We are glad to publish today, on the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America, a thought-provoking essay by Thomas Storck, one of the greatest living exponents of Catholic Social Teaching (you can see his books here).
A thought-provoking and, I think, a necessary piece for all to read. It articulates a great many things I’ve suspected and felt implicitly for quite some time. That being said, I don’t think the classical form of patriotism is altogether absent from the United States. I think, in fact, we’ve arrived at a cultural crossroads where it’s very much apparent to more and more people that adherence to a universalizing abstraction cannot sustain the life of a nation. The “America First” reaction has its own set of temptations, but I think it reflects a larger adjustment taking place. Our current political regime may not, in fact, be the final form of American national life, and do actually have a well of under-explored cultural resources that could go into shaping a future one. All things considered, there’s is cause for thankfulness and celebration today as well as hope for the future. May God guide this land and people toward fulfillment of their true purpose in the world, preserving the good, and purging the bad.
John Rao has written and spoken for decades about the effects of the Enlightenment and Americanism. This essay is a very thoughtful addition to Rao’s work.
Wonderful essay, capturing the essence of the issues. In early parochial school in the early 1960’s, I was taught that our mission as Catholics was to make the United States a Catholic country. In the later elementary grades, that all changed due to the influence of the Council, including conciliar views promoted by secular media such as Time Magazine. The formerly unorthodox views of John Courtney Murray, SJ reigned supreme and do to this day, including among US bishops. There is no dialogue regarding Dignitatis humanae’s radical break from the traditional pastoral practices that had thorough doctrinal underpinnings.
This is certainly one of the most severe aspects of the current crisis in the Church.
This is interesting and a pretty good exposition on how one ought to regard the United States of America. It's my country, and I love it, and I think I am hugely blessed to be an American. I love it and have always loved it exactly as Mr. Storck describes one should love one's country. I disagree, though, that such love is mostly absent in our country. I think it's very present, mixed up with some mistaken ideas, to be sure, in the hearts of the majority of us who live in flyover territory. It seems to be largely absent in the big cities, and that's a huge problem. Yet another consequence of having forsaken the land. I am beginning to think that the consequences of that terrible migration will never end.
A thought-provoking and, I think, a necessary piece for all to read. It articulates a great many things I’ve suspected and felt implicitly for quite some time. That being said, I don’t think the classical form of patriotism is altogether absent from the United States. I think, in fact, we’ve arrived at a cultural crossroads where it’s very much apparent to more and more people that adherence to a universalizing abstraction cannot sustain the life of a nation. The “America First” reaction has its own set of temptations, but I think it reflects a larger adjustment taking place. Our current political regime may not, in fact, be the final form of American national life, and do actually have a well of under-explored cultural resources that could go into shaping a future one. All things considered, there’s is cause for thankfulness and celebration today as well as hope for the future. May God guide this land and people toward fulfillment of their true purpose in the world, preserving the good, and purging the bad.
John Rao has written and spoken for decades about the effects of the Enlightenment and Americanism. This essay is a very thoughtful addition to Rao’s work.
Wonderful essay, capturing the essence of the issues. In early parochial school in the early 1960’s, I was taught that our mission as Catholics was to make the United States a Catholic country. In the later elementary grades, that all changed due to the influence of the Council, including conciliar views promoted by secular media such as Time Magazine. The formerly unorthodox views of John Courtney Murray, SJ reigned supreme and do to this day, including among US bishops. There is no dialogue regarding Dignitatis humanae’s radical break from the traditional pastoral practices that had thorough doctrinal underpinnings.
This is certainly one of the most severe aspects of the current crisis in the Church.
This is interesting and a pretty good exposition on how one ought to regard the United States of America. It's my country, and I love it, and I think I am hugely blessed to be an American. I love it and have always loved it exactly as Mr. Storck describes one should love one's country. I disagree, though, that such love is mostly absent in our country. I think it's very present, mixed up with some mistaken ideas, to be sure, in the hearts of the majority of us who live in flyover territory. It seems to be largely absent in the big cities, and that's a huge problem. Yet another consequence of having forsaken the land. I am beginning to think that the consequences of that terrible migration will never end.