Hope it was transparent, so the Register will certainly enjoy a long sustainable future in no small part due to the stern quality of today’s more right of center Catholics. Good Heavens, if there’s to be an accountability auto-da-fe for brutes like myself having the nerve to jab Herr Important’s political ego a bit, why all means, I want to be watching every moment (before I make my escape… I’m not so dumb to believe this would highlited by a mere “mock” public BBQ session.)
  In case I didn’t make myself clear before; we are all required by the Lord’s example and teachings about the forgivness of one’s sins and wrongdoings to forgive and pray for more for ourselves, loved ones and public figures. We should all want only what’s best for the soul for everybody. When it comes to how we vote, we’re talking about an entirely different situation and function. Gingrich has yet to really demonstrate that he “gets it” in terms of how his past extra-marital skirt-chasing and wife-dumping has given the voting electorate reasons to doubt his overall character and judgment insofar as the voters believe these (habits, to be charitable) will affect his future conduct in office should he defeat President Obama.
  Let’s take another GOP wannabe; Mitt Romney. For years he was a staunch pro-choicer. About half-way through his first (and only term) as Massachusetts governor, he had a Road to Damascus (er, Columbia, SC) “conversion” of sorts. All of a sudden Mitt became the smiling guy with great hair on a white horse, much like the statue of General Joseph “Fightin’ Joe” Hooker, situated outside the MA Statehouse on Boston’s Beacon Hill. We should all forgive as the Lord teaches us to forgive past wrongs and sins. I hope people will forgive my long ago pro-choice views. But if they want to hold that against me and doubt me and not vote for me if I should ever run for office, I won’t whine about any “unforgiveness” on their parts. This is politics.
  Why should anybody have to explain this?

Another sad case of one selling his birthrite just as Esau did.  This indeed brings disgrace on the body of Christ when all we can do is brag about “converts” that we stole from other churches.

When will this shame ful practise stop?  I remember when in the early 90’s Catholics were very upset at Catholics who converted to other religions. Now the shoe is on the other foot.

I’m an Anglo-Catholic and I find it so distrubing that the Roman Catholic Church is so hypocritical when it comes to divorce and remarriage and the Holy Eucharist. Why not go back to Rome’s original teaching in the ante-nicene age which allowed for divorce in the case of adultery and get rid of the silly annulment doctrine in order to justify divorce within the church.
I’m glad Newt has become a member of the Roman Church but he has a lot of growing up to do and is at odds with Pope Benedict on economics and other issues.

Cliff, the folks out on the Protestant Praire are still rustlin’ lost and seeking sheep. They haven’t lost a step. Unfortunately, we’re doing a good job of making it easy for them for a variety of reasons that aren’t particularly germane to this particular conversion. However, there are some reasons, such as the one touched upon by Rodd help explain why the American hiearchy is losing a lot of its non-celeb sheep, notwithstanding how many celebs it brings in and makes sure they get their due mention by a pliant fourth estate. (Hmmm, at least one of these celeb converts is a prominent member of that estate and makes her living on a rather controversial cable “news” network that’s seldom “fair and balanced” (lol).
  There also seems to be a consistent pattern with these converts, they happen to be ideological FISCAL conservatives who have come to gain a deeper appreciation for the never-out-of-season-socially-conservative teachings the Church has been sharing since it began. Does this mean it’s even more difficult for a moderate, or gasp(!) a liberal, to enter the Church than it’d be for a VERY non-financially challenged camel to enter the Heavenly City?
  I think not because one can be a fiscal liberal and a social conservative, follow the teachings of the Church and successfully work out his or her salvation. It’s got to be a helluvalot easier than being a social liberal and a cheap tight-fisted fiscal conservative who wants to do to the social safety net much what the Lutherans had in mind for Rome shortly after the Reformation got rolling. Nah, nope, nix—to the idea of calling the term “liberal Catholic” an oxymoron.

Steven, could you explain further this comment: “the folks out on the Protestant Praire are still rustlin’ lost and seeking sheep.”  I hope it doesn’t mean what it sounds like, but I will wait for a clarification.

Not sure what you meant by the rest of your post, but does contain some good points.

Steven not sure what you meant by this openining comment: “the folks out on the Protestant Praire are still rustlin’ lost and seeking sheep”  Sure hope it doesn’t mean what it sounds like?

@Cliff. Honestly, I haven’t the slightest idea of what you’re trying to get at. In short, let me call it Denominational Darwinism. This holds especially true for the more entrepreneurial Evangelical wing of Protestantism. Many of them have been taught to believe only “Bible Christians” (not even members of the more liturgical Protestant denominations) are really Christian. Guess where that places Catholics in their eyes, not to mention hearts, minds, souls ... and to the ever ambitious megachurch pastors dream$ ... more bucket-filling members to keep their pastoral businesses very profitable. It takes a lot of money to operate those post-modern cavernous barns and pay the electricity bills for all their rock-concert services.
  They’re out to save our souls. Now, to be fair, that’s a spiritually altruistic goal and most evangelical Protestants wouldn’t want to think of themselves in the (admittedly) crass way I put it above. But there is a sufficient number of, should I say, hard-core, Evangelicals whose spiritual goal is to pull as many Catholics as they can away from “Popery” and over to what they consider genuine Bible Christianity. 
  Talk about a book’s worth of oxymorons in this scenario! It wouldn’t hurt them, however, in the least to begin reading the Book of Acts, after reading what has to be a very “inconvenient truth” about the moment when Jesus personally founded the Church when he declared Simon to be his Vicar, and so forth. They really don’t like that passage in Matthew’s Gospel (any more than the moment when Jesus first declared himself to be the Bread of Life, or for that matter, his prayer for eternal unity after he was arrested and hauled before Caiphas’ kangaroo court.)
  By the way Cliff, this group of entrepreneurial Evangelical Christians are very active and organized on many college campuses and military installations, ever seeking the seekers and all those Catholics, Orthodox and liturgical Protestants who “never heard the Gospel” during their respective Masses and Mainline Protestant liturgical Sunday Services.
  Heck, they’re even “commissioning” people to go live in Italy to “share the Gospel.” That’s beyond sheep stealing pardner: That’s chutzpah! lol

I’m concerned about the “conservative derangement syndrome” that would regard all political conservatives as innately cruel, merciless, and incapable of being Catholics in good standing.

