A reader:

“Derb—Re your recent post: ‘None of the six Big Names she discusses in detail (Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton) would be at ease in an evangelical meeting, either of their own time or of ours. (Let alone—good grief!—a Catholic Mass.)’ I recall a passage from Davis McCullough’s biography of Adams that he, Washington, and a few other delegates to the Constitutional Convention actually went to a Catholic Mass–more as tourists than believers. None of them were converted: Adams was repelled by the image of the crucified Christ hanging on a cross, although he did think that the sermon was pretty good.”

[Derb] I had a Catholic girlfriend once who used to drag me along to Mass. My only recollection of those events is of thinking how inferior the hymns were to Anglican ones. That was 40 years ago, though. To judge by Father Rutler’s little gem of a book, Anglican hymnody is much better received in the RC church nowadays.