Rick Santorum Takes on Jihadism, Showing Moral Coherence and Political Courage

By Deacon Keith Fournier
3/16/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Rick Santorum is a man of courage in an age of cowardice

Santorum does not separate social and economic issues. He is comfortable in his skin and has the communications skills and intelligence required of a leader. Any candidate for the Presidency who hopes to win in 2012 must be an effective communicator. He or she will be contending with President Barack Obama, whose oratory in the last election seemed to mesmerize people. His opponent must be articulate, inspiring and unafraid.

Former Senator Rick Santorum

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CHESAPEAKE, VA. (Catholic Online) - I have long admired former Senator Rick Santorum. I was in the Senate Chamber years ago when he defended our first neighbors in the womb against being partially delivered only to have their heads crushed through the infanticide called "partial birth abortion." He spoke with passion, confronting the empty words of an opponent who defended the brutal procedure. Pointing to a picture of a baby being delivered he shouted "This is a baby Senator!" At that very moment a baby cried, filling the chamber with the sounds of life. The Senator delivered the most poignant defense of life I had ever heard.

Over the years, our paths have crossed. He has only improved with age as a communicator. His plenary address at the Catholic Leaders Conference two years ago was outstanding. His willingness to take questions and give solid yet spontaneous answers added to the presentation. He is comfortable in his skin and has the communications skills and intelligence required of a leader. Any candidate for the Presidency who hopes to win in 2012 must be an effective communicator. He or she will be contending with President Barack Obama, whose oratory in the last election seemed to mesmerize people. His opponent must be articulate, inspiring and unafraid.

On September 12, 2010 we marked the fiftieth anniversary of the address given by then Senator John F. Kennedy to the Houston Ministerial alliance. In that speech he laid out an approach to the role of religious faith which resulted in "privatizing" the truths informed by faith. He failed to acknowledge the existence of a Natural Law which can be known by all men and women through the exercise of reason and which is meant to govern our life together in Society. In anticipation of this anniversary, Senator Santorum gave a speech in Houston on September 9, 2010 entitled "Charge to Revive the Role of Faith in the Public Square."

In that speech he exposed the Kennedy Mistake and offered another model for Catholic political participation, one which is authentically Catholic. The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a clear directive instruction in 2002 entitled a "Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life." It called upon Catholics to be "morally coherent" in the exercise of their citizenship. In an age when many Catholics in public life have not been morally coherent, Rick Santorum stands out as an exception.

We are living under what Pope Benedict XVI called a "Dictatorship of Relativism" in the West. The culture stumbles, drunken on the false notion of freedom as giving some people a "right" to kill the innocent, divorced from norms to guide the exercise of human choice and govern our behavior. When there is nothing objectively true which can be known by all and form the basis of our common life then there is no basis for real freedom. Instead, we teeter on the brink of anarchy.

Senator Santorum's speech in Houston was a breath of fresh air. In an age of political sound bites and jingoism, he offered intelligent and impassioned reflection. I identified with his introductory remarks, "Three pictures hung in the home of my devoutly Catholic immigrant grandparents when I was a boy and I remember them well -- Jesus, Pope Paul VI and John F. Kennedy. The president was a source of great pride and a symbol to Catholics that all barriers had finally been broken."

I grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts and we had the same three pictures in our home. I vividly remember the fateful day when President Kennedy was assassinated. I was traumatized. I kept a scrapbook in which I collected newspaper articles, and photos concerning it. My mother kept it for me. She also gave me a card made up marking the day of his funeral with a prayer for the repose of his soul. She wrapped it in Saran wrap and I have it to this day. There certainly was, and to some degree still is, a "Kennedy Mystique."

The Nation's first Catholic President made a serious error in that Houston speech which unleashed tragic results. In Senator Santorum's words, "Fifty years ago JFK delivered a speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association to dispel suspicions about the role the papacy might play in the government of this country under his administration. Let's make no mistake about it -- Kennedy was addressing a real issue at the time. Prejudice against Catholics threatened to cost him the election. But on that day, Kennedy chose not just to dispel fear, he chose to expel faith." John F. Kennedy laid the groundwork for the advance of what the venerable John Paul II called the ...

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1 - 10 of 27 Comments

Meowth
2 years ago
Oh please nominate Santorum. Obama would win for sure. Also, just a word of warning to anyone voting GOP, to win a presidential election, you need moderate swing votes and Santorum is far more conservative than Obama is liberal.
Eddie
2 years ago
Mark M, You need to move on. You have it wrong - Jesus came to save the sinner! You have chosen to be very selective in your reasons for Jesus coming just as I suspect you choose to define good and evil absent any thing the inspired word of the Holy Spirit has provided. No doubt we are urged by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere in the inspired word to engage in corporal and spiritual works of mercy for the sake of our love for his Father. We Catholics take this charge for seriously and devote time, talent and treasure to follow the inspired word! I am sure in your own mind you are in a better place intellectually now that you have put yourself above those of us who still cling to our faith tradition.
Mark M
2 years ago
I finally agree with Santorum on something. I've always disliked his anti-Catholic ideals of favoring rich people, favoring corporations and ignoring the plights of all those Jesus came to save (poor, hungry and those needing the communal help of the Church). But for ones I agree with his assessment of the deadly nature of the cult of islam. I would say this cult is horrible to women, but really they are horrible to anyone. Im not sure who they hate more, outsiders or their own people.

