In the recent spurt of travel expense examinations of Congress, a juicy little tidbit surfaced about Little Ricky. He traveled to Rome in 2002 to give a speech at a University to pay tribute to the man who founded Opus Dei.
“The Rome university, which has trained hundreds of new priests, is the educational arm of Opus Dei. It traces its roots back to the Saint Josemaria Escriva, the Opus Dei founder whose life and subsequent canonization under Pope John Paul II has been shrouded in controversy. Indeed, Santorum’s 2002 trip — which got little attention in the post-9/11 haze — was to address of celebration of the 100th anniversary of Escriva’s birth. He was interviewed there by the National Catholic Reporter and said he was an admirer of Escriva — who is recorded as having whipped himself until the walls of a bathroom were splattered with blood and once wrote: “Blessed be pain. Loved be pain. Sanctified be pain…Glorified be pain!”
So, I guess Ricky likes a little pain with his politics… I think we should give it to him. Not one to pass up a microphone, he obviously blabbed quite a bit.
When in Rome, Santorum also disavowed John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 speech on the separation of church and state — the speech that is credited with helping to elect JFK as the first, and still the last, Roman Catholic president: He told NCR that a distinction between private religious conviction and public responsibility, enshrined in John Kennedy’s famous speech in 1960 saying he would not take orders from the Catholic church if elected president, has caused “much harm in America.” “All of us have heard people say, `I privately am against abortion, homosexual marriage, stem cell research, cloning. But who am I to decide that it’s not right for somebody else?’ It sounds good,” Santourm said. “But it is the corruption of freedom of conscience.”
Ricky then declared Geroge W Bush as the “…first Catholic president of the United States” !!!??? Is Opus Dei a threat? A lot of folks think that it is.
Opus Dei is a political and political powerhouse within the Roman Catholic Church. Beyond that, there is little upon which the group’s critics and supporters agree.
The most extreme opponents accuse Opus Dei of functioning as a cult and have even formed an Opus Dei Awareness Network. Certainly, the self-inflicted corporal punishment has raised many eyebrows.
So is Little Ricky a minion of this controversial extremist wing of the Catholic Church? He says no, but the signs say otherwise:
There are other threads in Santorum’s biography that suggest his Opus Dei ties are close indeed. In addition to the 2002 trip, it was reported in 2001 that Santorum was one of several Washington luminaries who received written permission to attend St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Great Falls, Va., a parish closely associated with Opus Dei.
Its pastor told the Washington Times in 2001 “a good number of Opus Dei members in the area attend his church because it is more conservative and sticks closer to traditional Catholic teachings.” Others who have attended the church include Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, former FBI chief Louis Freeh, and TV talking head Kate O’Beirne, the National Review’s Washington editor.
Well, Opus Dei wants desperately to dissolve the wall between church and state, and we know where Little Ricky stands on that issue. I had read an interesting article by Sidney Blumenthal via Truthout about ties between Bush and the new Pope. The article hinted strongly that Ratzinger (sorry, he’ll always be Ratzinger to me) is a proponent of the marriage of church and state. I posted the link on Kos; Blumenthal’s take was refuted by others in the thread. Now I’m not so sure that Mr Blumenthal got it wrong . here is the link to Attytood, where you can read the entire Santorum article, and I strongly urge that you read it… fascinating at best, damn frightening at worst. Little Ricky’s got to go.
Now I REALLY want him gone. I live in Pa and have already volunteered for Casey’s upcoming campaign. I’m looking forward to helping convince Little Ricky that he may be better suited for some other line of work. (like cleaning toilets on the freeway)
Antonin Scalia is a member too. I think at some point you are going to have the two branches of churches here in US come to a head. Prepare to duck.
On one hand, you have the Catholic heirarchy, a long history of Catholic suspicion among American Protestants, and chronic antagonism between protestants and Catholics. The situation in Ireland is a good example of how these things can play out. They will use each other as long as they can stand it, but evenutally, they will turn on each other.
We all know what a great guy Scalia is… if this is an example of the membership in Opus Dei, I can understand why it is so hated and feared around the world. It blew me away to find out that John Paul II raised Opus Dei’s founder, Josemaria Escriva, to sainthood!!!?? Catholic and Protestant extremists going after each other’s throats would be the logical ‘next step’ in America… I never thought of that before. I hope it never gets that far. I hope with all my heart that these wierdos and extremists are eventually forced back under the rocks they’ve crawled out from. They all make my skin crawl.
