Volume > Issue > Catholic Chic

Catholic Chic

GUEST COLUMN

By Richard Crepeau | April 2002
Richard Crepeau is Professor of History at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. This column previously appeared on PopPolitics.com.

Is it some sort of new chic?

Am I somehow suddenly “in”?

For some reason over the past several months there seems to have been a rash of people popping up “everywhere” who claim, and I emphasize “claim,” to have been “raised Catholic.” The most recent is the guy who played “Puddy” on Seinfeld, who made his confession to Terry Gross on Fresh Air.

Reading the newspaper, I discover politicians who were “raised Catholic.” Celebrities of all sorts from television, movies, or some esoteric branch of show business or the arts tell the world with a wink and a nod that they were “raised Catholic.” It seems to resonate with everyone. There seems to be an unspoken understanding of the precise meaning of this biographical fact.

Enjoyed reading this?

READ MORE! REGISTER TODAY

SUBSCRIBE

You May Also Enjoy

The Final Journey of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America & the Birthplace of St. Catherine Tekakwitha

The missionaries' love enabled them to long for martyrdom for the salvation of souls.

Briefly: March 1989

Reviews of Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition... Correspondence of Flannery O'Connor and the Brainard Che­neys... Patrology, Volume IV: The Gold­en Age of Latin Patristic Litera­ture... Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Exile and Return in the History of Ju­daism... The Ordeal of Civility: Freud, Marx, Levi-Strauss, and the Jew­ish Struggle with Modernity... Against the Protestant Gnostics... Marxism and Religion: A Descrip­tion and Assessment of the Marx­ist Critique of Christianity... Letters of Etienne Gilson to Hen­ri de Lubac... Letters of Marshall McLuhan... The Altruistic Personality: Res­cuers of Jews in Nazi Europe... First Steps in Prayer

We Reap What We Sow

The perennial truths about marriage, motherhood, fatherhood, and children in 'Little Women' reflect the accumulated wisdom of Western civilization and Christian culture.