Catholics and the American Polity

“Anti-Catholicism is one of the distinguishing marks of American history. Today, as the Church’s institutional influence wanes, anti-Catholicism is once again surging. Yet Catholics mustn’t retreat from civic engagement, for the Catechism says that ‘intervening directly’ in the ‘political structuring and organization of social life’ is our ‘vocation.’ How are we to accomplish this? Three theories have gained prominence: integralism, regime change, and the ‘Benedict Option.’ In this book, twenty-five thinkers grapple with the questions of whether Catholics have a ‘place at the table’ of American public life and how we might fulfill our vocation vis-à-vis the structuring and organization of the same.” -PIETER VREE

“What is America-a nation, a proposition, an experiment? And if a proposition or an experiment, how does America relate to the Church’s own robust tradition of political thought? Is it something that a Catholic can or ought to make his peace with? This timely collection of essays highlights a range of opinion, from enthusiastic acceptance of a propositional Americanism to an equally strong rejection of such. Catholics who have not closely examined the philosophical or theological roots of American tradition or the implications of our own Church’s thought, will find in this volume more than one helpful starting point for their own pondering on what it means to be both Catholic and American in the twenty-first century.” -THOMAS STORCK

Contributors

Virginia L. Arbey – Casey Chalk – Will Hoyt – George Hawley – Kan Ito – A. James McAdamsPreston R. Simpson – Mark Barrett – Charles A. Coulombe – Christopher BeitingKarl Keating – Gracjan Kraszewski – Jude Russo – Marek Jan Chodakiewicz – Christopher ZehnderJohn M. Grondelski – James G. Hanink – Edmund Waldstein, O.Cist. – Thomas Storck – Edwin DygaRobert McTeigue, S.J. – Jason M. Morgan – Thaddeus Kozinski – John C. Médaille – Al Kresta

Author Biography

Pieter Vree is the editor of the New Oxford Review, a Catholic monthly magazine in its 48th year of continuous publication, and the father of six children. Thomas Storck is the host of the WCAT radio/TV program “The Open Door,” a contributing editor of the New Oxford Review, and a member of the editorial board of The Chesterton Review.