Santorum attends the Novus Ordo in Latin, and has attracted vibrant young people including Evangelical Christians to manage his campaign

Blimey! Is it conceivable that a ‘Traddie’ will be the next president of America, and go with his kids to live in The White House? There can only be one person that fits the description of goes-to-a-Mass-in-Latin, home schools six of his seven kids, and is also running for president: Rick Santorum. The question is; might he home-school in The White House? Until recently, conservative Catholic Santorum has been under the radar. And in all honesty, when I heard a description of him I thought, ‘that can’t be, there must be some mistake, no one who is Catholic-of-a-traditional-mindset and totally pro-life could ever even think of becoming the president of America!’ Like a lot of ‘Traditional Catholics’, I endure my Holden-Caulfield’esque inferiority complex and I often think that the highest positions in politics are somehow off-limits to us devout Catholics. Thank you, Santorum, for proving me and your cynics wrong.

There is something mesmerising about Santorum: is it the perceived absence of spin? He’s not a Svengali, who manipulates his public reputation by deceiving a vast group of people that he believes what they believe. He’s not a spin-master who mixes his words to be accepted by one audience, but says the opposite to the next group he addresses. The scary thing about him for his opposition: he believes what he says. I’ve heard this is called integrity.

I agree with Linen On The Hedgerow that even his name, Santorum, sounds ‘Latiney’.
It is true that Santorum attends a Novus Ordo Mass in Latin, at St Catherine of Siena’s in Great Falls, Virginia. This is a Solemn High Latin Mass, very much like the one at The London Oratory on Sunday at 11am. But it is not the Tridentine Mass, according the the Missal of 1962. I am not saying that I hold it against Santorum for not attending the Tridentine Mass; I merely and humbly point out a fact that I gleaned from my research. A quick look at this directory shows that the Mass Santorum attends is a Novus Ordo Mass which happens to be in Latin. This rather flies in the faces of all the people who are writing miles online that Santorum is ‘behind the times’ because of he attends ‘the Old Mass’. If they are so intent on critiquing Santorum, they might as well get the facts about which Mass he attends correct.

I may have the opportunity to discuss the Catholic Mass with Santorum in greater detail. I am currently chasing Rick Santorum for an interview. I’ve chatted with the young campaigners who have committed to ‘get in the vote for Santorum’. These squadrons of newby college graduates are answering the phones; begging for donations; and doing all the nitty-gritty office work. And are they Catholics and singing from the same hymn sheet as Santorum? No, a lot of them are Evangelical Christians, and they sound 100 percent behind Santorum. One very polite chap that I spoke to, Charles, said to me, ‘Mizz Reagan ma’am, I’m a Protestant, but I fully support Rick Santorum, a Catholic, he’s definitely Catholic, that’s clear for everyone to see. And as a Protestant, I invite you to support us. Thank you for calling Rick Santorum for president.’ Santorum’s campaign managers who answer the phone know that I’m not a voter in the US. They know that as a simple journalist, I do not have mega-bucks to donate to the campaign. Yet, their spirit of enthusiasm and their joyful voices are infectious. You can compensate someone to sit by a phone, but you cannot pay someone to have genuine optimism and verve in their voice. There is something noteworthy in the joyful spontaneous way that the campaigners encourage you to support their candidate Santorum.

I read a ton of tomes about the 2008 US presidential election. And one key reason cited for why the Republicans lost was: ‘hired guns’. Instead of energetic, wholeheartedly-dedicated bodies manning the phones, there were ‘hired guns’ who were there to collect a pay check and who didn’t know or endorse the campaign’s manifesto. They didn’t have requisite passion for the candidates to impart to the voters.  Everyone from hacks working on small newspapers to John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, prize-winning authors of Race of a Lifetime, blamed the Republican defeat, on the sheer lack of idealistic, committed people. On the contrary, in 2012, Santorum, a practising Catholic, has attracted sincere, bright young people to his cause. If Santorum succeeds in becoming the Republican presidential candidate; his young, passionate staffers could yet make all the difference in the end.