The National stake in education is twofold: first, society should consist of skilled and competent people able to fulfill the citizen’s responsibility to elect and assess governments. Second, education is a primary way to enable each citizen to fulfill his or her personal potential, irrespective of any societal needs. Thus for any modern democracy, and … Read more
The Catholic Church teaches that we, as citizens, share responsibility for the political order. As the parties gear up for the 1992 local and national campaigns, they are calculating how to win by building majorities. Catholic citizens will find no better occasion to assert their political principles and to insist that the parties respect their … Read more
In February Georgetown University granted regular student-group status to an organization called “G.U. Choice.” That organization favors permitting elective abortion. Regular status means the group in question is eligible for all the funding and logistical benefits available to student organizations generally. Georgetown’s president points out that in giving this status “the university does not approve, sanction, … Read more
Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, in the October 18 issue of America, has published a piece entitled “The Church in Worldly Affairs: Tensions Between Laity and Clergy.” Much popular press reaction has linked that essay to a “progressive” vs. “conservative” ecclesiological conflict within Church leadership. That is understandable enough, for Archbishop Weakland seems clearly to … Read more
Rather than stating a thesis on the matter of Charles Curran vs. the Vatican, I will point to some logical categories and distinctions, which may aid understanding. I am emboldened to speak thus because it has been my duty for many years to wrestle with issues akin to those raised by the Curran affair, and … Read more
It is not analytically difficult to see how Catholic religion I should influence democratic politics, as was shown in part one of this essay (Catholicism in Crisis, June 1985). But the task has become historically complex inasmuch as crucial distinctions have been blurred. To restore some clarity, we need to remind ourselves of certain basic … Read more
The question of how Catholic religion can and I should influence democratic politics yields an analytically simple answer. But it has become historically complex in the United States. I believe this complicating took place for typical human reasons: certain key distinctions have been blurred, either because of intellectual weakness or because it served someone’s purpose … Read more
It is logical to say “The Catholic position is …” when one speaks of doctrine and the credal core. If one believes, as I do, that there is a Christ-established Church ordained precisely to preserve, offer, and teach the truths of Christ’s revelation, and that it has a structure and authority, then it is, indeed, … Read more
I write these words as an individual Catholic Citizen, representing no other person or thing. They are words about the politics of opposing abortion. My anti-abortion principles can be simply stated. First, a commonsense look at human life yields, and no science contradicts, this perception: there is no true “viability” in the womb, at any … Read more
I write these words as an individual Catholic citizen representing no other person or thing. They are words about the rights and responsibilities of Catholics-as-citizens in a free society. In a recent Supplement to the Catholic League Newsletter, Fr. Virgil C. Blum, S.J., League President, characterized Catholic school parents as political pygmies. He used the … Read more
Do the bishops adequately understand how our political leaders achieve that status? I write these words as an individual Catholic citizen, representing no other person or thing. These are not words about throw weights, targeting strategies, first strike capacity, or any such matters. Rather, they are words about the limits of competence of those who … Read more