Amen to that! It takes a real featherhead to equate political affiliation with religious virtue. This is a person who has essentially no judgment. But it happens all too frequently, and the result is spiritual stagnation, with people being - in the words of the deceased Senator from New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan - “baptized Democrat first, then Catholic.” I was attending a retreat shortly after Democrat Bill Clinton entered the White House, his first act being to legalize medical experimentation on aborted fetuses. When I dared to raise this issue during a discussion session, the “bapitzed Democrats” who comprised the majority of “Catholics” rose indignantly and left the room! In an earlier age they would have passed over Herod’s massacre of the Innocents without comment ... funny how the same kinds of despots commit the same atrocities and receive the same pass by their spiritually inert constituency. Conservative-haters have no idea how to think, living according to “feelings” rather than facts. They lack an understanding of free market dynamics or the demands of Constitutional liberty. Saddest of all, they believe - actually believe - that there exists a government party with “feelings” for them! I put my faith in God, not in ANY political party or ideology. That said, there are political parties that are worthy of outright condemnation: those who make it mandatory to commit genocide against Jews or anyone else, or those who (currently) make it mandatory to endorse abortion. Hence, I have come to regard endorsement of the Democratic Party as incompatible with Christianity, based on its objective, coercive stance for this repugnant party platform: it is the price of admission to be a true Democrat. That does not mean I am infantile enough to regard their political opponents, the Republican Party, as the party of God. It simply means I will not participate in a farce - and any political party that requires its members to endorse abortion is both a Constitutional and spiritual farce. So much for the inherently evil character of Conservatism! If Catholics truly voted with their conscience instead of their ridiculous family traditions (e.g., “Great grandpa was killed fighting the Union-busting Republicans back in ‘03”), the world would be an objectively better place, and our politicians would not be given a pass to do as they please to public morality. My God in Heaven, what sheep! But we don’t have to go that high for the word on voters. Churchill once quipped that the most compelling case against democracy is a 10-minute conversation with the average voter. Quel damage ... again, I place my faith in God, His law, and not in the voting public or its political constructs.

Robert Henry! Precisely: “baptized Democrat first, then Catholic.” From talking to folks over the last week it would appear that most americans (of the US) are “baptized USA first, then Catholic” or “Christian.” Glad to know We follow the Way of Christ and his Incarnate Body the Church, not Herod, or Pilate, or Caiaphas or Barabbas or “Paul or Apollo or Cephas,” as St. Paul reminded us!

It’s hard to be a good Catholic.  Let’s rejoice that he has dedicated himself to trying his best to be a good Catholic as we all do.  The longer he truly practices the faith, the more his actions will align with the church.  God Bless.

Notwithstanding the opinions of the ever august Mr. Henry, it’s not impossible for somebody to be Catholic, prolife, a fiscal liberal and support a muscular foreign policy backed by a military that’s second-to-none.
  Nor is it improbable or illogical for people to vote their feelings. He’s so erudite, so astute, so magnificent in his choice of words and lofty appeals to a more intellectual group of voters that he felt it necessary to rely on Churchill’s disdain of the electorate to bolster his argument.
  One thing he neglected to acknowledge: his own (rightful) emotions of disgust with President Clinton’s acts and the Democratic Party’s official position on abortion.
  Ah, but if people have emotional grounds for voting against the GOP and its politicians for its continued long war against the social safety net, voting for continued subsidies for wildly profitable oil companies, continued tax breaks for Benedict Arnold companies to shut down their operations here and reopen in sweatshop countries above, scandalous tax breaks (wealth redistribution, eh?) for the wealthy that favor less than 500 households—which the rest of us 98 percenters and our children and grandchildren will be paying for years, cuts in Community Health Centers, WIC program and other budget cuts that will cut back on job safety regulations, childhood nutrition programs, Pell Grants and other programs designed to help people afford college tuitions, and on and on this list goes ... while the “wealth creators” get to keep on lining their pockets at the expense of the rest of us—well, Mr. Henry has a hard time grasping that kind of emotion.
  I’m not a Democrat. But I do, by and large, find myself utterly disgusted and downright damn angry, as so many other Americans have a right to be, to watch our government dismantled by a group of bait n’ switch practioners (bar none!) that promised their way into office by telling the voters they’d be working hard to turn the economy around and produce jobs. Never mind the usual fiscal conservative mantra of our times saying “government can’t create jobs, only the private sector;” the GOP promised one goal to the public and another set of goals to their ideological backers in private. Looks like they delivered on their private agenda first. Once they got in, the GOP and its spinoff Tea Party—which it created with help from the brothers Koch, (who earlier “earned their money the old fashioned way,” by inheriting it from their daddy who made his fat and bloody boodle by dealing with Uncle Joe Stalin during the 30s!—went right to work on fulfilling their ideological masterplan agenda: killing the New Deal, Great Society and Obamacare as their grandaddy of all Trifectas.
  See, the working people of this country, i.e. the vast majority of the people, the 98 percenters who’ll be paying a lot more for the socialization of private booty through the extension of the Bush tax breaks, have a lot of reason to be upset, and NO Mr. Henry, they’re not dumb animals for you to put down by saying “My God in Heaven, what sheep!”
  We are not so gullible as to buy into the “government doesn’t create jobs” mantra, or lazy pol’s talking point. We’re intelligent enough to remember how many private sector jobs have been created down through the years of our nation’s history in no small part thanks to government subsidies. (Let me add to that, the blood of US Calvarymen guarding the privately owned and operated Iron Horses.) When the federal government awards a contract to Boeing, Lockheed or Bath Iron Works to produce a transport, fighter or destroyer, it’s creating many private sector jobs; THOUSANDS OF THEM. But when government, no thanks to the machinations of lobbyists and politicians who allow for the continuance of tax shelters and Benedict Arnold loopholes, it kills jobs. But at whose behest? The government’s? Certainly not on the whole, but rather a small portion of which that’s fallen under the sway of just enough influential but job killing politicians, think tanks and lobbyists. Government and society as a whole, benefits zilch, read that again, ZILCH when jobs are killed no thanks to the special interests.
  When our soldiers and law enforcement officers need better body armour, they don’t expect the government to make them. Nor are they so doltish not to realize that they’re made by a private contractor or sub-contractor. This should be enough for anybody to ask the next logical question: When you and the rest of our ever-so-intellectually gifted and fiscal conservatives, those ever so smart folks—who, of course, vote with their heads and not “feelings”—going to wake up and stop insulting the intelligence of the majority of the American population which isn’t half as dumb as you no doubt believe it to be?
  You’re a great imitation of an old Tory or Bourbon, Mr. Henry. Sad to say, however, you sure has hell have no political street smarts to know your own fellow countrymen and/or why they’re not going to buy into all this trickling down on the majority of Americans whilst a tiny percentage of the population benefits from the gushing of inordinate tax benefits they don’t deserve.
  Yes, we agree on abortion; it’s an ugly business. So is creating the conditions for more women to elect having abortions and then turning them as to say, “My, my, those sinful wenches, look at what they’ve done or their boyfriends, husbands, friends, sometimes educators and prochoice activists and pols have pushed them into” ... especially when you know damn well the pushing hasn’t just come from the people I’ve mentioned above. You know damn well what the politics of hopelessness can do, yet you and your fellow travelling apologists for the wealthy and the intellectually/ideologically/economically snobbish cliques of the Church in this country have a lot of answering to do, as well.
  I don’t care if the next celeb was a former left-leaning, pro-abortion supporting actress, writer, artist, whatever. If he or she came into the Church and offered up such a puff piece like the one above following a lame explanation for botching up so marriages as Gingrich has done ... I’d still be just as upset and highly suspicious. But, ohh, oh ho ho, ohhhh, a big name “pro-life” conservative pol who talks the walk, knocks on our doors, and all questions are to cease while the champagne corks are popped?
  With apologies to you, Mr. Henry, I can just hear the Gingrich campaign team and the rest of your side chortling, “My God in Heaven, what putty these people have for minds!” If they buy into it, well, hate to admit it, you’d all be correct.
  But you’re wrong in your opinion of the American people, and Catholic American voters in particular. Nobody with a beating heart [really] wants to see an unborn child lose its life to abortion. But nobody with a beating heart also wants to allow a rigid ideological perspective make it so damned difficult for a young mother to bring a child into this country while a tiny fraction of the population be able to legally hoard so much money.
  At least the British Tories and German conservatives in the Wilhemine Era under Bismarck caught on and avoided suffering the calamitous upheaval which turned Bourbon France and Romanov Russia upside down. We damn near lost this Republic to either Fascism or Communism no thanks to the greedy few that brought about the Great Crash and subsequent Great Depression in ‘29. Blame FDR all you want for whatever he did that might’ve caused the Depression to linger on longer. But in ‘33, when the free marketers, sneering down their noses as they do now, saying government can do little and working as hard as beavers to turn FDR’s first term into a total failure as they’re attempting to do nowadays to President Obama’s—at least FDR gave the people some hope, stability and a chance to earn something, if nothing more than their dignity back by collecting paychecks…even if it was digging ditches to nowhere’sville. Those ditches were dug by free men and they saved the country as a whole from digging a much bigger ditch as the Germans experienced in ‘45.
  Mr. Henry, I can see why the Catholic Right in this country is enamored with Gingrich: He never met a conservative idea he didn’t like…even if it was the dumbest one ... just so long as it could help the GOP and their rich pals stay in office so they can line their pockets more and more; the larger and longer consequences be damned. And if the newly minted celeb conservative convert sings your tune on the prolife issue alone, so what if he’s yet to fully own up to his past without excuses, and so what if his other ideas will lead to busted unions and harsher Third World living conditions. Hey, we’re already in the same league with Nigeria and the Ivory Coast in terms of income disparity.
  “Sheep.” Sir, you have one hell of a nerve.

