Famous Catholics

[Donna_Mc]

The star of Bella - Eduardo Verastegui - an excellant example of a great Catholic!

www.bellathemovie.com

 

[JPUSC]

Pete Carroll
Matt Leinart
Tom Brady
Brett Farve
Mike Sweeney

Madonna is Catholic?
What a hypocrit.

Madonna is Kabbalah.

 

[JPUSC]

Madonna is Catholic?
What a hypocrit.

Madonna is Kabbalah, LOL.

 

[LilyM]

Let’s kickstart your list with Former UK prime minister Tony Blair and UK member of parliament for Maidstone Ann Widdecombe. I’m sure there will be a few more exciting members of the list as it develops

Hmm, saw him and Cherie in my church here in Sydney the other weekend, that was pretty exciting

I assume you mean contemporary, non-priest or Religious.

Martin Sheen won some award for his Catholic representation – he came back to the Church after a long absence I read in my Diocesan newspaper.

He played a priest in a film, ‘Gospa’, about the alleged apparitions in Medjugorje. :getholy:

 

[tambourine]

I find it’s strange that Andy Warhol was a catholic considering how the factory was a place for homosexuals, drugs, and ruining young women such as Edie Sedgwick =/

Mary Pickford converted to christian science… I don’t think I know what christian science is. Can someone explain?

Steven Colbert, Bill O’reilly are both catholics! =D

And so was Oscar Wilde.

 

[albertziggy]

Hi:

Why not mention Catholics who are in ‘good standing’

I can name two: Perry Como and Alec Guiness aside from Mel Gibson, Martin Sheen and Jim Caviezel.

albertziggy

 

[Crimsonflyboy]

John F. Kennedy of course, the only Catholic US President.

 

[Ciaran_Butler]

Pope John Paul II is also a famous Catholic! and lets not forget Mother Angelica from EWTN!

 

[Lion_of_Narnia]

James Bowie–and about 50 some other Hero’s of the Alamo (mostly Tejanos–Texans of Mexican extraction)

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Of course Martin Luther, Henry VII etc were Catholics.

 

[Ciaran_Butler]

Of course Martin Luther, Henry VII etc were Catholics.

Yes these two were Catholics before they founded their own churches which brings a question to mind.

Was John Calvin Catholic before he founded the Calvinist Church?

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Yes these two were Catholics before they founded their own churches which brings a question to mind.

And after founding their own ecclesial communities [to use the in vocablulary ]. the rule seems to be “once a Catholic, always a Catholic; unless one makes a formal renunciation.” I don’t think they did. [Just nit-picking].

 

[augustinophile]

Anne Rice is a practicing Catholic!

 

[CHRISTINE77]

It’s weird that John Travolta was Catholic before he became a Scientologist. I always think Scientology when I hear his name.

 

[JesuXPIPassio]

Who are they?

Wow… that’s quite a broad question. One in six people of the world today is a Catholic, and that’s a lot. That’s almost four times the population of the US.

Among them, you have the more devout. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is a Catholic convert, might actually become a Deacon. After the President of the United States, he might very well have been the second most powerful man in the world. He’s still very popular, and even though he’s not PM anymore, he’s still extremely prominent.

Of course there are also Catholics who aren’t in touch with the Church. The first Catholic to be nominated by a major party for US President was Al Smith (he lost because people were biased against Catholics at the time, which was why it was such a big thing when Kennedy came along). When Smith was asked what he thought of the then-Pope’s latest encyclical, his response was, “What the h*ll is an encyclical?”

If you wanna get a good idea of which famous Catholics were more devout, actually practising Catholics, it’s useful to look at a list of people who converted into Catholicism. There’s a Roman axiom that says that the most devout Catholics are converts, and in my experience, that’s quite true. Give this site a look en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_converted_to_Catholicism

Some prominent ones that might interest you:
-John Wayne
-Frances Shand Kydd (mother of Diana, Princess of Wales; this is interesting because her grandson, Prince William, will one day become the head of the Church of England, yet his grandmother was a Catholic convert; in the British system, Catholics aren’t allowed to become king or queen)
-Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House
-Bob Hope (if I remember right, though, it wasn’t even known he became a Catholic until he died and Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles did his funeral)
-Bob Novak (you’ll know him if you happen to pay attention to politics)

Mehmet Ali Agca (the guy who tried to kill John Paul II) says he wants to become a Catholic)

Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey, Sr., and his son Senator Bob Casey, Jr., are not converts into Catholicism, both having been born into the Church. I point them out because they were both Democrats, yet they are pro-life. In fact, Governor Casey was denied the chance to speak at the Party Convention because he didn’t support abortion. In the current healthcare debate, there are House members who don’t want to support the upcoming healthcare bill because of the abortion aspects of it. I haven’t been in the US all year so all I can watch is CNN International, but in at least how CNN International covers it, they don’t stress enough that there is actually a growing number of pro-life liberals. I wish people would be made aware of that better. I’m a pro-life Democrat myself.

Also check out this page
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_Roman_Catholics

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I think it was Father Groeschel that said the Mormons are the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints; Catholics are the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Sinners.

 

[blueonblue82]

I think it was Father Groeschel that said the Mormons are the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints; Catholics are the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Sinners.

HA! I love this! Might have to make a new signature…

 

[choy]

Conan O’Brien mentioned he was catholic. but sometimes i feel he has lapsed, i hear more Jewish stuff from him now. maybe Max Weingberg and Andy Richter pushed him into it, i dunno

 

[djeter]

Thomas Merton’s early years gave no clue as to the vast richness of spirit and intellect he would develop through out his life and share through his writings. He was the son of an itinerant painter, had an upbringing with little or no religious character, was a nondescript student, a rabble rouser… not even a Catholic… who at a point in his early manhood left the fast life of New York and knocked on the doors of a Kentucky monastary, to give over his life to austere celibacy and contemplation… and profound internal enrichment.

The Seven Story Mountain, his autobiography, has been compared to the Confessions of Augustine, but these books are of different timber. Merton’s is a story told at a personal level, of a spiritual journey in a modern context. It does not try to compete with Augustine’s intense intellectual and theological reasoning, preferring to dwell on the peace and joy of religious life, and more generally the meaning and responsibilities of all lives. You can’t read this book without being charmed and blessed by the proximity to this rare bit of humanity and devotion in our very secular and material age.”

I have used “On Becoming A Saint” and “The Death Of His Father: Suffering” in other posts. The former is one that Fr. Barron devotes a great deal of time to in “The Strangest Way”; the latter spoke to me profoundly on the value of faith and I have marshaled it as an argument in posts such as The False Gods of Expedient Mercy.

Reading selections follow. Tom Merton died in a freak accident in Thailand in 1967 but his influence on modern Catholic spirituality remains strong and if you’re not familiar with him, a good chance to catch up here:

payingattentiontothesky.com/2009/11/09/book-recommendation-the-seven-storey-mountain-thomas-merton/

dj

 

[choy]

how did i forget?

for all you boxing fans…

the new world record holder and one of the all-time best. 7 championships in 7 different weight divisions, a feat done by no other

Manny Pacquiao!

he’s a devout Catholic!

you will see during his matches, he kneels in prayer before he heads out of his locker room. he wears a rosary as a necklace until the match starts. he goes to the neutral corner of the ring once he gets on to kneel in prayer again. he makes a sign of the cross at the start of every round. he kneels in prayer again after the match ends at the neutral corner of the ring. and one of his crew puts back his rosary necklace on as they usually celebrate his victory (he hasn’t been defeated in years)

here he is with famed trainer Freddie Roach. notice his rosary necklace