Nothing quite disturbs an otherwise lovely Sunday morning like opening one’s morning paper and finding a headline that reads: “Following the pope – and the Kochs.” I am sure the headline was meant to be provocative, and it worked. I am provoked. The photo above the headline, of Pope Francis between the two Koch brothers, did not assuage the provocation.
Sometimes, a headline is merely provocative, and overstates the article that follows. In this case, however, two Catholic philanthropists, John and Carol Saeman, do their best to make the case that their charitable donations to the Catholic Church are akin to their donations to “the nonprofit community associated with Charles and David Koch, including Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.” The Saemans’ speak of “our shared conviction that limited government is most conducive to lifting people out of poverty” and they claim that “Catholic teaching supports our conviction.” In this great, free country of ours, the Saemans are free to think what they want, and to spend their money as they wish. They are not entitled to claim the mantle of Catholic teaching for the conviction that the Koch brothers’ political agenda is the least little bit consistent with what the Catholic Church teaches about social justice.
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