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Author Topic: Trump Chooses Taylor Marshall  (Read 14175 times)

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Re: Trump Chooses Taylor Marshall
« Reply #55 on: July 31, 2020, 09:48:25 PM »

He gives the reasons why Jude, why Ambrose, and why Josemaria. By why did he have his son baptized Marshall?

I'd like to think that the suggestion that Marshall is part of the child's baptismal name was merely an inadvertency or a bêtise on his dad's part. The presence of an emoji at the end of your comment suggests that you think much the same. Nicht wahr?

If we discount the twinkle in your eye, however, perhaps the explanation is that Marshall père was channeling his inner Italian gentiluomo. There was a centuries-old custom among the Italian aristocracy, extending even into the twentieth century, to christen an eldest son with the singular form of the family name. Examples are Galileo Galilei, Marino Marini, and Vincenzo Vincenzi. As English lacks most case endings, plain blunt Marshall Marshall will have to do for this child. If this surmise is correct and if, in a few years, junior's schoolfellows discover the duplication, they will mock the poor boy with such unrelieved intensity that he may end up hating his old man.

Alas, the devil is tempting me to take sinful delight in that thought. Still, it's an ill wind that blows no one good.

Re: Trump Chooses Taylor Marshall
« Reply #56 on: July 31, 2020, 11:30:23 PM »
Taylor Marshall is an ordained priest of the Episcopal Church. Why would you think, claudel, that he could be an Italian? I can't say for sure, but I'd guess, being an Italian is an obstacle on the way to Episcopal priesthood. On the other hand, Louie Verrecchio showed that Marshall is rather short. But that doesn't really prove anything, either.


Re: Trump Chooses Taylor Marshall
« Reply #57 on: August 01, 2020, 12:16:01 AM »

Why would you think, claudel, that he could be an Italian?

I don't. By "channeling his inner Italian gentiluomo," I simply meant that he might be imagining himself to be such a man and thus, as it were, be living a dream. In using the turn of phrase I did, it certainly was not my intent to deliberately perplex you.

Re: Trump Chooses Taylor Marshall
« Reply #58 on: August 01, 2020, 04:18:47 AM »
I do not understand the fascination of supposedly traditionalist Catholics with other lay Catholics as purported authority figures.

Second, I do not understand why people think that Taylor Marshall has proven himself as reliably traditionalist.  I'm not referring to Mass affiliation necessarily, or simply by itself.  However, Professional Catholics who go in and out of various movements before and after their conversions do not strike me as stable and reliable.  Surely there are lay people without such pasts.

I understand why President Trump might logically think that a lay Catholic appointee would "help with the Catholic vote," since most voters are lay.  But I don't see the "infatuation" of Catholics with laymen when there are priests who are not confused, who are respected by a large body of traditionalist orders, etc.

Re: Trump Chooses Taylor Marshall
« Reply #59 on: August 01, 2020, 04:15:54 PM »
I do not understand the fascination of supposedly traditionalist Catholics with other lay Catholics as purported authority figures.

....

I understand why President Trump might logically think that a lay Catholic appointee would "help with the Catholic vote," since most voters are lay. But I don't see the "infatuation" of Catholics with laymen when there are priests who are not confused, who are respected by a large body of traditionalist orders, etc.
This positioning of lay people as celebrities/authority figures is quite common in the Novus Ordo Church (think Scott Hahn, Matt Fradd, Christopher West, etc). If I were to speculate, this fascination perhaps comes from the fact that more traditionally minded lay "authority figures" are now, more often than not, how most people in the NO find out about Traditional Catholicism for the first time, due to the Internet savvy and significant social media presence of these prominent laymen. And so, it is easy for newcomers to Traditional Catholicism to cling to these types, since they provide an easy source of information and, at least in the minds of these newcomers, these lay "authority figures" have proven themselves trustworthy. Also, keep in mind that many of these people come from the Newchurch, where this sort of phenomenon is quite entrenched, and so they don't see this as wrong. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that lay theologians were a Vatican II invention.