The Poverty of Catholic Intellectual Life

To advance the common good today, to act (in the words of Matthew) as salt and light, the American Catholic intellectual must enter this drama, wrestling with its contradictions, sincerely celebrating its achievements, and, yes, scrutinizing its shortcomings in the light of the moral absolutes that we believe are inscribed in the hearts of all men and women. This, as opposed to striking a dogmatic ahistorical posture and rendering judgment from a position of extreme idealism giving rise to an unhealthy and philosophically indefensible revulsion for the nation and its traditions. Critical patriotism and a return to the American center — the vital center redux — should be our watchwords, and this implies, first and foremost, a recognition that American democracy is itself a most precious common good. Read Full Article »