Did Bono swim the Tiber?

June 30, 2005 By

Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard — who is not famous because of his sources in the world of rock ‘n’ roll — recently (a) broke a big story without knowing it or (b) made the kind of picky mistake that U2 fans get hot and bothered about. I am wondering if anyone else out there spotted this and can tell me whether the reference is accurate or not.

So what is the story?

Bono grew up in Dublin with a Protestant mother and a Catholic father, which is a big thing if one is Irish. U2 grew out of friendships in a Protestant high school. Very early on, several members of the band became active Christians in the context of a charismatic house church (check out October), a very free and non-starched form of free-church Protestantism.

It is hard to stick a label on Bono’s faith these days, but he is usually assumed to be a member of the progressive evangelical camp. I know that the band remains close (he joins them on tour from time to time) with the evangelical Anglican who was the chaplain at their high school.

Nevertheless, Barnes made this reference in a recent story titled “Pro Bono: The president and the singer make common cause on Africa” that jumped out at me:

Bush has twice invited Bono to the Oval Office to discuss Africa. The first meeting, in 2002, was joined by several White House aides and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Catholic leader in Washington. Bono is a Catholic.

Now that’s a major story and I have not seen a reference anywhere else.

Yes, that rosary that you see around Bono’s neck came from Pope John Paul II and the singer is as comfortable quoting Catholic sources as evangelical. That’s the rosary that, when the pope died, Bono hung over his microphone stand under a solo spotlight as a quiet tribute.

Still, has anyone out there heard of Bono actually swimming the Tiber?

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Filed Under: Catholicism, Evangelicals, Music
About tmatt

Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service.

  • http://idlemendacity.blogspot.com JB

    I think Bono sees himself as beyond labels (Catholic/Protestant). That’s the vibe I’ve gotten from him all these years.

  • http://rightasusual.blogspot.com Linda F

    I would doubt that he is Catholic. The rosary use would tell you that, at least. The rosary is not jewelry, which a practicing Catholic should know (Madonna notwithstanding).

  • http://victorysoap.us/ Andrea Harris

    Bono wears lots of different kinds of crosses. (People keep giving them to him, for one thing.) He was a fan of the late Pope like a lot of non-Catholics were. He’s said a lot of things against “organized religion” as opposed to inclusive, cross-all-the-boundaries, “we don’t need all these house rules” spirituality — a standard ideological position of Christians of his age and peer group. Of course, he’s rather reticent about his personal faith for all that, but I think that if he’d actually officially become Catholic his legions of fans (of which I am one) would have heard something about it now.

    By the way, it’s odd the way that statement — “Bono is a Catholic” — is just dropped in there. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the subject of the article or even the rest of the paragraph its in — there is no corresponding “Bush is a Methodist” or “Condoleeza Rice is a Southern Baptist” or anything like that. The article isn’t comparing the various denominations of the people it talks about. Bono’s Catholic-ness or lack thereof has no bearing on the rest of the story. I don’t get it.

  • Tex

    I believe he is Church of Ireland. At least he was a few years ago.

  • Nick B

    I think that Bono keeps his own religious affiliations (if he really even has any) private, sort of the way he never identifies himself with any political parties. He has said he likes to avoid that kind of attachment so he doesn’t alienate anyone. But I had heard from a couple places he had become Catholic in recent years… who cares, he will always be cool.

  • http://u2sermons.blogspot.com Beth

    One word: no. But it’s a very common mistake simply because he’s Irish.

  • http://u2sermons.blogspot.com Beth

    By the way, I should have added this: as long as we’re talking about conversions, why hasn’t Adam Clayton’s becoming a Christian gotten any press?

  • Dave Roberts

    He’s a massive fan of Phillip Yancey if thats any clue to his affiliation. ‘Bono on Bono’ – recently published doesn’t suggest antipathy to Catholicism, but it doesn’t suggest an embrace either. He talks in some depth of his evangelical roots

  • http://confessingevangelical.blogspot.com John H

    I think someone probably just got a bit confused. Maybe they were mistaking him for *Sonny* Bono? :-)

    (See: http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-roman-catholics)

  • tmatt

    Lots of interesting commentary on this over at the obvious place — Amy’s Open Book:

    http://amywelborn.typepad.com/openbook/2005/06/did_bono_swim_t.html#comments

  • peggy

    Uh! Wha???

    Adam??? Becoming a Christian????

    When? Where did you hear about it? Do you have a link?

    The last I heard, he was comfortable as the agnostic of the group and that was as late as several months ago, I think.

  • peggy

    BTW,

    Who is the evangelical Anglican chaplain that they are so close to? I thought I knew everything about U2 but apparently I didn’t know this.

  • peggy

    PS

    I am also quite surpirsed to hear there are any evangelical Anglicans in the Republic. Most of the churches seemed like they were either closed or damn near dead when I was living there.

    But I wasn’t an church going Anglican then, so maybe I got the wrong impression?

  • AlyD

    I’m intelligent enough to deduce that “swim the Tiber” means converting to Catholicism, but where does the phrase come from?

  • http://u2sermons.blogspot.com Beth

    Peggy, re Adam Clayton: it became public with the “Bono: In Conversation” (=”Bono on Bono” in the UK) book that came out a few months ago. It will be in Steve Stockman’s revised edition of “Walk On” as well.

  • http://www.noeticflatulence.net joseph

    The Tiber River is next to Rome. So “swimming the Tiber” has come to mean converting to Roman Catholicism.

  • http://www.buildchurches.org Jacob Lee

    Ireland has a growing evangelical movement. I am currently working with Churches in Ireland to help them grow. I have met the fellow that had Bono and the boys in his youth group– Chris Rowe and Chris has said that the Edge professes his Christian faith as well. The Church in Ireland is growing and exciting things are happening all over Ireland.

    By the way a large Evanglical Anglican Chruch in Dublin is http://www.Core.ie and there are others through out the country.

  • http://www.buildchurches.org Jacob Lee

    Visit http://www.buildchurches.com to see more evangelical Irish churches

  • Tom R

    Or maybe Edward de Bono?

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