A column of mine, “Confident Catholicism,” appeared several weeks ago (TCT, 19 October). Here, to ground this confidence, I propose five books to be read by the reasonably curious of whatever philosophical persuasion. The background is the quaint but common opinion that Catholics are fanatics, jaded, or relatively backward. I write in the spirit of Walker Percy. Asked why he was a Catholic, he replied succinctly, “What else is there?”
Brad Miner’s comment on his conversion (TCT, 22 November) is pertinent. “The few other Catholics in our class are long-since lapsed (although fun-loving), and everybody was curious why as smart guy as I am is still a Catholic in this day and age…”
Belloc, I think, quipped that “He who has the faith (not the ‘long-since lapsed’) has the fun.” In “our day and age,” while most of us looked the other way, it is the Catholics who enjoy using their brains. The more interesting problem is: Why, in philosophic terms, are the “smart guys” not Catholics?
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