Ordering Our Loves for the Good of All

Earlier this year, Vice President J.D. Vance triggered quite a firestorm when he mentioned the Christian concept of ordo amoris, also known as the order of charity. “There’s this old-school—and I think it’s a very Christian concept, by the way—that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity. In a flash, American journalists were researching the phrase and writing feature stories quoting experts critically dissecting Vance’s comments. Even Pope Francis seemed to reprimand Vance, writing in February: “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.”