Will This Catholic Senator Be the Next President?

(Hat tip: Christopher at Catholics in the Public Square)

An Ignatius Insight interview with Senator Sam Brownback:

One of the key figures in the current battle over President George W. Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court is Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback. (see related IgnatiusInsight story). A convert to Catholicism, Brownback is considering a run for the presidency in 2008.

Beyond his role on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Harriet Miers confirmation hearings, Brownback is the lead sponsor of a Senate bill to ban human cloning and is heavily involved in projects in Africa. In addition, Brownback is working on a project that would reward big pharmaceutical companies for developing cures for Third World diseases by extending the life of some of their other, lucrative drugs, such as Viagra.

Raised on a family farm near Parker, Kansas, Brownback, 49, lives in Topeka with his wife and five daughters. After serving two years in the U.S. House, Brownback was elected to the Senate in 1996, filling out the term of Sen. Bob Dole.

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IgnatiusInsight.com: You are a convert to Catholicism. Would you mind talking about how you ended up becoming a Catholic?

Sen. Brownback: I felt a deep calling to make that move and spent roughly four years really studying, reading, thinking about it–praying about it before deciding to join. I was very happy in the Evangelical church I was in. I had no problems with the Evangelical church at all. It’s just I felt a deep spiritual calling to do it and have been delighted to join the Catholic Church. The readings that I’ve done since then by Catholic writers–I’ve really enjoyed the depth and the beauty of the expression. It’s been very helpful to my faith journey.

IgnatiusInsight.com: Which writers, would you say?

Sen. Brownback: Right now I’m reading a book by a former archbishop of Mexico City, (Luis) Martinez, and the book is When Jesus Sleeps. It’s a beautiful set of thoughts about when we feel as if God’s not there. That’s one that I’m currently reading. It’s the second book I’ve read by this author. I read another one, True Devotion to the Holy Spirit, another very thoughtful and beautiful set of thoughts and comments.

IgnatiusInsight.com: When you decided to join the Catholic Church, did the rest of your family join?

Sen. Brownback: They did not. And they have not. So, what we do as a family is, I will get up–usually early on Sunday mornings–sometimes not, but typically I’ve been getting up, going to Mass, and then we will go all together to the Evangelical church that I had been attending and the family continues to attend.

So I get a great Sunday morning. I get the Eucharist and the beauty of the set of Catholic thoughts and then the praise and worship and preaching of an Evangelical church. Great combination. It’s a great mixture of the feeding and I really enjoy it.