Famous Catholic converts

Tonight, we will have a discussion on "College Conversion".  Five GW Catholics will briefly tell their story
 of conversion to or within the Catholic faith:

-Freshman who converted to Catholicism in high school
-Freshman who has gone from being vehemently secular, New Age, and pro-choice to attending daily Mass and praying weekly rosary for life
-Senior who converted to Catholicism at GW as an atheist
-Senior who has finally felt the presence of God as a practicing but doubting Catholic
-Grad student who was pursuing PhD in science and is now applying to be a Catholic missionary

It should be good!  All GW Catholics are invited to the Newman Center tonight for Mass at 5:30, homemade dinner at 6, and discussion after dinner.

Speaking of converts, I just saw a pretty cool list on Wikipedia of famous and historical people who are Catholic converts.  Below are some of the people from the list.  To view the full list, please click on today's title.


(partial) List of people who converted to Catholicism


• Approximately 400 Anglican priests in the UK, along with some politicians such as Ann Widdecombe and John Gummer who objected in 1993 to the ordination of women to the priesthood in the Church of England (see Graham Leonard, below).

• Tony Blair: former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; converted Dec. 22, 2007, after stepping down as prime minister[10]

• Robert Bork: Leading Constitutional Law scholar, Yale Law School professor, U.S. Solicitor General, nominated for the United States Supreme Court

• Sam Brownback: U.S. senator from Kansas[14]

• Buffalo Bill: American Old West legend (deathbed conversion)

• G. K. Chesterton: English writer

• Dorothy Day: social activist and pacifist, founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Raised nominally Episcopalian.[25]

• Catherine Doherty: Canadian pioneer of social justice, from Russian Christianity.[28]

• Faye Dunaway: Oscar-winning American actress

• Elizabeth Fox-Genovese: Historian; feminist turned anti-feminist; Founder of the Institute of Women's Studies; wife of Eugene D. Genovese

• Newt Gingrich: American history professor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and author

• Sir Alec and Lady Guinness: British actor and his wife

• Scott and Kimberly Hahn: Catholic apologists

• Ernest Hemingway: American novelist, soldier and traveller

• Bob Hope: Comedian and comic actor.

• Laura Ingraham: American conservative talk radio host and author.

• Bobby Jindal: Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana

• Walter B. Jones U.S. politician, Member of the United States House of Representatives

• Katharine, The Duchess of Kent: musical member of the British Royal Family

• Joyce Kilmer: American journalist, poet, literary critic, lecturer and editor

• Norma McCorvey: anonymous plaintiff in Roe vs Wade

• Thomas Merton: American Trappist monk and spiritual writer

• Jim Nabors: actor portraying "Gomer Pyle" and singer

• Bernard Nathanson: American medical doctor and fetologist, former abortionist, now active in the anti-abortion (pro-life) movement

• John Henry Newman: Anglican clergyman, theologian, and leader of the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement who converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1840s, and was later appointed Cardinal-Deacon

• Sister Nirmala: Successor to Mother Teresa as head of her worldwide order (first generation Indian of Nepalese extraction) on behalf of the poor, the

• Danica Patrick: American Auto Racer

• Floyd Patterson: American boxer

• Walker Percy: American writer

• Vincent Price: American actor, converted after marrying his third wife (actress Coral Browne, also a convert)

• Elizabeth Ann Seton: foundress of the 'American Sisters of Charity and first U.S.-born person to be canonized.

• Tony Snow: Political commentator, columnist, television news anchor, radio host, and third White House Press Secretary under President George H.W. Bush

• Edith Stein: Philosopher, Catholic nun; Jewish by birth, died in a concentration camp during World War II; canonized a saint (St. Teresia Benedicta of the Cross, her monastic [Carmelite] name) in 1998 by Pope John Paul II.

• Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, daughter of a Mohawk warrior

• J. R. R. Tolkien: British novelist (his mother converted when he was a small child and he was re-baptized)

• Evelyn Waugh: British writer

• John Wayne: Oscar-winning American film actor (converted shortly before his death; all his wives and children were Catholics)

• Oscar Wilde: Irish novelist, playwright and wit (reportedly converted on his deathbed)

• Tennessee Williams: major American playwright and one of the prominent playwrights of the twentieth century[citation needed]

• Jane Wyman: Oscar-winning American actress, first wife of movie star Ronald Reagan, who would become the 40th President of the United States