Catholic Social Teaching is the Perfect Antidote to White Nationalism and the Alt-Right

April 3, 2019 Millennial

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Brian Fraga writes:

But sadly, the kind of extremism that motivates someone to desecrate a Jewish cemetery, to march with neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia, or to shoot dozens of unarmed worshipers in a New Zealand mosque is on the rise in the United States and around the world….

Whether it’s called white nationalism or the alt-right, Cohen told Our Sunday Visitor that an ideology that manifests itself in hatred for ethnic and religious minorities, particularly against Jews and Muslims, is incompatible with the Church’s teachings on the dignity of the human person and the common spiritual patrimony shared by the world’s three great monotheistic religions….

Robert Christian, a graduate fellow at The Catholic University of America’s Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies, told OSV that Catholic social teaching is “the perfect antidote to the toxic ideologies” infecting the modern world.

“Against racism and xenophobia, the Church teaches universal brotherhood and sisterhood, that each person is made in the image of God, and that racism is an intrinsic evil that violates human dignity,” said Christian, who is editor of Millennial, an online Catholic journal.

“Against anti-Muslim or anti-Semitic bigotry, Church teaching endorses religious freedom and a culture of encounter. Against chauvinistic nationalism, the Church promotes the global common good. Against radical individualism, the Church calls for solidarity and genuine community. Against the call for strongman dictatorships, the Church teaches that each person has a right to participate in their government,” he said.

While the U.S. Catholic bishops and others, including Pope Francis, have denounced bigotry and white nationalism, Christian said the overall Catholic response to the rise of the alt-right, the resurgence of neo-fascism in Europe and the creation of “an alt-Catholic alternative magisterium that attempts to sanctify bigotry, sexism, nationalism and dictatorship,” has been “wholly inadequate.”

“Pope Francis has the strongest record of nearly any Catholic leader, denouncing these ideologies and holding up great Christian Democratic leaders from the middle of the 20th century as positive alternatives,” Christian said. “Nevertheless, addressing neo-fascism, white nationalism, and alt-Catholicism would be the perfect subject for his next social encyclical.”

Can Catholic Social Teaching Reduce Polarization?

December 24, 2018 Millennial

Robert Christian writes:

Polarization in the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades. At a Georgetown University event on polarization in a “broken Church and nation,” John Carr, the director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, described the grim landscape of American politics. He argued that Americans are more divided than united and that fear, cynicism and anger are leading to tribalism, resulting in the nation’s capital failing to do even basic tasks like fund the government. This division has created fault lines that run through the Church, not just the government and culture. Many Catholics feel “politically homeless,” while others have become polarized, mirroring the values and behavior of others in their political party.

The event featured four panelists who brought unique perspectives and insights on polarization and its impact….

Gehring said that now is the time to reclaim Catholic social teaching. He noted that we are a “both/and” Church that has the resources and worldview to transcend some of the deep divisions in American society. He urged a revival of the consistent ethic of life, an approach that challenges the reigning ideologies on the right and left in the U.S….

Elise Italiano, the founding executive director of The GIVEN Institute, also pointed to the value of the consistent life ethic and the importance of fully embracing Catholic social teaching. She noted that many young Catholics are showing a commitment to this approach in their activism, prayer life and on social media. However, Italiano pointed to high rates of stress, isolation and depression that millennials face. Many young leaders do not know to whom they should turn for advice or to emulate in their search for the best way forward. She closed by saying we can help each other and live as real neighbors, even if we disagree on certain matters.

Pope Francis, Catholic Social Thought, and US Public Life

June 29, 2017 Millennial

Georgetown University recently hosted a discussion on Pope Francis, Catholic social teaching, and US public life, featuring Emma Green of The Atlantic, Michael Gerson of the Washington Post, and Mark Shields, syndicated columnist and commentator for the PBS NewsHour. The moderator was John Carr, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. You can watch the full nuanced, thoughtful conversation here:

And here are some highlights of their remarks:

Michael Gerson

It is not a normal political time….We have been called to consider…who we include as members of the community, who we value and who we dehumanize
In the budget, almost all of the cutting is done at the expense of the poor and the vulnerable and the elderly….Just the cuts in HIV spending could cost up to a million lives
In many ways, it’s the Catholic moment….The country really needs the powerful personalism that the pope presents. It really needs solidarity as the basis of our politics.
We’ve seen the return of nativism to the center of American politics and American life
Right now, the policy debate on the Republican side is almost completely sterile. And that’s because they’ve blamed the wrong things and people.
Now we’re having an argument about whether there is a common good to serve at all
Catholic social thought begins with first principles and applies them; it doesn’t begin with social controversies and then react to them
We have a tremendous empathy deficit in America
People turn to the news not for information but for ammunition and to support their preexisting biases

