A Texas Catholic heads

to the governor's office

The curiosities of Texas historians have been piqued of late by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s election as governor. Is it true that Abbott is the state’s first confirmed Catholic to hold the Governorship of Texas?

There is no doubt that the governor-elect has long been a proud Catholic. During the campaign, Abbott spoke frequently about drawing upon his Catholic faith and the influence of Jesus Christ on his life when he converted to Catholicism, and has often credited his wife Cecilia and her family for deepening and enriching that faith.

But is he the first Catholic elected to office? Well, technically, probably not.

Governor Sam Houston converted to Catholicism prior to the Texas Revolution “as prescribed by Mexican law” in order to qualify for his land grant from the Mexican government. According to the Texas State Historical Association, “Colonists to Mexican Texas were legally required to convert to Catholicism, leading Houston to be baptized into the Catholic Church, under the name 'Samuel Pablo'.” However, enforcing such a law in sparsely populated Texas was difficult and Anglo settlers’ adherence to their oaths was tenuous at best.

According to available evidence, Houston’s long-term devotion to any religious faith—Catholic or otherwise—appears questionable.

In a recent Austin American Statesman article, SMU political scientist Cal Jillson was skeptical, “I would not count Sam as (Catholic). (H)is baptism was strictly tactical and it took his last wife 15 years to get him to convert to Baptist, not because he was committed to Catholicism, but because he was skeptical of organized religion.”

A second candidate arose amid the Civil War in 1861, when Texans elected Frank Lubbock, who, like Houston, was a convert to Catholicism. For Lubbock, however, the conversion was not for land but for love. Lubbock had been raised in the Anglican Church, but before he ran for governor he agreed to be baptized in the Catholic Church to satisfy the demands of his fiancé’s strict Catholic family.

Shortly before the wedding, Lubbock proclaimed to the priest that he had not been baptized, leading the priest to refuse to proceed with the sacrament. As related in his memoirs, Lubbock then replied: "Go on with the christening then," said I, "the time is fixed for marrying, and marry we must."

And so they did.

However, Lubbock’s memoir recounts how his sister later corrected him and that he had indeed been baptized as a child. Yet it does not say what effect this fact—had he known at the time—would have influenced his assent to a Catholic baptism.

Even still, there is little evidence that Lubbock was any more adherent to the Catholic faith after his conversion than Sam Houston was after his. Active in the Texas Democratic politics in the Civil War South, Lubbock was a member of the Masons, a grave sin in the Catholic Church. After the passing of his wife, Lubbock married again; this time to a Presbyterian woman, and he immediately adopted her faith until the end of his life. Jillson, nevertheless, counts Lubbock as a Catholic, even though he identified himself as such for only as long as he had been married to a Catholic wife.

So, strictly speaking, we arguably have two previous governors who identified themselves as Catholic. But as we all know, our faith is more than just simply professing an affiliation. Truly being a Catholic involves living the faith and demonstrating that conviction every day.

That is where Abbott has an advantage. In allowing his strong Catholic faith guide him in the governor's office, Abbott can uphold the principles of life, justice and peace. As Abbott declared shortly after winning the election, "I have my eye on making Texas as great a state as it can be. God has a pathway forward for us."