From a reader:
Father Coughlin was quite simply a Catholic! Pope Benedict, attached to the traditional techings of the Church as he is, repeated one of those teachings in Mexico recently when he denounced marxism and unbridled capitalism. That’s what I was taught 40 years ago in Catholic school! They’re both immoral because they are based on atheistic materialism. As long as people try to fit people like Father Coughlin into the ideological structures of materialism, they will misundertand.
Me: This is way too simplistic, I think. Coughlin was hugely controversial. The Church ultimately silenced him. I don’t think he generated all of that controversy and admonition from his church solely for “simply” being a “Catholic.”
One of these days we will have to get to Catholic teaching on economics and corporatism. But today’s ain’t that day.