California Catholic Daily

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Published: November 19, 2008

“I pick and choose”

California’s First Lady says she’s ‘a Cafeteria Catholic’

“I start every one of my days praying,” says Maria Shriver, wife of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I go to church every week. I went to Catholic schools my entire life.” But, says Shriver, when it comes to Church teachings, “I pick and choose… I think I’m probably a ‘Cafeteria Catholic.’”

Shriver’s comments came during a lengthy interview on the Washington Post’s video blog ‘On Faith,’ taped during an Oct. 22 women’s conference at the Long Beach Convention Center. Shriver, wearing a rosary around her neck, was interviewed by Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn and co-host Jon Meacham of Newsweek. Portions of the interview were posted Nov. 17 on “wowOwow,” a web site that says it is “run and written by Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Liz Smith, Joni Evans, Mary Wells, Sheila Nevins, Joan Juliet Buck, Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Reed, Joan Ganz Cooney, Judith Martin, Candice Bergen, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, and Marlo Thomas.”

Shriver and the governor are members of St. Monica’s parish in Santa Monica, and she told Quinn and Meacham during the interview, “My pastor (Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson) is a huge part of my life.” But her closeness to her pastor, her regular church attendance and her Catholic education don’t seem to have discouraged her from taking positions distinctly at odds with the magisterium. “I have a dispute with a lot of the Catholic Church,” said Shriver in the interview. “Even though I consider myself a Catholic in good standing, I disagree with a lot of the teachings of the Church.”

Shriver spelled out some of her disagreements: “I don’t believe that if someone’s divorced they shouldn’t get Communion; I don’t believe that people who are gay shouldn’t be accepted into the Church… I’m pro-choice, I believe women should have that right.” She also said “women should have a larger role in the Catholic Church.”

What she does like about Catholicism, said Shriver, are its teachings on “compassion” and “social justice.”

Article URL: http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=0e25ff67-0752-4363-aadf-7f3799cd39de