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Tuesday, July 9, 2019

CATHOLICS FIGHTING BACK: Michael Matt Interviews Senator Rick Santorum

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CATHOLICS FIGHTING BACK: Michael Matt Interviews Senator Rick Santorum

Richard John Santorum is a board member of the new initiative at Cathio.com. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania is a devout Catholic and father of seven children.

Cathio provides Catholic organizations with a payments platform that aligns with Catholic values and provides tools to increase donations and connect with both local and global Catholic communities.

Since Cathio has been the victim of negative press in mainstream, leftist news outlets, they reached out to The Remnant for our help in setting the record straight. 

Michael J. Matt Interviews Senator Santorum

MJM: Thanks very much, Senator Santorum, for taking the time to answer a few questions about this new project that could, as I see it, change the way the Church and various Christian action groups do business online and move their money. Can you tell our readers how this initiative got started? 

Santorum: One of Cathio's co-founders, Ryan Thomas, spent many years working in Catholic news and media. What he saw, and what we've all begun to see, is the increasingly hostile nature in which tech platforms have begun to censor the Catholic Church because of our stances on issues like life and marriage. A few years ago, we saw Facebook censor Catholic content, remove our pages and limit our reach. Recently this has begun to happen with Pinterest and even Google. It's only a matter of time before financial institutions are pressured to do the same. Cathio aims to provide Catholics and Catholic institutions an option to move money with a company that shares their values and protects their interests.

MJM: This has garnered some negative mainstream pushback, which has led even to some attacks against you personally. What’s behind this antipathy to what seems to be a perfectly reasonable venture in a free market economy? 

Unfortunately, there are elements of the new media, that have a knee-jerk negative reaction to any activity that I am engaged in because of the positions I have taken throughout my career which are consistent with our Catholic faith. 

MJM: I think many Christian groups are ready to make changes in how they manage e-commerce but they need to know that the technical alternatives will actually work. Dwolla comes to mind. As an alternative to PayPal, it just doesn’t cut it. Technically speaking, can your group’s alternative actually compete with PayPal, for example?

Cathio is being designed with a deep understanding of both domestic and international regulations and the latest technology.  Using blockchain to secure data and an advanced data model we have the ability to provide services to support the needs of the Church to move money quickly, cost effectively and across borders.

MJM: And what about online security? Consumer confidence is so important now. 

Consumer confidence has been shaken by a number of systemic and process issues with some major industry providers.  When there are multitudes of layers comprised of older and newer technologies, the complexity increases and chances for security vulnerabilities compound.

One of the advantages Cathio provides by building from the latest technologies is security at all levels.  Cathio is deploying the latest security at the user level, at our integration points and data storage. The Cathio team started using blockchain and other advanced technologies to address these issues over eighteen months ago.  JP Morgan recently validated this approach by using similar technology for high value transactions.

MJM:  Christian groups have been rightly concerned about unfair treatment from service providers whose philosophy and politics are, let’s face it, antithetical to ours. If this venture is successful, what steps would you take to make Christians see the necessity of establishing the pro-Christian alternative. 

What we are establishing is a safe place for people of faith to be able to efficiently and securely transact business without being persecuted for their beliefs. 

We've also begun conversations with dozens of Catholic organizations, all of which - to date - understand the value Cathio will be offering and are ready to jump to the Cathio platform. So, the community understands the existential risk, they see the signs of the times, it's just been an issue that up until this point, there's been no other payment solution that meets their needs.

MJM: The far-Left Southern Poverty Law Center has been providing advisors for YouTube, Facebook, Twitter etc., ostensibly in order to help them identify and block “hate groups”.  Given their track record and agenda, do you think it would be possible to keep them off your back?  

We fully anticipate the SPLC to be critical of anything related to a biblical worldview. Cathio's blessed to count on a Board of Directors with extensive knowledge and experience in the political world as well as with religious liberty issues. From the early negative press we've received, we know more is coming, but we're prepared to respond and protect this platform to serve the Church.

MJM: What about Internet Service Providers themselves? Do you foresee a time when Christian groups will be so vilified that even just hosting Christian, pro-life, pro-family sites will become problematic, if not outright illegal?  

There are a lot of smart, young Christians working on a variety of tech solutions right now, and we've had the opportunity since the launching of Cathio to be in contact with some of them. I hope that Cathio will inspire others to put the talents and gifts in service of the Church to respond to all of the needs we have.

MJM: Will this be something for everyone, or just larger online businesses? 

Cathio will be rolling out in phases. First, we are working on the larger donor development side, offering tools and a platform to facilitate money movement. Next, we plan to expand to offer the platform for everyday Catholics to donate to parishes and non-profits through desktop and app integrations that will eventually allow Cathio to allow international transfers to support the Church's charitable works across the globe.

MJM: What can our readers do to help promote this project? 

I'd say there are a few things: first, pray for the team that we continue to be faithful to our mission and use our gifts to be able to respond faithfully to what's being asked of us. On a practical level, you can go to the website and sign-up for our newsletter where we'll keep you up-to-date on our rollouts and maybe even be able to participate in some of our beta testing and pilot programs.

 cathio

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Last modified on Saturday, July 13, 2019
Michael J. Matt | Editor

Michael J. Matt has been an editor of The Remnant since 1990. Since 1994, he has been the newspaper's editor. A graduate of Christendom College, Michael Matt has written hundreds of articles on the state of the Church and the modern world. He is the host of The Remnant Underground and Remnant TV's The Remnant Forum. He's been U.S. Coordinator for Notre Dame de Chrétienté in Paris--the organization responsible for the Pentecost Pilgrimage to Chartres, France--since 2000.  Mr. Matt has led the U.S. contingent on the Pilgrimage to Chartres for the last 24 years. He is a lecturer for the Roman Forum's Summer Symposium in Gardone Riviera, Italy. He is the author of Christian Fables, Legends of Christmas and Gods of Wasteland (Fifty Years of Rock ‘n’ Roll) and regularly delivers addresses and conferences to Catholic groups about the Mass, home-schooling, and the culture question. Together with his wife, Carol Lynn and their seven children, Mr. Matt currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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