Steven,  I think we are in agreement about “sheep stealing”.  Being a traditional Protestant,  we too view Evangelicals in a similar light.  They, Evangelicals, considered all mainline Protestants and Catholics as a mission field. But now with the EMERGING CHURCH, they are diverging into liberalism.

Catholics though do love to trot out their high profile “Converts” (a word I detest by the way). And if memory serves me right Catholic “sheep stealing” still outnumbers Protestant sheep stealing three to one.  So apparently your RCIA programs are doing a lot better than any Evangelical or Protestant evangelising programs.

It is this practice that brings disgrace to the body of Christ.

I’m sorry but I just don’t believe this man! I know I cannot know his motives but it seems to be that he became a Catholic to further his desire to become President of the USA - he hopes to get the Catholic vote. When asked if it is true that he served his first wife divorce papers while she was in hospital dying of cancer, he said he didn’t know. He divorced his second wife after finding out she had a serious illness and in order to have the ‘Catholic’ woman he was having sex with while married as his wife..the current Callista. He went after Bill Clinton for having an affair with an intern while he, Gingrich, was doing the same thing - sheer hypocrisy… and an indication of a seriously flawed, narcissistic character who will do and say anything to get his way - to get what he wants.

Sounds like he’s still peeling away the layers, mostly the external beauty of the Church but like someone mentioned prior, it’s about the Eucharist.  In the Catholic Church we have Jesus like no one else has Him, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Thank you for your remarks Cliff. But I’m pleasantly surprised with your assessment of our RCIA programs since I’ve heard more complaints than praises about them due to the fact many [theologically-inclined] liberals are teaching the classes and not giving their adult students the full picture. There’all always be complaints, and parish religion teachers, be they active with teens at the CCD levels or with adults in RCIA are volunteers who are probably beat tired after long days at work and sometimes they might inadvertently slip and miss something. On the other hand, there might be some “theological ideologues” working fast in parishes across the country workng hard as beavers as they try to make sure their students “get it correctly,” but of course, from their perspective.
  Even though he had a collection of characters to start the Church with, the Lord knew what he was doing by establishing some form of “centralized” teaching Magisterium. We can always appeal to our diocesan Romes or to Rome itself. LOL. Sure beats a library’s worth of different versions of the Bible that we authored in the first place.

Florin, this is for you! But it sure wouldn’t hurt some of our other posters to consider this prayer written by John Adams shortly after arriving in the White House in 1800: “I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but the wise men ever rule under this roof.”
Gingrich’s biggest supporters and those who steadfastly believe we should just let his sordid and disgusting past marital history fall by the way as yesterday’s trash to be forgotten…all because he’s confessed his sins, grovelled to Jim Dobson (2007), and wrapped himself and lame excuses in Old Glory to David Brody (CBN, Mar 2011), thus we now get the New Newt. http://www.alternet.org/rights/134214/is_the_twice-divorced_newt_gingrich_converting_to_catholicism_for_a_2012_run/ Theologically that’s correct. But there’s more to this story than mere theology.
  Take a look at one of his most colorful political pals, Deal Hudson. Granted, Alternet.net does lean to port, but the bias doesn’t sink this story. But just imagine a Gingrich presidency with Hudson on board in any capacity. Pundits, bloggers and cartoonists will find themselves long indebted to Gingrich for the folly of keeping this guy in his personal presidential curia.)
  See, there’s more about Gingrich than his marital “history.” I’ve caught so much hell for having the galling nerve to keep bringing this nagging factoid of his life back for review.  What’s the harm in bringing up another curious—sigh, but truthful—snippet about his life, not to mention how cozy and schmoozy the Religious Right manages to work towards putting the best foot forward for the ex-speaker, especially when it comes to even avoiding it altogether!
  Does anybody remember that Gingrich is the first ever Speaker of the House of Representatives to be penalized while in office, to a tidy sum of $300 BIG ONES (to borrow from fictional godfather, Tony Soprano.) That’s $300,000.
  Why hasn’t anybody asked how Brody could’ve overlooked this gem from Gingrich’s past, especially since he was reprimanded when he occupied the third highest office in the land! (http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2011/03/08/newt-gingrich-tells-brody-file-he-felt-compelled-to-seek.aspx)
  Okay, maybe some of you might be looking for a deal from me in terms of laying off the ex-speaker; Just one reason to “call it quits,” let my quotation from John Adams serve as my final warning about this slick and hollow pol (I know, talk about mixing hyperbole and redundancy ... but Gingrich deserves it)and call it a day, post, thread, issue…whatever. 
  Fat chance, especially when I have at least 300 Big Ones to help jiggle some memories that all those folks who say, “Well, Newt’s one of us, a biggie prolife pol who’s going to help us once and for all…our rider on the white horse ... Now lay off his past!”
  Why should I, doesn’t his record speak for him and itself? LOL!
  Now let us all be the wiser to keep this charlatan out of the White House. That would be the really genuine conservative thing to do.

