rssGingrich May visit to Iowa Basilica nixed
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Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has canceled his May 16 trip to St. John’s Basilica in Des Moines, an official from the Basilica said this week.
“The whole purpose was supposed to be a religious event, (by) showing the DVD (“Nine Days That Changed the World”) and honoring Pope John Paul II,” Basilica business manager Dwayne Weuve said. Weuve said he was involved in coordinating Gingrich’s visit, and had to ultimately cancel it.
“Once the secular media got hold of (the news that Gingrich was visiting), they turned it into a political circus, and we didn’t want to be involved in that,” Weuve explained. “It was no longer a religious event, so it just had to be canceled.”
Gingrich is expected to announce his bid for the U.S. Presidency next week, according to an interview in the National Journal’s Hotline OnCall.”
The Georgia Republican, who co-produced the documentary “Nine Days That Changed the World,” converted to Catholicism about two years ago and recently headlined the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. where he lamented that the country was facing a “crisis of secularism.”
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Comment posted May 5, 2011 @ 1:48 am
Meghan Malloy is wrong.
After inviting the Newt and Callista Gingrich to screen their movie, Nine Days that Changed the World, the Basilica canceled the screening. I would encourage the organizers to listen to what Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan said about the movie in an interview with Speaker Gingrich on Catholic radio and ask them to prayerfully reconsider:
“The video that you and Callista did, the [DVD] Nine Days that Changed the World, I found to be one of the more moving, accurate, uplifting documentaries on John Paul that I’ve seen.”
Quicktime:
http://gingrichproductions.com...
Zip File:
http://gingrichproductions.com...
Newt and Callista have screened Nine Days across the country. Thousands have come to see and be inspired by its powerful message. These events are a time to come together to remember Pope John Paul II, his life, and the remarkable period of history in which God used him to change the world.
These are in no way political events and it would be a shame not to go forward and share this movie with the Basillica in Des Moines.
But in any case, however, we respect the decision of the Basilica of St. John.
Rick Tyler
Press Secretary and Spokesman
Speaker Newt Gingrich
540-338-1250
rtyler@newtexplore2012.com
Newt Explore 2012
twitter.com/rickwtyler
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