Emma Green

There’s really no party that fully represents a Catholic point of view
Many people feel politically homeless. This is particularly true of millennials.
There may be coalitions emerging that we may not have been able to imagine previously
On the eve of the March for Life, I spoke with a young woman who spoke passionately about how much she cared in equal terms about care for refugees and the poor and care for the unborn. There is a hunger among millennials for more coherent thinking (against old culture war bifurcations)

Mark Shields

The Democratic Party is a top down party. The reality is the Democrats have no farm system, they have not reached out to encourage people to become part of a majority party
The Democratic Party right now is at risk of applying—in minority status—a litmus test, of becoming a social club.
You’re gonna put together a majority in the country when you’ve got a third of Democrats who are pro-life? There’s got to be room for and voices for and attention paid to people like Bob Casey and Joe Donnelly. There wouldn’t have been an Affordable Care Act without the votes of pro-life Democrats.
Trump is as deep as bird bath, he is criminally uncurious
One is America First (Trump), the other is global solidarity (Pope Francis)

The AHCA Doesn’t Meet Catholic Social Teaching, Pro-Life Standards

May 26, 2017 Marcus Mescher

On May 4, Congressional Republicans gathered in the Rose Garden at the White House to celebrate a 217-213 vote to pass H.R. 1628 (the American Health Care Act, or the AHCA) that finally accomplished something they had tried more than 50 times before: to repeal and replace the ACA, also known as “Obamacare” (even though only 17% of Americans supported such legislation according to one poll). President Trump took the podium to boast, “We’ve come up with a really incredible health care plan, this has brought the Republican Party together.”

Republicans have been quick to defend the AHCA. My Congressional Representative, Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-2^nd District), praised the bill because it “restores pro-life principles to our nation’s healthcare.” He noted that pro-life organizations like the National Right to Life, Susan B. Anthony List, the Family Research Council, and the Concerned Women for America supported passage of the bill. But this cherry-picked list makes it seem like the AHCA is a slam-dunk for those concerned about defending human life at every stage. On the contrary, a number of Catholic organizations opposed the AHCA, including the Catholic Health Association of the United States and NETWORK, the Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, which coordinated and published concerns from more than 40 Faith Organizations. Widening the scope, Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN-5^th District) listed 50 groups opposed to the AHCA, including the AARP, American Medical Association, American Health Care Association, National Partnership for Women and Families, AFL-CIO, and National Council of La Raza, among others. Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA-2^nd District) denounced the bill in a most eloquent manner, calling it a “shameful” piece of legislation that was rushed after a “pathetic process.”

Indeed, it seems it was premature to celebrate and defend the bill without an updated Congressional Budget Office report. This nonpartisan review—released earlier this week—makes it difficult to claim this bill “restores pro-life principles to our nation’s healthcare.”

Here are a few highlights from the CBO report on the AHCA:

23 million Americans would become uninsured and it would increase costs for the sickest and oldest citizens.
In 2026, 51 million people under age 65 would be uninsured (compared to 28 million under the ACA).
Medicaid (federal and state health insurance for low-income and disabled Americans, as well as children and the elderly) spending would be cut by $834 billion and 14 million people would lose Medicaid coverage.
Low-income senior citizens could see premium increases as high as 800%, whereas the richest Americans would see their premiums drop. (The richest Americans will also enjoy a $346 billion tax cut over ten years.)
Current funding levels will cover only 110,000 individuals with a pre-existing chronic condition. If states use other funding, they could cover up to 600,000 individuals with pre-existing chronic conditions, which is not even a third of the 2.2 million enrollees who have a preexisting chronic condition at present. Others report that the AHCA would only cover about 5% of those with preexisting conditions.
The cost of maternity care could also increase by thousands of dollars, which would likely lead to higher rates of abortion. (The ACA provided prenatal and pediatric care to 9.5 million previously uninsured women, an enormous achievement for families.) Some have said the AHCA disproportionately targets women, especially women in poverty while others call the bill anti-life. Surely those who complain about having to pay for prenatal care for others—as Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL-15^th District) did in March—miss the point about what it means to be pro-life.
1 in 5 Americans struggle with mental illness, but the AHCA would let states drop coverage for mental health and substance abuse (the Surgeon General reported in November that almost 21 million Americans struggle with substance abuse), charge people higher premiums if they have a pre-existing condition (like anxiety or depression), and create high-risk pools, which would be another way to charge people with mental illness more and provide less coverage.

