Thread by @jackmjenkins

1. So I spoke with presidential candidate Julián Castro about his Catholic faith.

It turns out there’s something FASCINATING happening: he’s boldly fronting a form of Catholicism that is often ignored, but deeply familiar to millions of Latino voters. religionnews.com/2019/02/14/jul…

2. e.g., his announcement process:

• Announced his exploratory committee in front of an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe…
• …on Dec 12, her feast day
• Announced his candidacy in Guadalupe Plaza
• Noted he was baptized in Guadalupe Church across the street

Notice a pattern?

3. The subtext: Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico (also, technically, all of the Americas), and, as one expert put it, an “icon of Mexican identity.”

Indeed, Castro has consistently fused discussions of faith with his family and his progressive values.

4. During his 2012 DNC keynote speech, for instance, he spoke at length about his grandmother, an orphan who came to the U.S. from Mexico at age six.

Note the stories he told about her, and how he closed his speech.

5. As @nimperatori explained to me, this speaks to a form of Catholic faith that doesn’t gauge religiosity by worship attendance.

Rather, it centers “lo cotidiano,” or the sacredness of the everyday.

It is common among Latino Catholics.

6. Boston College’s Hosffman Ospino notes this is likely to resonate with broad swaths of Latino voters, many of whom, he said, could likely tell similar stories about their own family.

7. Meanwhile, Castro’s mother Rosie raised him in a deeply progressive household that intertwined family, Mexican American heritage, and Catholic teachings on social justice.

Fun fact: she used to sit on the board of @NETWORKLobby, a Catholic social justice lobby.

8. Castro told me all of this informs his own progressive outlook, which leans heavily on Catholic social justice teachings while also disagreeing with church hierarchy on abortion and same-sex marriage (NOTE: most American Catholics ALSO disagree with the church there).

9. And since we’re talking about a presidential candidate here, one wonders how this will all play on the campaign trail.

The answer isn’t 100% clear, but it certainly *seems* likely to help him in delegate-rich states such as Texas and California.

10. And to be clear, while Castro isn’t shying away from his faith, he’s also lifting up the non-religious (who make up a decent chunk of the Democratic Party) as well.

You can read more about that in my full interview with him here. religionnews.com/2019/02/14/jul…

11. But back to religion for one last thing: @nimperatori noted an interesting thing about Castro’s faith articulation is that it presents the U.S. public w/a form of Catholicism she argues is sometimes dismissed as less “legitimate” than what is practiced by many white Catholics

12. The various moving parts here are definitely something for political and religious observers to watch, and Castro has a track record of working all of them in ways that win over voters.

Anyway, lots to unpack, and you can read more here! religionnews.com/2019/02/14/jul…