Long-time readers will know of my respect for Samuel Gregg, director of research at the Acton Institute. Not only do we have a number of his articles on social-economic-political issues in our library, but I favorably reviewed his book Tea Party Catholic last December (see Political principles rooted in Christ? This is not easy.). Now Gregg has a new article in the latest issue of First Things entitled Correcting Catholic Blindness (the full text is not yet available free of charge).
Gregg’s thesis is very much on target. Insofar as Catholic social teaching goes beyond strict principles to assess specific social, economic and political policies, it has too often tended to see the possibilities with a kind of tunnel vision. It sees (or rather its writers tend to see) through the lens of “what might be loosely labeled a mildly center-left Western European consensus.” Gregg would like to move Catholics—including the popes and bishops who formulate and express Catholic social teaching—to be “more attentive to developments that continue, both positively and negatively, to affect millions of peoples’ economic well-being.”
Read Full Article »