Posts Tagged ‘Santorum’

It may seem a stretch to some but if Rick Santorum won the Iowa caucuses through the support of Evangelical voters then he owes a small part of that to a Canadian, the late Richard John Neuhaus.

There was a time when a Catholic, like Santorum, could not count on the support of Evangelicals. That changed thanks to people like Father Neuhaus.

Fr. Neuhaus, was born and raised in the Ottawa Valley and never lost his Canadian connection. The author, editor and Catholic priest passed away in 2009 but was once named by Time Magazine as one of the most influential Evangelicals in America.

In 1994 Neuhaus, who was founder and editor of First Things, joined together with Chuck Colson to bring about Evangelicals and Catholics Together. The statement was an attempt to call for a common witness between the two most dynamic forces in American Christianity at the time.

While the document never dealt with theological differences between the two camps it did begin a process of Catholics and Evangelicals finding common ground in other areas, including in the political field.

I don’t know if Santorum will do much after Iowa, we’ll see if his fundraising and organization will grow but he has shown that the choice is between more than Romney the moderate and Paul the libertarian.