And at some point someone needs to put a dictionary in front of a moslem to show them the correct definition of the owrd martyr. Its not mass murderer just because they die in the process or every murder-suicide would be deified.
vance
2 years ago
Bruce Barron, great post and very well written. Your post hit the proverbial nail on the head. It scares me to see the Liberal complacency about Islam as if it is another Protestant church. We have had 2 car bomb attempts and a shooting at Ft Hood already. The New York car bomber told the Court Judge that there will be plenty more where he came from. Recent TV news reported an Islamic father murdering his daughter to conform to sharia law.
Bruce Barron
2 years ago
Islam,with or without Sharia Law,is absolutely and totally incompatible with Christianity and Western Culture.There is no meeting ground.
Sharia Law is incompatible with our Constitution which John Paul 2 called a natural law document..
As far as the word allah is concerned it may represent some single god but it is a pagan god and not the God of the Jews and Christians.
St.Thomas Aquinas in writing the "Summa Contra Gentiles" had these Islamic pagans in mind.
There is nothing rational about Islam.The entire culture is incompatible with the culture of every nation and tolerates nothing but Islam.
Islam will stop at nothing to attain its goals even converting to Christianity.It will resort to deception. The term allah is nowhere in Hebrew or Aramaic Biblical texts.
Apparently Vatican 2 called Islam one of the 3 monotheistic religions. It may be monotheistic but it's monotheism is with a totally singular god having nothing to do with Judaism or Christianity.
Whether all Moslems are jihadist at heart I cannot answer.Hopefully the Moslems that have come here was to escape Sharia Law but if in the majority would they return to jihadism?
Islam cannot be assimulated into Western Culture but would like to assimulate the world into its system.
The very idea that they claim the right to exercise Sharia Law in this country exposes them for what they are and their intentions.History reveals it quite well.
The Jihadist pose a threat to our way of life,culture,and civilization and are not to tolerated.They would topple this government in a moment if they could.If they apply Sharia Law in their communities they are then to be tried under our laws.Sharia Law doesn't apply to American Moslems and where applied it is still irrational in nature and content.
If mosques are being used as fronts for jihadist terrorist cells then they should be treated as targets and destroyed. This amounts to spying.
The First Amenment cannot tolerate or protect lies that would undermine the welfare of this country.Islam is not a religion but a political system using the term religion as a veneer for veracity. Speech,after all, to be free must be truthful or the best possible opinion given the facts and infomation available.Sometime opinions must be arrived at very quickly. The opinion is thus the best possible decision that can be arrived at taking everything known into consideration.
There is no truth in jihadism, Islam,or Sharia Law.So it certainly exists and must exist as a bold face lie.
vance
2 years ago
Grimes, Everett, Nestor, mgm, Rob, Your Dear Leader has scored again. Today's news reveal that Food price have inflated to a 36 year high. Housing starts plummeted 22%. Jobless numbers continue to go up. How's that Hope and Change working for you guys? It's NOT working for the unemployed and the poor. Gaddaffi is safe at home plate with your Dear Leader, BUT he says he will not sell us any oil for Obama dissing him. The Rebels say they won't sell us any oil either if they take control because of Obama. Your Dear Leader is a great foreign policy maker.
AvantiBev
2 years ago
Anthony writes: "Catholics confronting global poverty are uniting on March 15 to call on their members of Congress to stop balancing the budget on the backs of our brothers and sisters in Haiti, Sudan and around the world. Proposed cuts to poverty-focused international assistance will cost lives."

Balancing? We Anericans are so many trillions over budget due to both parties profligate spending and promising a chicken in every pot, that we are no where near balancing. Of course we can always just tax old Bev more or we can print money even faster than we are now and then bemoan the poverty that will come to all our citizens when the resulting inflation wipes out their savings and investments. For 55 years, I have heard my fellow Catholics define "charity" as picking my Daddy's and my pockets, distributing the money on this or that ineffective "poverty program", arts subsidy, etc., and then congratulating themselves on THEIR charity.

Like Charlie Sheen, there are far too many ADDICTS in our nation. They are addicted to the worst drug of all: taxpayer provided "booty" (and I don't care if that word does not comport with the New New Bible translation.) Whine and moan and thrash around all you want --- from Wisconsin to Washington DC -- IT'S WITHDRAWAL TIME, folks.
Theresa
2 years ago
If you want to get to know Rick Santorum, listen to him every Friday on AM Talk Radio (AM 860 in St. Pete, FL) when he hosts the Bill Bennett Talk Radio Show from 6-9AM. Rick Santorum is among the few good men around. His position on all the life issues is impeccable and anyone who thinks he is not for aid to the poor and needy only listens to biased news and not to the man, himself, on all the issues....And, yes, his "fruit," too, is as good as it gets in this day and age.
vance
2 years ago
Deacon Fournier, another great article. I love how Santorum challenges Kennedy's push to drive religion from the public square. I remember it quite well. Kennedy's Catholicism was the same as Pelosi's today. Like Pelosi he called himself a Catholic only when it was politically expedient. I can understand why Grimes, Everett, Nestor, and mgm gag when they read about someone who promotes Christianity and Christian culture. It assaults their Marxist sensitivities. The Death Culture and Christianity mix like oil and water.
minoria
2 years ago
My Friends:

We must know what information to give to show other non-Muslims and even Muslims that the Koran itself,the heart of Islam,is extremist.In the following article I have written the more than 12 EXTREMIST PASSAGES in the Koran that are of UNIVERSAL APPLICATION.I ask people to read it not out of vanity but because the information is VITAL:

http://www.antisharia.com/2011/03/14/about-the-argument-of-diversity-in-islam-and-the-extremist-passages-in-the-koran-2/

EXTRA INFO FOR A CHRISTIAN(to fortify your faith)

Did you know that the way several passages in the OT are written LITERALLY give us the NAMe of the MESSIAH,which is YESHUA or Jesus?They are 2 in Isaiah,2 in Jeremiah,2 in Zechariah:

http://www.avraidire.com/2010/04/the-old-testament-says-the-messiahs-name-is-yeshua-jesus/

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