The thing that you need to keep in mind is that this is a war for power, they have a common enemy-communism, and anything that looks like communism. They are rabid leftist-haters and that includes progressives who stand in their way. So Opus Dei regardless of whether you appreciate conspiracy stuff or not, is an elitist organization, promotes anti-communist activity throughout the world, and basically reinforces hierarchal Church doctrine which is NOT progressive.
They are not going to let slip a bit of the power/control/money structure/whatever to just fade away, this is a fight for world conversion, dominance, power. It has gone on for centuries, and I suspect that it will continue. The backlash however is something we need to prepare for. We do not want to look like a Red China, so there needs to be an alternative that can provide security, diplomatic fair trade initiatives, and a safety valve against rising extremism. I argue not that progressives need to say uncle, but that their concerns about poverty, environmentalism, World Trade, neo-conservative economic policies need to be addressed in a way that alleviates accusations of extremism.
For example, on environmental policy, alliances between family groups, health care workers, cities that seek funding for cleanups from corporations, and enthusiast groups (fishing groups, birdwatchers, etc) need to find a unified front. It is easy for Republicans to target sporatic groups, and call them commies, but when alliances are made with more mainstream groups, it becomes harder to base claims on extremism.
So voting them out of political power here and there won’t have much of an effect, will it? Your thoughts are well thought out and make a lot of sense to me. Thank you for posting here, I’ve gained a new perspective on this and realize that I need to do some serious research.
Conservatism as an ideology has deep routes.
The trends where progress flourishes come from several factors-increased internationalism, grassroots involvement and consensus on local issues that benefit everyone, like urban renewal, clean water initiatives, economic stimulous (see progress in Mexico City since earthquake in early 90s)Rather, projects that target a specific group often fail.
My suggestion is that Democrats focus on projects locally that benefit the local community at large to build a reputation as earnest improvement-makers.
If every democratic mayor in every city, every democratic politician, senator,counselor, looked at their communities, and said okay we are going to fix this, then you have the beginnings of the buildup of a reputation.
Two big things stand out. Safety for children-and urban renewal. Many cutbacks in past years across the country has led to reduced crossing guards. With the kids in the news being stolen and attacked, this is the time to bring back funding for crossing guards in every small, midsized, and large city. Democratic mayors cannot lose on this.
Urban renewal- revitalization funds and grant prgrams with local banks, with the backing of city bonds.
Alas, the evil slime is my senator too. Folks around here (SE PA) are all talking about how much they want him gone in 2006.
Of course, I’d like to see a progressive replace him instead of Casey, but will vote for whoever the Dem nom is in the end.
Recommended.
Thanks, Cabin Girl. I also would rather see a progressive, but have decided that Casey probably has a better chance, so I’m throwing in with him. We need to weed out these religious extremists from our government one at a time.
You know, we regardless of who we support in the primary, we all have the same goal in the end. Let’s send old Man-on-Dog Santorum back to Virginia with his tail between his legs!
I almost spit my drink all over the screen for a couple of reasons (1) the picture was hilarious…and creepy; and (2) Santorum referring to Bush as the “First Catholic President”. I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK
I live in PA too and will be working against Santorum. Those Opus Dei sado-masochists make me sick.
IIRC, Opus Dei was very much the clerical adjunct and cheering section for Franco’s fascist regime in Spain. Their beleif system seems to rest on the conclusion that the Catholic Church’s mission is best served by promoting authoritarian political regimes.
Also, as an aside, Opus Dei came very close to being expelled from my University’s campus for promoting self mortification among student members. Maybe Protestants have weak stomachs, but the Dean of the Chapel was pretty pissed about the bloodstains on the floor where the OD boys would repeatedly drop to their knees during their services.
Moreover (adjust tinfoil hat) OD really wanted to get a house close to campus. Problem was, there were no houses close to Campus that weren’t already owned by the U. Except one, which was owned by a nice old lady who just wouldn’t sell:
Murder Mystery
Qui Bono
I am aware that at least two newspapers pulled articles linking OD to the murder after they were threatened with litigation.
Creepy mutual promotion societies suck!
Thank you for the info and for the links… unbelievable. I’m a neophyte when it comes to Opus Dei, and the more I’m learning, the creepier they seem.
“Opus Dei is also particularly known for its ties to the government of the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, whose Cabinet included many devout Opus Dei members.”
If they are capable of being supporters of dictators, they are certainly capable of murdering one old woman who wouldn’t sell. Poor Cissy Stuart. Scary stuff.