If the abortion rate goes UP under a pro life president one has to wonder- but putting that aside.

I don’t think Gingrich is going to agree with the Vatican on climate change either- so - as far as I an tell he has ONE area of agreement.

Thanks for your respectful dialogue Steven, but I’m sticking with Luther.  Perhaps we can continue another dialogue on an expanded topic?
Peace!

Cliff, it’d be my pleasure! Meg, you also won’t need to worry about Gingrich ever having to make a JFK-like sellout promise to appease all the worries of all those afraid he’ll do the Vatican’s bidding when it comes to setting policy. He’ll milk the association, and agree on abortion, but that’s about it. Moreover, simply “agreeing” with the Vatican’s far from actually doing anything substantive to stop abortion.
  Interesting that you mentioned climate change since Newt’s announcing today that he’s running for president. Check your outside thermometer for any unusual bounce. Yes, Spring has sprung, but when it comes to Gingrich’s official entrance and his undoubted future contribution to the rising air overall temperature, he’ll be more than a mite challenged to explain away this mere coincidence of the temp rising now that he’s jumped in; just as he’d have to explain its drop the moment he realizes the “sheep” and “voting public” don’t want him as the top man in charge of our “political constructs.”
  My “inner political bookie” places the odds of him beating out President Obama at 302,000 to one. Three hundred big ones plus his two self-botched marriages before his present state of matrimony. He’ll need a lot of hot air to get that loaded gondola (with permanently affixed weights) off the ground.
  Long shots have ruined more afternoons at the track than I’d care to admit, so there’s always the possibility that the GOP could even cobble this uber-conservative, albeit genuinely featherweight Catholic team together, Gingrich/Santorum. This of course would result in the first 50-state wipeout in electoral history. Barack Obama wouldn’t even need help from Kenya, Indonesia or all those other places he’s been alleged to have been born in. LOL-time aplenty if that happens!

Nothing like a whopper mistake to wake up a simple layman to the fact that only the man wearing all white in Vatican City is infallible. In my last reply I cited some odds against our twittering friend Newt Gingrich’s chances of winning the big stakes derby in 2012. I wrote “302,000,” when I should’ve meant to write 300,002. Yes, our former House Speaker’s marital history is more numerous than most politicians’—but with my considerably much higher first and mistaken figure, I compounded my error in giving our twittering presidential wannabe too much credit.

I’m not Catholic for four very important theological reasons: dispensing of grace by sacraments, veneration of saints and Mary, the Eucharist, and the alleged infallibility of the Pope. I simply cannot agree to the Roman theology behind these three items.  “Dulia” worship to the saints & Mary and “latria” worship to God Almighty is a distinction without a difference; you are still breaking the 1st Commandment.  The Grace of God is freely given, through Jesus Christ only. (Eph 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.)  Since grace is unmerited favor, it makes no sense that one has to work for it in the Roman view.  I am content to put my full faith upon Jesus Christ and not unto men and women, the latter whose Catholic history is often anything but Christian.

James 2:22.  I’m not sure which Bible you’re reading from but it should read something similar to “You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;” Many use “complete” instead of “perfected”.  Catholics aren’t the “By Faith Alone” types, because one could beleive yet sit in their home never doing a thing; is that a life worth living?  Is it better to help build houses for those who don’t have any, as long as it’s done not for seeking praise or personal gain?  The work is an act of charity to help others who are in need.  Why would we be given the Corporal Works of Mercy if there’s no point in abiding by them?
And I don’t see how venerating the Saints and Mary is creating a false idol at all.  Paying respect to those who have gone before us, who have walked more fully in the way perscribed by Jesus and the Bible than we ever could, asking for the help, guidance, and wisdom we can understand from the examples set by their lives isn’t saying they’re on equal footing with the Lord.  Merely that we recognize our imperfections and wish to live our lives more similarly to them.

Since Gingrich officially announced that he is in the race, more information is being revealed about him.  In the past, he has had bizarre connections, and bragged about them. He claimed to be a ‘conservative futurist.’, and he apparently joined with the ‘futurists of the Third Way’ - the Third Wave/Third Way existed under Clinton and Gore. Newt told Congress: “For a long time, I have been friends with Alvin and Heidi Toffler, authors of Future Shock and the Third Way…for 20 years WE have worked to develop a future-conscious politics ... make it easier for America to make the transition from the Second Wave civilization (the one our Founders gave us) - which is clearly dying - to the emerging…Third Wave civilization.”  There is much more about this…years ago, it was noted that Gingrich most probably leans more towards the left, but when he realized that the ‘right’ would get most of the votes, he crossed over.  Attny. Constance Cumbey wrote that this tendency of Gingrich to switch sides whenever expedient really is troubling. “It suggests a man who is more amoral than immoral. Such a person, to my way of thinking, is most dangerous of all - he does nothing from conviction or reason, but does all FROM AN ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL ADVANTAGE.” We know this is Newt…it’s all about him, all about satisfying his tremendous and disordered ego…this is going to be revealed more and more on the campaign trail…stay informed. There are good men and women getting into the primary - who have more character and balance than old Newt.

This latest version of one more rolled out version of a “new Newt” should remind all of us old enough to remember how Richard Nixon was repackaged as the “New Nixon” in ‘68. Here’s a solid case for remembering something beyond the old vs. new Newt’s n’ Tricky Dicky Nixons. If the voters just recall that old warning against the perils of not learning from past history.
  Allow me to update it a bit: A bum deal wrapped in new glittery paper’s still a bum deal.

Marty & Charles, this debate has been going on for centuries, and I think both sides good use some good old-fashioned charity and try and understand one another better.  The point needs to be made loud and clear that our works do not contribute in any way to our salvation, yet we must do them. Catholics need to learn the proper perspective of Saints as do Protestants.  The co-redemptorist theory has no valid place in scripture, as it is Jesus alone who atoned for our salvation.
At the same time Protestants need to respect Catholics who venerate (to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference) Mary and the Saints.  There is a clear difference between veneration and worship.  Worship belongs to God alone!
Can we understand this?

Very well said Cliff.

