The rest can haul ass
After years of reading about various individuals who have converted to Catholicism... and those who have left The Church, I've decided to post some names here.
Can you guess which group is which?
Phil Donahue; Martin Luther; George Carlin; Madonna; Sinead O'Connor; Tim Robbins and his mom, Susan Sarandon; Henry VIII; Tom Cruise; Joan "Hangers" Crawford; Boy George; John Travolta; Madeline Albright.
John Wayne; J.R.R. Tolkien; Gov. Jeb Bush; Buffalo Bill Cody; Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman; Malcolm Muggeridge; Judge Robert Bork; G.K. Chesterton; Gen. James Longstreet; Kit Carson; Sir Alec Guinness; Doc Holliday; Sen. Sam Brownback; Justice Clarence Thomas.
Which group would you like to have over for a beer and some barbeque?
By the way, feel free to add some names to either category.
Add to the wouldn't-invite-to-a- BBQ-unless-she-came-with-a-firm- sense-of-resolution: Katie ("I abandoned the One True Church to marry a Scientologist midget") Holmes.
ReplyDeleteAnother great convert - Norma McCorvey ("Roe" of Roe v. Wade), who now fights against abortion (God be praised!)
ReplyDeleteHey, give a shout out to Dorothy Day (founder of the Catholic Worker), Thomas Merton (famed Trappist philosopher), and Scott and Kimberly Hahn (noted Catholic theologians and apologists)!!!!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the family! A large dysfunctional one, at best, but it's okay, because kind and loving Abba watches over us all!
Tom Cruise keeps getting involved with Catholic women. There may be hope for him yet.
ReplyDeleteMy Brother-in-law Ronnie, who really had no religion, came from a broken family, and so loved my nutty but wonderful sister-in-law that he became Catholic, and is one of the most genuine people I have ever met.
ReplyDeletehe may not be famous....but he should be.
Here is another small sample:
ReplyDeleteMortimer Adler
Robert Bork
Kit Carson
Gary Cooper
Catherine Doherty
Dietrich von Hildebrand
Oscar Wilde
Jacques Maritain
Malcolm Muggeridge
Robert Novak
Walker Percy
J. R. R. Tolkien
Gene Wolfe
oh and about eight percent of the bloggers in St. Blogs.
As for the other list:
George Carlin
Matthew Fox
Tim Robbins
Though unfortunately Michael Moore is still with us.
Here are a few more for the bottom list:
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Ann Seton, John Henry Newman, Edith Stein, Ronald Knox, Evelyn Waugh, Scott Hahn, Kimberly Hahn,David Goldstein, James Akin,Sir Joseph Pope,Jacques Maritain, Karl Stern.
Throw in Catherine De Hueck Doherty with the "cool" group...
ReplyDeleteOne correction: Justice Thomas is actually a revert...he had fallen away to Episcopalianism for a time, but came back...
Thanks for the heads-up, Dave.
ReplyDeleteI read that Justice Thomas was born into a Baptist family, but converted to Catholicism in his youth. And he did leave The Church and flirted with "Charismatic Episcopalianism" (I guess that's an Episcopalian who orders his meal in French), but when he came home to The Church, he embraced Traditional Catholicism.
But then again... you very well may be right!
Great idea for a post, some other great converts to the RCC include...
ReplyDeleteE. Hemmingway, ok maybe not always the most moral guy but he had great respect for the Church and clergy.
King Clovis, who brought the Franks into the Church.
Did the poet Milton convert?
People who left the Church...
Dennis Leary, Adolph Hitler, Voltare,
Future converts, I am going to predict both George W. Bush and Tony Blair convert somtime after they retire.
Check out my list of reverts.
ReplyDeleteI heard that Bob Hope converted (prior to his death) since his wife was a practicing Catholic...Is that true??
ReplyDeleteActually, Vlad the Impaler (i.e., the real life Dracula) was a convert to Catholicism. We've always found that to be pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteUm, I wouldn't shout out General Sherman from the rooftops. He's not one to be proud of, by any means.
ReplyDeleteAs for Justice Thomas, I can confirm that he was actually a seminarian at Conception, Missouri prior to his falling-away. He is not really a "traditionalist" now, just a fairly conservative NO. I'm told by someone who would know that, while the ordination of Scalia's son was one of the factors that brought him home, Thomas hasn't followed Scalia over to Old St. Mary's.
Laura Ingraham is another prominent conservative convert. Don't know if anyone mentioned her.
ReplyDeleteOh, and so is the former mayor of some small town in Virginia. ;)
Oscar Wilde? I'm afraid I was always very sympathetic with Chesterton's comment: "Oscar Wilde says we cannot thank God for sunsets. This is not true. We can thank God for sunsets by not being Oscar Wilde."
ReplyDeleteAnd while Dorothy Day was a very nice lady, can we give her back? Please?