Recent trends in America point toward either tribalism or social disintegration. There is no neat solution to the problem. Still, the Church will be in a position to help mitigate it—not directly, through social engagement […]
Why is there so much political hatred today? It’s not just online discussion, where it can seem that everybody hates everybody. Nor is it just the Church, where the Francis papacy has heightened differing positions […]
Does an American political tradition still exist? It seems it must. After all, Americans have been carrying on politics together for hundreds of years. And when people do things together for such a long time, […]
Like nature and grace, law and love have a complex and subtle relationship. Many Catholics insistently favor bridges over walls, inspiration over tradition, the spirit over the letter, and love over laws and institutions. They […]
Misconceptions about human life and social order lead to endless trouble. So, I’ll make a few more comments on current misconceptions that relate to social justice. One misconception is an overemphasis on individual choice that […]
How should we be good Catholics and good Americans? Until recently, that did not seem to be an issue to most of us. Separation of Church and State appeared to reconcile the Faith with a […]
I’ve written before about the difficulty of carrying the Gospel over to political and economic life. The difficulty seems basic. Jesus had no residence, property, wife, children, gainful employment, or official position. Instead of giving us […]
Last month, I suggested that subsidiarity comes from the idea that social order begins with the family, and proceeds from there to ever broader communities and ultimately to the whole world. This view makes the […]
Vice President JD Vance’s recent comment that we should love and assist those close to us before those who are more distant provoked an outburst of argument that eventually involved even the Pope. The comment […]
I suggested last month that recent developments, including Donald Trump’s victory, open up possibilities for the future. But unsettling established orthodoxies isn’t enough: there must be something better to replace them. That brings us to […]
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