The Very Liberal John Paul II

WHEN the encyclical Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) appeared in 1991, some of us viewed it as a vindication of our understanding of Catholic social doctrine. Since then, there have been differences over the encyclical-not so much between liberals (who mostly regarded it as a non-event) and conservatives, as between certain conservatives and those called neoconservatives, the former accusing the latter of hijacking this pontificate, and Centesimus Annus in particular, in order to gain magisterial legitimation for what is called democratic capitalism or liberal democracy. The neoconservatives are described as advancing “The Murray Project,” referring to the effort of the late Father John Courtney Murray to square Catholic teaching with the American democratic experiment. The conservative critics claim that those of us who are in the Murray tradition are selling out authentic Catholic teaching to a desiccated and desiccating liberalism.

There is a real disagreement here. It is not, or at least not chiefly, a disagreement over Catholic theology. The difference, rather, is that our critics tend to put the worst possible construction upon the liberal tradition, and on the American cultural, legal, and political expression of that tradition. In doing so, I believe they hand an undeserved victory to those who interpret the liberal tradition in ways that we all deplore. With John Courtney Murray, I suggest that our task is to contend for an interpretation of liberalism that is compatible with the fullness of Catholic truth.

RJ

About the Author

Richard John Neuhaus

Featured Tags

WHEN the encyclical Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) appeared in 1991, some of us viewed it as a vindication of our understanding of Catholic social doctrine. Since then, there have been differences over the encyclical-not so much between liberals (who mostly regarded it as a non-event) and conservatives, as between certain conservatives and those called neoconservatives, the former accusing the latter of hijacking this pontificate, and Centesimus Annus in particular, in order to gain magisterial legitimation for what is called democratic capitalism or liberal democracy. The neoconservatives are described as advancing “The Murray Project,” referring to the effort of the late Father John Courtney Murray to square Catholic teaching with the American democratic experiment. The conservative critics claim that those of us who are in the Murray tradition are selling out authentic Catholic teaching to a desiccated and desiccating liberalism.

There is a real disagreement here. It is not, or at least not chiefly, a disagreement over Catholic theology. The difference, rather, is that our critics tend to put the worst possible construction upon the liberal tradition, and on the American cultural, legal, and political expression of that tradition. In doing so, I believe they hand an undeserved victory to those who interpret the liberal tradition in ways that we all deplore. With John Courtney Murray, I suggest that our task is to contend for an interpretation of liberalism that is compatible with the fullness of Catholic truth.