Newt continues to say that his former mistress Callista is a ‘life-long’ Catholic…yet he was having sex with her during her period of being a life long Catholic and while she was singing in the Catholic choir…and some say she was bragging about the sex she was having with Gingrich - a married man.  Both of these people are shameless…can’t wait to see the two of them deal with detailed public scrutiny…sure, there is forgiveness and humble reparation but Newt in my opinion is a man without any core principals…someone said he is not only immoral but amoral..he does whatever it takes to advance his ego - his agenda which is to become the president of the USA…not going to happen Newt. I also feel that he tarnished the image of P. John Paul by using this beloved Pope for his own aggrandizement - to push his agenda and to make money…shameless and scary…

Don’t worry about Newt getting very far, Florin. When House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says he’s holding his judgment on Newt’s dissing of Paul Ryan’s bandaid-voucher idea of reforming Medicare, that was a sure sign that Newt’s milch cow to keep his campaign going has been hauled off to some other more “promising” (er less dissin’) prospective candidate for the top office. Newt got ‘em all riled up and he’s gonna pay dearly for having the gall to sound sensible (for a change lately)on an issue that’s pretty sensitive to a very strong voting bloc neither party dares to cross: the elderly. The fact Gingrich exposed the GOP’s indelible cheap streak and called it Right Wing social engineering, well! ... that’s the kind of straight out HONEST kind of heresy that’s not going to be tolerated. You can bet a call’s been put out to any prospective Republican contributor to keep his or her checkbook in the drawer when Newt comes calling ... until Newt’s changed his tune (not an unlikely prospect for him when expediency’s called for) and the Koch Brothers have been satisfied Newt’s seen the error of his political mortal sin and done sufficient penance. In the meantime, all that money will have gone to the other (somewhat more) serious prospective candidates, MassHealth’s inventor, Mitt Romney, and another exemplar of good old reliable exciting Midwestern GOP blandness, that, that, that, uh, kinda boring guy from Indiana, oh yeah, Mitch Daniels.
  BTW, Masshealth’s a very good program. Too bad Mitt doesn’t want to claim his baby, which his party certainly claims to be illegitimate. He knows his former constituents love it now but that’s largely due to additional work put into it by the Great and General Court (legislature) and Senate…which wouldn’t you know it, are as they were in his time, controlled by the Democrats.
  Newt shot himself in the foot he usually has stuck in his mouth insofar as the GOP’s house ruling clique of Boehner, Cantor, Ryan and Walsh are concerned…and that’s going to cost Newt a lot of the mother’s milk of politics, MONEY! What a coincidence, Cantor plays the Sphinx and Romney just pulled in $10M within a couple of days time differential. Honest matched with political hissy fits can be so expensive these days.

I’ve read it several times and i can’t find one reason in there for signing up with us. Did it REALLY take him ten years to get the “centrality” of the eucharist in Mass? His profession of catholic belief is as shallow as every other profession of belief this man has ever made.  He throws around four-syllable words like “centrality” so Republicans think he must be an intellectual. Bad Speaker - he was dumped! - bad husband, bad brother, bad politician, bad Catholic, bad thinker.
My mother regularly reminded me that it is possible, though difficult, to be a good Catholic AND a good Christian. this fraud is neither.

Seeing by some of the later caustic comments about Newt, it appears some Catholics are very judgmental about Gingrich’s past behaviour.  I assumed forgiveness was part of the Catholic dogma, or is that no longer so?  Regardless, that is why I am sticking with Luther.

Hi, Cliff,

I wouldn’t rush to judgment about Catholics either - not based on remarks at a public forum, which tends to bring out the shrill ones while most folks just go about their lives. You should read the comments in the secular press! It makes you wonder about posting remarks there at all. No, you are quite right, and I think most Catholics and non-Catholics would concur: Christianity is about forgiveness, though when it comes to politicians, people often wonder whether the politician’s statements are sincere or just political posturing. Regardless, I agree with you - Christ did not deny politicians (or publicans, scribes, tax-collectors, etc.) His divine company, and He did tell us not to judge others, lest we be judged likewise. And so, I prefer to pray that Newt is just another convert, regardless of his position in politics, who sees in the Catholic Church what I did when I selected it following my own conversion to Christ 42 years ago while I was alone in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with a new Bible in hand and nowhere to go. He rescued me from my youthful crisis then, and several weeks later I calmly made my own decision which church I would choose in which to worship Him. All I wanted, then and now, was access to the unvarnished truth of Christ in the Scriptures, holy writings of the Church Fathers, and above all the holy Eucharist, caring not for the personalities, the hierarchy, or the politics of the Church. I love Him still, for nothing else matters but Him and all the loving people and angels He has sent into my life. Including you - welcome, my brother, I like the way you think. See you in Heaven.

Yes, Robert you are quite right and I agree with your sentiments.  Some of the finest Christians I know are Catholic, very devoted and sincere in their faith. We all need forgiveness and to be given another chance.

If newt is sincere about his conversion to Catholicism then that’s fine…but people have a right to try to discern from the ‘pattern’ of his life whether he would make a good president and whether or not they would want to see his former mistress who claimed she was a life long Catholic while bragging to others about how she was having sex with Gingrich while he was married -whether or not they want to see her in the White House. I think not. And newt has recently blamed his lewd behavior and adultery on the fact that he loved his country and so was working too hard…Newt’s pattern of shabby treatment of women, of not honoring his commitments to his former wives, of going after clinton while he was engaging is adultrous behavior with his current wife/former mistress has to come into the picture when one is trying to decide whether or not he is good presidential material…people knew very little about Obama before he was elected president and we are paying for that lack of knowledge now…has anyone heard Callista ever say she was sorry for having sex with a married man - and for many years? While she was singing in her Church choir?  That too shows a pattern of character…so the two of them sitting in the White House is just not something that anyone wants to see…let them live their lives quietly out of the public eye…since Newt has brought himself and his wife into the forefront of the public eye, the public has the right to scrutinize them, the pattern of their behavior and their fitness for the White House…in fact, it is not only a right but a responsibility!

I was raised by very dvout parents as a lifelong Lutheran.  Church every Sunday and Sunday School were a must.  Even one year of teaching Sunday School.

Something in my heart and mind was always missing.  I kept asking myself why did our Lord come to earth 2000 years ago, and those there received the benefit of his presence, although many rejected it; but he left us nothing of him until we die.  That question continued to haunt me.  I would often find myself sitting in a Catholic church seemingly searching for an answer.

Then it hit me.  When I was told about transubstantiation being a belief of the Catholic church, I realized that was my answer.  Our Lord did leave us with something.  He left us with the ability to actually receive him in his true body and blood as often as daily.  He did not leave us with nothing until death, but instead something of him as often as we wanted to receive it.

To me if that was a truth (and it was) then all other beliefs had to follow.

I have never been happier in faith since I embraced the teachings of the Catholic Church.  How I pray the whole world would do the same.

Many of us have made serious mistakes with and in our lives that if, we could do over, would do differently.  We are all sinners of a sort; some more than others.  It is in repentance that we find our grace.  If Newt and Callista have found that grace then no one can question it.

Remember Bill Clinton and many have forgiven him.  None of us know what is in the heart of another whether it be Bill Clinton or Newt Gingrich. 

Look into your own heart and remember the words He spoke,  “he who is without sin cast the first stone”.

God Bless!!

In my heart i have felt that Newt has made atonement wIth God. Who are we to be judgemental, for it is written that “Judgement is mine sayth the Lord”, “and do not Judge lest you be Judged”.
Newt is the best person since Reagan to lead this country and he needs to be heard and listened to and we need to be with him, especailly if a person votes based on christian principles.

