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 Family: The Center of Civilization

The family preserves and perpetuates those manners, morals, and ideals that are true yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

A Victim of Spiritual Poverty

I know a successful businessman who is a victim of spiritual poverty, and some materially impoverished people I’ve met are spiritually affluent.

For Whom the Bells Toll Not

A bell must be rung with human hands, and ring into something, and it depends on a landscape and a faithful body of hearers for its fulfillment.