14th Congressional District Update Featuring Anthony Catella

From Former Quigley Supporter:

14th Congressional District Update 7/3/19

Civil War Days and 14th Congressional District Candidate Anthony Catella

Anthony Catella

Monday’s Northwest Herald included a Local History column by Kurt Begalka titled “Let’s be civil when it comes to the Civil War”. 

This column has to do with the Lake County Forest Preserve Commission’s late June decision to cancel the Civil War Days held annually at the Lakewood Forest Preserve just east of Wauconda over “safety concerns”.   

Begalka’s closing paragraph to his column bears repeating:

“History isn’t pretty – be it the death of 6 million Jews in Nazi concentration camps, the implementation of Jim Crow laws in the South or heinous mass shootings of more recent times.  But for us to learn from these mistakes we, as a society, need to talk about it. 

“History needs to be in our face in order for us to face it.”

Battlefield reenactments or live pageants with real people in period clothes is something historical enthusiasts do to honor the soldiers who have participated in the wars in the history of our nation. 

Anthony Catella inspects the troops.

Whether it’s the Civil War, the World Wars, Korea or Vietnam, the live pageants of these battlefield reenactments provides a very unique way to teach history, literally bringing it to life. 

There is a 14thcongressional district connection to Civil War reenactments. 

Confederate soliders take on the Yankees.

It’s not only because the Lakewood Forest Preserve is within the boundaries of the 14th district. 

The connection is one of the candidates has participated in reenactments and his perspective could prove useful. 

The candidate is Anthony Catella.

Catella is the only 14th district candidate with military service, having served in the 1990s in the Army as a member of the Military Police Corps, including deployment to Europe as part of Operation Joint Endeavor, the NATO peacekeeping after the Balkans Civil War. 

Confederate soldiers tenting.

After overseas duty, he was stationed at Fort Polk in Louisiana and after leaving the Army in 1999, he transferred to the Army Reserve. 

He was called back to active duty a month after the 9/11 attacks and was stationed at Fort Hood in Texas for 10 months, where he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant. 

He did not see overseas duty after his time at Ft. Hood, and after leaving Texas he returned to Illinois to enter Seminary while attaining the rank of captain in the Army Reserve.

Watching a Civil War re-enactment.

After leaving the Army Reserve and serving in the priesthood until early 2015, Catella returned to St. Charles. 

During the St. Charles Memorial Day parade that year, he marched in a union uniform.   

My Suburban Life wrote:

“Civil War re-enactor Anthony Catella marched with the 8th Illinois Calvary in the parade.

“This year marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War.  ‘I grew up loving parades and military ceremonies and honoring our country and those who served,’ Catella said. 

“Catella said he wasn’t bothered by the rain, saying ‘it’s nothing compared to what the real Civil War soldiers endured.’  Catella’s uniform caught the attention of those attending the parade and Memorial Day ceremony.

“‘It’s fun educating the public,’ he said.

“‘And you get to feel what it was like to be a soldier of a particular period.’”

Later in 2015, Catella participated in the Civil War reenactment held near Channahon again wearing the blue of the union.  This reenactment was held on private land.

It is unknown if Catella participated in the Civil War Days in Lake County in previous years since returning to Illinois in 2015, or any other battlefield reenactment. 

Given what he said in his 2015 comments, participation in these battlefield reenactments is a unique way to teach history and a tribute to the servicemen and women who served our country. 

Let’s remember these brave men and women who have and continue to serve our country as we celebrate Independence Day and every day of the year.


Portraying Ronald Reagan in WWII, Anthony Catella carried the “Gipper’s” military photo under his hat in 21017.

My Suburban Life 2015 Link:  https://www.mysuburbanlife.com/2015/05/25/st-charles-memorial-day-parade-goes-on-despite-rain/asmst1h

Anthony Catella portraying Ronal Reagan.

Morris Herald-News Photos Channahon 2015 Link:  https://www.morrisherald-news.com/lists/2015/10/18/fb46625181214f1c94b91c7e02ae59f9/index.xml?page=1

Sauk Valley News WWII 5/2017 Link:  https://www.saukvalley.com/2017/05/20/world-war-comes-to-life-in-oregon/anurq05


Comments

14th Congressional District Update Featuring Anthony Catella — 22 Comments

  1. Enough glorification of wars! Paraphrasing George Carlin, “Next time they re-enact the Civil War, let them use real guns…” Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…

  2. Sunshine blogger, since having adults playing war games and battle re-enactments is so important for our present and future generations, have you considered portraying Adolf Hitler? How about Benito Mussolini? I know you come from an earlier time, but most people will not notice…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…

  3. Sure we’d all be better off, going down to the Navy Pier 4th and getting trampled and stabbed, under that protective wing of the Alphabet Mayor.

    Would have helped me get on board with her All-Loving Future of Tomorrow.

  4. Angel, is a Democrat.

    Instead, he should be helping his buddy Carlos Acosta, figure out how he plans to support himself once he resigns from the McHenry County Board and DCFS!

  5. Don’t need to reenact Civil War or any war to recount what happened and to learn from it. But, as long as we are remembering history, recall that it was the Democrats in Congress who fought Republican President Abraham Lincoln in his efforts to free the slaves. Maybe someone can reenact the Democrats’ discussions in Congress at the time of Lincoln and their foot dragging on eliminating slavery. That could be a very timely reenactment next year in 2020 during the election campaign.

  6. **recall that it was the Democrats in Congress who fought Republican President Abraham Lincoln in his efforts to free the slaves. **

    This is seriously one of the more childish and ignorant comments made on this blog. Yes, it is true that the Democrats opposed Lincoln back in the day. Yes, it is also true that the parties were very different back in the days of Lincoln. No, that does not have any relevance to what the parties look like today.