Whether the Catholic church accepts the concept of Predestination i am not aware…but i am of the firm faith ’ BLESSED AND HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO ARE CALLED TO HIS SUPPER’ The call has to be Given by God, Heard by the person to CONTEMPLATE and Received by the person to be SAVED….Mr Gingrich was fortunate in all the 3 counts….

Salvation is a free gift. We are saved by grace.. not by works. God didn’t intend for us to spend our lives in eternal turmoil over whether or not we would make it to heaven. His greatest gift was to give us that peace. He died on the cross as a gift. All we have to do is accept.  It’s that easy. Love is that easy!  God didn’t intend for religion either! He intended for a personal relationship with him.

Welcome to the Holy Mother Church.  What a wonderful story.  Good luck with your campaign and on a chance at becoming our second Catholic President.

YOU’RE ALL CRAZY!  Yet, even by my saying anything whatsoever concerning Newt or any of your foolish opinions, I must be crazy as well.  This is no allegory of the cave, it is a political gambit.  Those of you who feel as such, should not waste your time to even comment.  Those of you wishing to welcome Newt are naive children.  A true Catholic, which I am by no means claiming to be, would not waste even five minutes of their day on this article or response page.  WWJD?  Live an ascetic lifestyle that probably doesn’t involve politics, politicians (crooks), or the internet.  Whatever your stance, recognize Newt for what he is and move on.

@Shawn: Never mind his rather dubious personal past, and believe me, it’s not “below” any candidate to bring it up because Gingrich made his political bones while climbing over all those whose records and lives he castigated as being less than exemplary. While he was just a loud-mouthed back-bencher and rising star within the GOP in his younger years (which should tell you how mediocre the party was then ... and it’s only gotten worse with Boehner’s bunch “in control” of the House) ... there was no depth of hypocrisy Gingrich would NOT stoop to to get his face in front of CSPAN and no hour stanger than any other to hold a “riveting” solloquy or one man rant “on the floor” so he could have it replayed ad nauseum at later times of his choosing.
  Thankfully, a man of character, the REAL MAN of the House during Gingrich’s teeth-cuttin’ years, Thomas P. O’Neill, yes, Mister Speaker, Tip O’Neill, the last GENUINE speaker we’ve had in memory, called Gingrich out on his CSPAN scam for the nation to see what a phony the future speaker was then and remains to this day.
  I can just see Tip up in Heaven, chuckling out loud “D’ya suppose Gingrich actually had to read the Catechism, or was he just another Con-celeb convertee the Church couldn’t wait to get in?”

I’m not American. I am European and I’m very happy for the conversion of people as diverse as Newt and Tony Blair. They have difficulty in their lives to be saints, but pray that they succeed.

Who are some of you people to play God! we as Christians are to Forgive! all I see from some of you is your own Self Righteous Judgements.

A globalist New World Order man joins a church that also embraces the NWO. Big surprise.

Mr. Speaker, I have to admit I have been mad at you since your conversion to the Roman Catholic Church but I have forgiven you.  What’s in your heart is what God knows and sees. 

The reason for my being angry was; that as smart as you are, you couldn’t see the Crimes Against Humanity that the RCC was commiting.  You saw God and HIS forgivness of all the things you Now Knew were keeping you from a true “relationship ” with your Savior Jesus Christ. That is what HE wants, a Complete and Trusting Relationship with HIM. As long as you have that with HIM…I can trust you with the Presidency. 

The Crimes Against Humanity that are now being tested in a suit brought by SNAP to the ICC, in the Hague against this, so called, peaceful Pope and his cohorts, will be taken on and hopefully known by the world shortly.

I am 82 and was a RC for 60 yrs.  I am no longer with this Institution but I do have a Trusting Relationship with our God, so I can understand where you are coming from.

If you win the Presidency I believe you will do God’s Will in all you do.  Seek HIM and HEAR HIM!And Act upon HIS
Words. .  It’s all anyone who is prsident who loves the Lord can do.  An awesome experiance!  God Bless you.

Please remember HE SAID” Liars don’t go to HEAVEN”  Simple but true.  He’ll take your lie and make it true. HE LOVES you that much.

Mr Speaker,May i share a few thoughts about you.
I think that you will make a difference if you are elected president of the United States,first of all as a catholic you will have a possitive influence on the religiouse life of the United States,and secondly you have a very good expirience on US politics and polices,these i am sure will be positive.
I am sure that when you take disitions always see how you are going to influence others espesialy if they may be negative.i am happy that you are a front runner,and hope that you willget the republican nomination.
GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.GOD BLESS AMERICA. I WILL PRAY THAT ALMIGHTY GOD WILL GIVE AMERICA TO YOU AS PRESIDENT.

Are you testing GOD buy saying “you will be the nominee?”  “Thou shalt not test the Lord your God.  Remember what you say and say it as GOD
  is at your side listening to you….because HE Is….GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED!

Many people whose heritage lies in Protestantism call themselves Christian without having any true faith or understanding in Biblical Christianity.  I’m certain Newt fits into this category and his conversion was likely from agnostic or deist and not from Biblical Christianity.  It is sad really to see people exchange the truth of the gospel in Bible believing churches for charades of spiritualism taking the form of statues and relics.  Perhaps if more people found the love of Christ being shown while learning of the truth of gospel; these conversions would not happen.

It’s simple!

Gingrich adores power, and has been unable to find anyone except the Catholic church who wields it so efficiently, or thoroughly.

When Muslims take over, will he become a Muslim?

Only GOD knows his heart,as Christians Christ has told us not to judge.

WHAT I WROTE I MEANT,THE USA NEEDS A CATHOLIC PRESIDENT,AND I DON.THINK IT IS FAR OFF.SOMEONE SAID HE’LL BECOME MOSLEM,I SAY ONLY THIS,DON’T MAKE ME LOUGH.

His journey brings to mind the “Long Loneliness” of Dorothy Day, and gives me, a cradle Catholic, faith in his transformed spirit.

sorry but as a protestant believer, Im at odds with the accusation that protestants have no knowledge of biblical truths…here’s a truth for you….Jesus Christ was born in the time of the year when shepherds leave the flocks in the pasture, obviously not in the middle of winter.  December 25th is also HISTORICALLY the birthdate of Nimrod, who according to Babylonian mythology was transformed into a deity, Tammuzz. What is used to symbolize this false god?  an evergreen tree…so while you gather with your family and celebrate the birth of Nimrod, not Jesus, because Christians were instructed not to use IDOLS.  remember this the love of Christ is open to all that believe HE is the true Son of the Living God. It was the Catholic Church that allowed pagan idols and worship into His family.  As the popularity of these false acts and the worship of Odin/Thor(the fat santa claus) grow and we as CHRISTIANS teach our children it is acceptable, God has withdrawn His blessing from our countries and lives.  As a man Im not answerable to any man, and the church leaders are the ones to be held accountable to the BODY of the church, not the other way around. Protestantism came about by the widespread use and teaching of the idea that if I pay the church the Pope’s blessing will cover my sins.  My sins were covered that day on the cross, by none other than Christ himself.  As you judge Protestants, keep in mind, Martin Luther probably knew more than you ever will about Scriptures.  And if the Pope is so full of faith and close to the Father, why was the “Popemobile” made with bulletproof glass? Had he no faith that the Father would protect him and keep him safe? or do you dismiss the fact that a teenage boy face a physically much much larger, more skilled warrior with nothing but a slingshot and a few pebbles…how did he do this? Because he had FAITH that the TRUE LIVING GOD would protect him and deliver him from his enemy.