These features of the AHCA make it clear that “Trumpcare” falls well short of the standard set by Catholic Social Teaching, whether that refers to the life and dignity of the human person, the call to participation in social life, the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, or solidarity. Read More

Faith, Francis, and the 2016 Campaign

April 4, 2016 Millennial

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life of Georgetown University recently hosted an event on Pope Francis, faith, and the 2016 campaign. The panel featured: Lauren Ashburn, EWTN News Nightly White House correspondent and political director; E.J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist and professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University; Emma Green, writer and editor for The Atlantic politics section covering religion and public life; Gregory Smith, associate director of research on religion and politics at Pew Research Center; and Michael Sean Winters, author and columnist for National Catholic Reporter. John Carr, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, moderated the conversation. Check out the highlights:

Emma Green: evangelicals aren’t being swayed by the faith candidates. @emmaogreen #faithvote

— Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) March 30, 2016

@emmaogreen notes evangelical voters have defied predictions in this election. Evangelicals are not a monolith. @Georgetown #FaithVote

— John Gehring (@gehringdc) March 30, 2016

“Very striking that Pope Francis is quoted most by Bernie Sanders in the 2016 campaign” @EJDionne #faithvote @GUcstpubliclife

— Tessa Pulaski (@tessapulaski) March 30, 2016

Pope is critiquing the entire campaign: love, not destruction; mercy, not vengeance #FaithVote @EJDionne

— Allison Walter (@allisonwalter91) March 30, 2016

@EJDionne says some evangelicals voting for Trump because they are fighting back against perceived hostile culture. #FaithVote

— John Gehring (@gehringdc) March 30, 2016

@GregSmith_Polls says struck by how many religious voters who say they don’t think Trump is religious but they like him anyway. #faithvote

— John Gehring (@gehringdc) March 30, 2016

“@PewReligion data surprisingly shows that religious voters are voting more on non-religious issues.” @GregSmith_Polls #faithvote

— Georgetown CST (@GUcstpubliclife) March 30, 2016

“Most surprising aspect of #Election2016 is level of anger. God is talked about, but doesn’t seem to be in it.” @laurenashburn #faithvote

— Georgetown CST (@GUcstpubliclife) March 30, 2016

@laurenashburn says “anger has trumped religion in this election.” @GUcstpubliclife #FaithVote

— John Gehring (@gehringdc) March 30, 2016

Michael Sean Winters: the right used to introduce cultural war issues to win elections. Now the left does it. #faithvote

— Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) March 30, 2016

“#PopeFrancis has exposed a rift in #CatholicLeft on labor & culture issues, but not reflected by Democrats.” @MichaelSWinters #faithvote

— Georgetown CST (@GUcstpubliclife) March 30, 2016

Greg Smith: Catholics are the most diverse voting bloc in the United States. @GregSmith_Polls #faithvote

— Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) March 30, 2016

“The one word to describe the #Catholicvote is diverse – demographically, geographically, politically” @GregSmith_Polls #faithvote

— Georgetown CST (@GUcstpubliclife) March 30, 2016

.@GregSmith_Polls: Young latinos are shifting the geographic and political center of American catholics #FaithVote

— Matthias Witt (@msbcw) March 30, 2016

Greg Smith: White, moderate Catholics are one of the most important swing blocs in the US. @GregSmith_Polls #faithvote

— Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) March 30, 2016

.@EJDionne “there is no Catholic vote and it’s very important.” #FaithVote

— kathy saile (@KathySaile23) March 30, 2016

“There is no Catholic vote and it’s really important” 40-40-20 group @EJDionne #faithvote @GUcstpubliclife pic.twitter.com/59JJ9992pj

— Tessa Pulaski (@tessapulaski) March 30, 2016

@EJDionne: Anger is real in this election but misleading if we only have a “Trump-o-centric” view. @GUcstpubliclife #faithvote

— John Gehring (@gehringdc) March 30, 2016

Economic justice will be the defining issue determining the voting patterns of this generation – @emmaogreen #FaithVote

— Matthias Witt (@msbcw) March 30, 2016

“Anger in 2016 also among young #BernieSanders voters, particularly on econ. justice. Used to be a religious issue.” @emmaogreen #faithvote

— Georgetown CST (@GUcstpubliclife) March 30, 2016

“People are finding Catholic social thought valuable as a framework in #Election2016.” John Carr #faithvote

— Georgetown CST (@GUcstpubliclife) March 31, 2016

Abortion is still the only sacrosanct issue among conservative Catholic voters, everything else is debatable – @laurenashburn #FaithVote

— Matthias Witt (@msbcw) March 31, 2016

John Carr:”Catholic Social Teaching is looking at issues from the bottom up, from outside & who is left behind” @GUcstpubliclife #FaithVote

— Sara Benitez (@SaraStoryteller) March 31, 2016

“If the Church is being only modern, then it’s not being true to itself.” – EJ Dionne #FaithVote

— Cassandra Kienbaum (@CassieKienbaum) March 31, 2016

Amen! @MichaelSWinters “the best thing happening to the Catholic Church is Latinos”#FaithVote @GUcstpubliclife

— Sara Benitez (@SaraStoryteller) March 31, 2016