{"id":16522,"date":"2012-09-03T10:51:10","date_gmt":"2012-09-03T16:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=16522"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:05:08","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:05:08","slug":"is-this-man-the-most-influential-catholic-in-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/09\/is-this-man-the-most-influential-catholic-in-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"Is this man the most influential Catholic in Washington?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He\u2019s retiring from his position with the USCCB\u2014and he could be one of the most important Catholics most people have never heard of.<\/p>\n

From the Washington Post:<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

For the typical American Catholic, seeing Cardinal Tim Dolan, the country\u2019s top bishop, give the closing prayer<\/a> at the GOP convention was the big political event of the summer. But for Catholics who know how the church really <\/em>operates in Washington, something far more significant went down last week: John Carr retired.<\/p>\n

For the past quarter-century, Carr has been the most important policy adviser to the country\u2019s Catholic bishops, their Karl Rove on everything from health care to clergy sex abuse. He describes himself as \u201ca 62-year-old, white, round, church bureaucrat,\u201d but Carr\u2019s career is a road map for how Catholicism and politics have mixed in Washington for a generation.<\/p>\n

The former seminarian has been lauded by U2 singer Bono for successfully pressing Third World debt relief on Capitol Hill and has challenged Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), a Catholic, for not demanding more financial sacrifice<\/a> from middle-class Americans in order to help the poor. When the head of the church\u2019s key mental-health facility for clergy was dying of AIDS in the late 1980s, Carr negotiated how to make the news public. When the Hill\u2019s top poverty advocates were desperate during last year\u2019s budget talks to save assistance programs for the poor, Carr led the effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so used to John being our leader,\u201d Rabbi David Saperstein, the Reform Jewish movement\u2019s longtime D.C. representative, said last week after describing what he called Carr\u2019s role in convincing a major senator of the impact of climate change on the world\u2019s poor. Carr, it turned out, wasn\u2019t actually at that meeting. But that\u2019s the way it is with Carr \u2014 he\u2019s been so influential for so long that sometimes Hill faith lobbyists just assume his involvement in key events.<\/p>\n

When a small group of prominent faith advocates organized a good-bye dinner last week for Carr, they intentionally picked \u201cthe Captain\u2019s Room\u201d at Ruth\u2019s Chris Steak House.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo: Jahi Chikwendiu\/WASHINGTON POST<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s retiring from his position with the USCCB\u2014and he could be one of the most important Catholics most people have never heard of. From the Washington Post: For the typical American Catholic, seeing Cardinal Tim Dolan, the country\u2019s top bishop, give the closing prayer at the GOP convention was the big political event of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,38,48],"tags":[11190,870],"class_list":["post-16522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bishops","category-politics","category-the-people-in-the-pews","tag-politics","tag-usccb"],"yoast_head":"\nIs this man the most influential Catholic in Washington?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"He's retiring from his position with the USCCB\u2014and he could be one of the most important Catholics most people have never heard of. 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