I Agree with you David, we are all Christians and we serve a risen Lord. It doesn’t matter if you are protestant, baptist, catholic or whatever. If you accept Christ as your savior you are a Christian. Remember everyone, Only God can forgive us our sins thru the Blood of Christ not a pastor,priest,pope deacon ONLY GOD!!

Catholics don’t sing “Amazing Grace”. I smell a liaaaarrrr.

I wonder if Newt believes the wine and the bread are actually transformed into the body and blood of Jesus? I am so amazed that seemingly intelligent people believe in this scientific impossibility with no proof.  Also, Catholics do not believe in faith alone for salvation, but feel the need to add works to it (Luther’s main issue with the catholics).  I wonder if Newt is aware of this fact?  Most of his reasons were not based on any facts, but all he discussed were his “feelings” when he experienced certain events. It’s not like him to forget facts! And I wonder if he is ok with the “Mary worship” and the non-Biblical idea that she herself was conceived of a virgin?  Making the switch from Southern Baptist to Catholicism requires one to give up on a lot of basic doctrinal positions and accept some rather foreign ones (foreign to a Southern Baptist, and to Scripture in my opinion.) I wonder if Newt now believes Luther was wrong? It appears to me that Newt was never a devout Southern Baptist based on his reasons for converting to Catholicism.

you folk better read the Bible, we are saved by Grace, no does that mean we can continue is our old ways. As Paul says GOD FORBID. we need to change but none of our perfect, in other words all have sinned

i’ve left the catholic church after a few yrs
too many dodgy clergy and bros   have been raping children and since churches beginning i’m sad to say and believing clergy can turn bread into the body well it leaves no wonder it,s in such a mess   dealings i’ve had with that lot would make a used carsalesman blush

Did Mr. Gingrich (pronounced…..rick..per his half-sister) marry his third wife, Calista, within the Roman Catholic wedding rites?  As far as I know, a divorced person who was previously married in any recognized church (religion) cannot marry another person within the Roman Catholic rites, unless all their previous marriages are annuled.

December 9, 2011

Ron Paul Has Real Chance of Becoming GOP Nominee

NIA believes that the free market is the number one predictor of the future. We pay a lot of attention to the web site Intrade.com which allows investors to place bets on current events by buying shares on the outcome. Right now on Intrade for the cost of $4.69 you can buy shares that Mitt Romney will become the Republican Presidential Nominee. If Romney is victorious, your shares will become worth $10 and you will more than double your money. If Romney doesn’t win the nomination, your shares will become worthless and you will lose your entire investment.

With shares in Romney costing $4.69 it means Romney has a 46.9% chance of winning. Back on November 14th shares in Romney cost $7.15 meaning he had a 71.5% chance of winning. In the last three weeks, Romney has gone from being an overwhelming favorite to no longer having a majority of support.

Along with Romney collapsing, so has Cain who dropped out of the race. Cain had a 9.5% chance of winning on October 15th, but now has only a 0.1% chance of winning. Meanwhile, Rick Perry was exposed as being the phony candidate from Texas. Perry’s support has collapsed from 39.4% on September 3rd to only 2.1% today.

With Romney, Cain, and Perry collapsing, where has all of their support gone? Newt Gingrich’s chances of winning have increased from a low of 0.8% on September 27th to 33.3% today. Ron Paul’s chances of winning have increased from a low of 2.2% on November 8th to 7.4% today. Jon Huntsman’s chances of winning have increased from a low of 2.1% on November 7th to 7% today.

Iowa is the first GOP caucus and widely recognized as the first step in becoming the Republican nominee. Intrade doesn’t allow you to buy shares for the Iowa caucus, so we can only look at polling. A new PPP poll for the Iowa caucus just released on December 5th shows Gingrich in the lead with 27%, Paul in second with 18%, Romney in third with 16%, and Bachmann in fourth with 13%.

Rather than giving Ron Paul a serious chance of winning Iowa, the media is currently portraying Paul as a potential “spoiler”. The Washington Examiner published an article this week with the headline, “Ron Paul could complicate GOP’s two-horse race”. Despite Paul currently polling second place in the most important primary state, many mainstream media news reports about the election have been mentioning Ron Paul’s name before immediately saying, “who has no chance of winning the nomination.”

History has shown that just like in a horse race, Presidential candidates who take a big lead early on almost never win the nomination. Those who think Romney will win the nomination also thought that Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani were going to be the two nominees four years ago. If history is right and Romney doesn’t win the nomination, the winner will likely be either Gingrich or Paul.

NIA considers Gingrich to be unelectable and predicts that his support will evaporate as soon as voters learn the truth about him. Gingrich might as well be a Democrat. He would have zero chance of winning an election against Obama because voters would choose to go with the real thing. In the last Presidential election, voters only had a choice between two candidates who supported the government’s bailout of Wall Street. You would think that Americans today would only be supporting candidates who were strongly against the government’s bailout of Wall Street. Gingrich stated in 2008 that he “reluctantly and sadly” was supporting the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. If Gingrich was the nominee, it will be a disaster for America because it will show that nobody in the U.S. has learned a thing.

Gingrich claims to have never favored cap-and-trade, but in 2007 he said that he would “strongly support” cap-and-trade with “a tax-incentive program for investing in the solutions.” He went on to say in 2009 that he might still support cap-and-trade for “the 2,000 most polluting places,” if packaged with green energy incentives. Even more disturbing than Gingrich’s support of cap-and-trade, Gingrich was paid $30,000 per month by Freddie Mac as a consultant during the subprime mortgage crisis up until it effectively became a government controlled entity. Gingrich received a total of $1.8 million from Freddie Mac as part of two contracts, one that lasted from mid-1999 to 2002 and another that lasted from 2006 until September of 2008.

NIA believes that Gingrich is largely responsible for skyrocketing health care inflation in the U.S. today. In 2003, Gingrich founded The Center for Health Transformation, which was paid dues of $200,000 per year from health insurance providers and other health care firms. Those dues would provide health care companies with “access to Newt Gingrich” and “direct Newt interaction”, which NIA looks at as bribes that were paid to Gingrich by these health care giants to pass regulations that pushed health care costs through the roof. Gingrich’s organization advocated that “anyone who earns more than $50,000 a year must purchase health insurance or post a bond.” NIA believes it is unconstitutional for the government to force Americans to buy anything. This type of distortion of the free market by Gingrich is what has helped fuel massive health care inflation for the past decade.