  7. Thanks bred winner. Really good information there.

    Alabama- shake is a CHILDISH RACIST, so just ignore him.

  8. When it comes to US history, nobody more knowledgeable than our Sociology and Political Science professor. Those fox news garbage talking points convinced me Barack Obama is the worst president in US history and tronald chump is a business genius despite going bankrupt six times. How lucky we are to have such brilliant resources in this sewer sunshine blog. Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…

  9. Sunshine blogger, please clarify once and for all this bitter dispute about the efforts of Abraham Lincoln to free the slaves. You are, after all, the only one here who was around during those days. Nobody like you to advance the efforts of race relations. The vast readership of this sunshine blog deserves no less. Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…

  10. Fast forward 100 years from Lincoln’s time to the Civil Rights Act of the 1960’s. Democrats’ performance improved from Lincoln’s time, but still not stellar. Al Gore’s father, Senator Gore from TENN, voted against the Act.
    Republicans in both the House and the Senate had a higher percentage of Representatives and Senators voting for the Act then did the Democrats in the House and the Senate.

    Many Democrats are phony about the issues of civil rights, voting, busing, etc. In the first Democrat presidential candidate(?) debates this past June, a candidate named Kamala tried to beat up Joe Biden by insinuating he was against busing of children to help de-segregation. She was wrong, Biden was correct. Turns out that the highly disruptive act of busing children out of their neighborhoods mostly did not work and was a failure.

  11. catella i always assumed was a shizophrenic. We’re not far off.

  12. Where’s the outrage from pro-life, pro-U.S. compassionate conservatives on this sunshine blog? I see the confederate pro-slavery flag but the United States flag is nowhere to be seen…Oh well, we know these republikkklans too well and who these re-enactments are pandering to…stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…

  13. You believe people who do civil war reenactments are racists?

    Do you think reenacting killing Nazis also makes one a Nazi?

    Catella may be a very, VERY strange damn guy, but he is NOT a racist, like YOU and your weak husband.

  14. Compassionate conservatives say they are all about honoring and respecting our flag…but boy, the emotion they feel for that pro-slavery confederate flag, that takes it to another level…stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…

  15. Flags, uniforms and the men in them. The United States is more than represented in the pics of this article, particularly by the men in blue and the one who is also running for Congress.

    Now go listen to Billy Joel’s song “Goodnight Saigon”, and remember what Billy Joel told a crowd in Moscow before performing the song, through an interpreter…it’s not a song about politics, it’s a song about soldiers.

    So are the reenactments, no matter which uniform or flag the men fought for, it’s about soldiers, not the politics.

    Remember these words from the song:

    “And who was wrong, and who was right, It didn’t matter in the thick of the fight.”

    Remember the soldiers.

  16. Good try at deflection, but no thanks. In the early 2000’s, republicans under war criminal George W. Bush came up with the clever slogan “support the troops” demanding the opposition to the Iraq war to shut up and stop denouncing that criminal act of war in which hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings lost their lives. Who remembers the innocent dead human beings? Who remembers the millions displaced in exchange for the billions of dollars that go straight to the military industrial complex? Stop using the soldiers as a political football. Demand the end of all wars. Stop these ridiculous re-enactments. This is nothing but a glorification of war. Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…

  17. This is Anthony Catella The Army Vet and fmr Priest and congressional candidate, I was gratified to read this article, I apreciate the accuracy of the reporting on my quotes and actions.

    I’d like to respond to two comments that were directed at me.

    I am not a shizophrenic.

    I know who I am.

    I am a well integrated human person and I don’t need to take that uncalled for dignosis.

    Who ever “always assumed” that notion is just as mistaken as he or she ever can be.

    If I was psychiatrically imbalanced I wound not have been able to accomplish what I have yet accomplished in life and I think my achievements are just as good as any one’s.

    Secondly, I am an alright and knowable person to all who know me.

    The democrats during the civil war were against Lincoln but they were not in the US Congress they were in the Confederate states congress.

    John Tyler our 10th president was a confederate congressman from VA very critical of Lincoln polices.

    The only southern democrat to remain loyal to the union was Andrew Johnson from TN.

    He was a Military Governor of a portion of TN after it fell to the Union in 1862 and Lincoln rewarded his loyalty and service by naming him his VP in 1864.

    One last note, In 1864 there was no Republican presidential ticket.

    Lincoln and Johnson ran on the National Union ticket as it was called I think because Johnson still considered himself a democrat.

    Great article and no hard feelings for my critics but I am a tough guy and I will stand up for myself before anyone.

    I shall continue my campaign for the Congress of the United States, Let’s remain UNITED!

    If we do, then the civil war shall not have been fought in vain and we shall have “under God”, a new birth of freedom!

  18. I guess Catella dreams USA/Humpty Dumpty can be put back together again. It’s a nice dream, but guess what?There’s no going back in a time machine. People like Catella will be made fast work by the Antifa thugs and a dystopian US which will put people like him in re-education camps.

    Mr. Catella, people will take you more seriously if you can spell schizophrenic, diagnosis, etc.

    When a candidate, himself, has to take to the airwaves and proclaim he’s “not a schizophrenic (sic)’, that campaign can’t adequately fight against the likes of the Soros-funded Underweird.

  19. Well, we live in an imperfect world and our country is also filled with its problems but that does not mean we lose hope or stop trying to do better.

    Many sane and educated people misspell words, JFK was a notorious misspeller.

    I rather think it is healthy for a candidate to be open and honest with the voters.

    The reason why I believe in America is because I have faith in the God who watches over us.

    I’ll even make this concession to Him, it may even turn out greater and better than we ever expected

    Take care man.

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