The political crisis of ‘Conservative Catholicism’

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Stephen Schneck is the Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America.

Published: Monday, January 4, 2016.
Stephen Schneck

Loosely orbiting the journal First Things, since the late 1980s a handful of Catholic intellectuals have systematically promoted what they believed to be an inherent compatibility—if indeed not actual fusion—between American-style neoconservatism and Catholicism. Sometimes called theocons, the first generation of the movement included Father Richard Neuhaus, George Weigel, and Michael Novak, who sided with the Reagan administration to oppose the US bishops’ 1986 letter on the economy.

Marrying Catholicism to trickle-down economics might have been an initial inspiration for the movement, but in time the theocons came to insist that the entirety of the American neoconservative agenda—from its stances on social issues and militant Pax Americana to its climate change denial and defense of torture—was congruent with Catholicism. This was no easy task; much wiggling was required. So over the years, church teachings, Thomas Aquinas, and interpretations of natural law were bent toward American-style conservatism. Cherry-picked American political history, Chicago School economic theories, and conservative Constitutional interpretations were bent toward Catholicism.

For decades the wiggling seemed to work. Several important American prelates became regular visitors in theocon circles. A second generation of leadership for the movement developed, including Catholic professors at prominent universities and well-known journalists. What has now become evident, however, is how much of the movement’s ecclesial allowance traded on claimed links to the papacy of Saint Pope John Paul II. Today, with Pope Francis as the Bishop of Rome, that allowance is more constrained. Theocons are using words like “crisis” pretty often.

Let’s be crystal clear about one thing, though: John Paul II was no theocon—despite efforts by the movement to claim him. Any fair reading of his encyclicals will find important differences between his teachings and the political agenda of American neoconservatives—not a cozy fit between the two. John Paul II argued repeatedly for protecting the environment, prioritizing the needs of the poor, promoting unions, regulating the economy for morality and the common good, waging peace, welcoming immigrants, and so on. Indeed, it was John Paul II who first called for a New Evangelization based on divine mercy that has been the hallmark of Pope Francis’ papacy.

http://www.uscatholic.org/blog/201601/political-crisis-%E2%80%9Cconservative-catholicism%E2%80%9D-30510#sthash.47IunCzQ.dpuf
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1. John Paul II took a lot of heat from right wingers

Not as much as from those more liberal than him, but some conservatives hated John Paul II.