The Case Against Libertarian Heresy

Last year, I debated Father Robert Sirico, Founder of the Acton Institute. During the debate, Fr. Sirico suggested that while I might be a heretic on other grounds, my economic views may be wrong, but they were not, indeed could not, be heretical.

Strictly speaking, economic ideas are not the stuff of heresy. But, it is also the case that our Catholic doctrinal beliefs yield a particular Christian anthropology, an understanding of the human person, and that understanding must shape our economic views. There are political, economic and legal systems of thought that do, or do not, cohere with Catholic anthropology. That is why we call the social doctrine of the Church a doctrine. The Church’s long history of statements about economics and political and culture are, at their core, doctrinal.