How I Saw Politics from Inside the Authoritarian Catholic Movement

I was born a Catholic, I was raised a conservative, and I attended Christendom College from 2004 to 2008.

I am no longer Catholic. I am appalled at the conservative pivot away from liberty and into authoritarianism. And in my opinion, I mainly received propaganda, confirmation bias, and outdated medievalist philosophy at Christendom. I don’t recommend it to my friends for educational purposes.

I know I will readily be dismissed by the authoritarian Catholics as a disaffected individual. But I was deeply “on the inside” of the movement. I knew the theology, I campaigned for Ken Cuccinelli, I served on the Front Royal Town Council from 2014 to 2018, and chaired a Young Republicans group through the mid-2010s.

As somebody who was once on the inside, there are things I want you to know about who I used to be:

• I didn’t support different lifestyles. The idea of people living according to different values is antithetical to the faction. In closed company, I had many frank conversations with authoritarian Catholics in which concepts like democracy, voting, and liberty were decried as a corruption of the Catholic order for society.
• I never tolerated other beliefs. I didn’t hide it. Christendom named their mascot “Crusaders” for a reason, and the term “Christendom” itself refers to the medieval dominion of Catholicism in Europe. As a former believer, I saw Protestant Christianity as something to be suppressed and crushed under the triumphalist boot of Catholicism. It’s ironic that a Protestant community saved my faith in my post-Christendom years. It opened my eyes.
• I was very concerned with appearances. From the inside, I experienced an obsession with “making the ‘good guys’ look good.” I believed it was a necessary step to help Catholic dominance.
• The persecution complex is real. Never underestimate the authoritarian Catholic’s ability to spin any objection as “anti-Catholic bias.” It was my number one talking point to justify political goals. I’m sure this letter will be considered a persecution of Catholicism, too.

These are only my own experiences, nothing more. I’m positive there are many well-intentioned Catholics in our region, many of whom don’t support the theocratic fever dream of the authoritarian Catholic faction. But these ideas and attitudes have spilled over into the rest of our community, and polite silence is no longer a virtue.

We now have a group of elected officials who refuse to represent their constituents and who are intent on eviscerating our award-winning library under the guise of “financial oversight.” But in my view, it’s far more about power and religious totalitarianism. The mask has started to slip, and the ugliness underneath should be taken seriously.

I have regrets about my past. I’m standing against what I used to be. And I’ll be voting that way in this year’s election, too. Early voting has started. Get out there and stand up for everyone in Warren County.

John Connolly
Warren County, VA

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