Nature abhors a vacuum! That vacuum has been created by Catholic Bishops’ reticence if not outright failure to keep Catholic citizens aware and informed of the Church’s position of the major issues of the day. These issues are:
Social Issues: Marriage, Family, Sexuality, & Poverty
Financial Policy
Foreign Policy
Universal Healthcare
Immigration
Fox News and its four evangelists, O’Reilly, Hannity, Baier and Kelly, have successfully filled the vacuum and molded the minds of a large contingent of loyal Catholic citizens across the generational range.
Unfortunately, while agreeing on some social issues, Fox News takes diametrically opposing positions to those of the Catholic Church on four of the five major issues of the day: foreign policy, financial policy, universal healthcare, immigration, and even climate change.
Many of these differences come to light in a recent book, Tea Party Catholics, by Samuel Gregg, an unrepentant neo-conservative, emphasizing a libertarian disposition for limited government and a free economy.
The core tenets of Libertarian policy hold that individual freedom supercedes social obligation and that the sole purpose of government is to protect the property of its citizens. They decry proportional taxation, propound a free and unregulated marketplace and reject the use of a “social net” for those less fortunate than themselves. Libertarians propound a unique and distinct credo, which is in opposition to philosophic Conservatism as well as Judeo Christian ethics.
A quick review of the Libertarian party platform, its preamble and its statement of purpose include:
Personal Philosophy: “We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the rights of others.”
Government Philosophy: “The sole purpose of government is the protection of its citizens’ person and property, against direct violence and theft.”
Economic Philosophy: “We favor a totally unregulated marketplace and a banking system with unrestricted freedom.”
Social Philosophy: “All persons are entitled to keep the fruits of their labor. We call for the repeal of the income tax and the abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service.”
The modern Libertarian Movement can be traced to Ayn Rand, whose basic philosophy is Nietzschean, propounding total and absolute freedom for the individual from family, government and church. She equally concludes that man is not in a relationship with God nor other men, let alone society.
Catholicism’s Magisterium, brilliantly outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and expounded at length in Papal Encyclicals over the past two hundred years, sets forth in opposition a different set of principles to guide human endeavors.
It has become quite apparent that the Catholic faithful are now more willing to side with the various new “magisteria” of our secular culture rather than holding fast to the apostolic authority of the Church.
Catholic Bishops must regain their leadership role using the pulpit, printed media, and particularly the airwaves to inform the faithful of the multi-nuanced, Catholic position on the major issues of the day. These issues are firmly grounded on natural law principles founded by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Acquinas, which provide the bedrock for Catholic teaching and social justice.
--Xavier Rynne