On September 27th when Gingrich’s support was only 0.8%, Paul was beating him with support of 2.6%. Gingrich is the latest flavor of the month. We also saw huge spikes in support for Perry and Cain before their support collapsed back to below 2% as voters figured out the truth about them. Paul is the only candidate who has never been below 2% and has enjoyed a very large and solid support base that has been growing consistently. Paul is currently second in Iowa and third nationwide and when voters realize he is the only candidate who will implement the changes that need to be made to save America from hyperinflation, Paul will be the only candidate left standing to take on Obama.

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism just released a study yesterday of 20 million tweets and it shows that Ron Paul is overwhelmingly viewed more positively on Twitter than all of the other Republican candidates:

After studying 20 million tweets, 55% of tweets about Ron Paul were positive while only 15% were negative. For every other Republican candidate, negative tweets outweighed positive tweets by two-to-one. The mainstream media loves Twitter and when Lindsay Lohan tweeted that she enjoyed NIA’s latest documentary, there were dozens of stories in the media about it. However, there was very little media coverage yesterday about the Pew Research Center’s findings.

Ron Paul also leads all of the other Republican candidates in Google searches. Paul is currently receiving 823,000 monthly searches on Google compared to Bachmann in second with 673,000 monthly searches and Perry in third with 550,000 monthly searches. Cain and Romney are both tied with only 246,000 monthly searches. Flavor of the month Gingrich who the media is now portraying as the potential new frontrunner has been receiving only 165,000 monthly searches, which shows that Gingrich really has no grassroots support and that his artificial support is being fueled by the mainstream media trying to manipulate the minds of voters.

Ron Paul in September won the California GOP Presidential straw poll, but it got almost no mention at all by the mainstream media. At around the same time, Herman Cain won the Florida GOP Presidential straw poll and it became the number one story on the news with the media declaring Cain a serious threat to win the nomination. If you search on Google for “Ron Paul” and “California straw poll winner” only 25,400 results appear. However, if you search on Google for “Herman Cain” and “Florida straw poll winner” you get 54,600 results.

Last night on FOX News, they kept airing commercials repeatedly for upcoming FOX News segments about Perry and what he is doing to get back into the race with Romney and Gingrich. Perry has no chance of recovering from his current support on Intrade of 2.1%. In a recent GOP debate, Perry copied both Ron Paul and NIA by talking about branches of the government that he claims he wants to eliminate. The only problem is, Perry forgot the branches of government. It became clear to all watching the debate that Perry is merely trying to recite lines that he has memorized and is not a real Presidential candidate. Paul has been talking about eliminating many branches of government for decades and when Paul speaks, you can tell he is a real genuine candidate who speaks for himself and means what he says. Perry is just a parrot and if he were elected, he would not follow through with anything he has been attempting to say.

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I just had to reply to “Ray’s” post on Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011 6:22 PM (EST), who said: “I wonder if Newt believes the wine and the bread are actually transformed into the body and blood of Jesus? I am so amazed that seemingly intelligent people believe in this scientific impossibility with no proof.  Also, Catholics do not believe in faith alone for salvation, but feel the need to add works to it (Luther’s main issue with the catholics).  I wonder if Newt is aware of this fact?  Most of his reasons were not based on any facts, but all he discussed were his “feelings” when he experienced certain events. It’s not like him to forget facts! And I wonder if he is ok with the “Mary worship” and the non-Biblical idea that she herself was conceived of a virgin?  Making the switch from Southern Baptist to Catholicism requires one to give up on a lot of basic doctrinal positions and accept some rather foreign ones (foreign to a Southern Baptist, and to Scripture in my opinion.) I wonder if Newt now believes Luther was wrong? It appears to me that Newt was never a devout Southern Baptist based on his reasons for converting to Catholicism.”

First, it is always interesting to hear a protestant talk about transubstantiation being a “scientific impossibility”.  By that standard, none of Christ’s miracles, nor the resurrection itself, could have occurred. With God all things are possible, and furthermore, it is clear Ray has no concept of accidents versus substance.  So to answer your question, Ray, I am confident Newt believes it.

Second, you’re right Ray “Catholics do not believe in faith alone for salvation.”  I guess that’s due to the teaching of Christ, as evidenced by, among other things, that pesky pericope in James 2 “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him?...So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself…But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” Scripture itself condemns the idea of being saved by faith alone Ray “Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only?”  James 2:24. 

Third, Ray wonders if Gingrich “is ok with the “Mary worship” and the non-Biblical idea that she herself was conceived of a virgin?”  Well I am sure he is not ok with either of those concepts as the Church teaches neither.  Mary conceived of a virgin? I never even heard of that one.  I think you’re terribly confused Ray (although I sensed your confusion from the entirety of your post, not just from this particular solecism).

Fourth, Ray wonders “if Newt now believes Luther was wrong?”, to which I say: Girlfriend, even Luther now thinks Luther was wrong, so get with he program!

Doesn’t seem to me Newt would have become Catholic to boost his political career, they are one of the two groups of people it’s still ok to hate. (the other being smokers.) As a convert, I’ve experienced first hand the prejudice that exists against Catholics. The root of much of this hatred that I’ve experienced and that I see here in these comments seems to have it’s roots in the irrational rants of this man: http://www.catholic.com/documents/the-nightmare-world-of-jack-t-chick

I would like to know which parish Newt,s attends For a church who is so against divorce it hurts me to see you embrace him

Christians will vote for Gingrich because they believe in the forgiving repentant sinners.

Jewish people will vote for Gingrich because they have had King David who was a repentant sinner who became the greatest Jewish King of all.

But the GOP electorate will reject Gingrich because the Republican Party is the party of virtue, of family values, of clean-living, of discipline, etc.  For all Obama’s faults and failures, he wins over Gingrich hands down on these issues.  At the confessional, a thief is required to return his loot before he’s given absolution.

I’m a Republican but will not vote for Gingrich - even though he is a forgiven sinner - unless the gives up Callista.  Voting for him would be like voting for a forgiven thief as treasurer who gets to keep his loot even as he denounces his crime.

Just wondering if Mr. Gingrich went through an anulment tribunal trial for either of his first 2 marriages?

Religion is powerful. It can move a lot of people. Thanks for this wonderful story.

I thank GOD that you are HIS son andmy brother. YHWH bless and keep you and your loved ones now and for ever.

I AM AMAZED AT THE GRACES ALMIGHTY GOD GIVES TO MEN OF GOOD WILL.
I WANT TO THANK SPEAKER GINGRICH FOR SHARING WITH US THIS LOVELY GRACE.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.I AM SURE THAT YOUR SHARING OF THIS CONVERTION WILL HELP OTHERS THAT ARE STILL THINKING,AND MAKE A DISITION.
GOD BLESS YOU AND AMERICA.

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