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

New Oxford Notes: March 2006

Be Fruitful & Multiply... Hollywood Celebrities & Other Celebrities... Rash Judgment Once Again... Do Our Troops "Support Our Troops"?... Surprise, Surprise... Targeting Muslims... Smooth as Silk

Letter to the Editor: September 1990

Vanauken: Disturbing... Vanauken: Exactly Right... Meaty & Thick Protestantism... Try John Milton... McGovern's Omission... Crossing Ideological Lines... Abortion: No Ordinary Sin... Examining the Mass Media

In Lawsuits He Trusts

Michael Newdow, the atheist who almost succeeded in having the words "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, is wielding his made-up church as a weapon in his legal battle against God.