"The Reformation unintentionally undid the medieval synthesis of faith and reason. Now we romantically seek a spiritual life free from authority and tradition, or rationalistically seek truth as if human beings were autonomous and self-sufficient."
"The day may come when Catholics can support neither of the main American political parties or their candidates. Some think it’s already arrived. Alasdair MacIntyre, the Notre Dame philosopher, argued along those lines a few years ago, explaining why he couldn’t vote for either a Democrat or a Republican."
"Elections are tough times for serious Catholics. If we believe in the encyclical tradition—from Rerum Novarum to Evangelium Vitae; from Humanae Vitae to Caritas In Veritate—then we can’t settle comfortably in either political party. Catholics give priority to the right to life and the integrity of the family as foundation stones of society. But we also have much to say about the economy and immigration, runaway debt, unemployment, war and peace. It’s why the US bishops recently observed that “in today’s environment, Catholics may feel politically disenfranchised, sensing that no party and few candidates fully share our comprehensive commitment to human life and dignity.”
"Any committed Christian might be tempted to despair. But the truth is that it’s always been this way. As the author of Hebrews wrote, “here we have no abiding city” (Heb 13:14). Augustine admired certain pagan Roman virtues, but he wrote the City of God to remind us that we’re Christians first, worldly citizens second. We need to learn—sometimes painfully—to let our faith chasten our partisan appetites."
"In the United States, our political tensions flow from our cultural problems. Exceptions clearly exist, but today our culture routinely places rights over duties, individual fulfillment over community, and doubt over belief. In effect, the glue that now holds us together is our right to go mall-crawling and buy more junk. It’s hard to live a life of virtue when all around us, in the mass media and even in the lives of colleagues and neighbors, discipline, restraint, and self-sacrifice seem irrelevant."
- Archbishop Charles Chaput
The day may come when Catholics can support neither of the main American political parties or their candidates.
This presumes that the two party system is integral to American politics. It is not. If neither party can support a voting block of Christian conservatives then another party will be formed that accommodates them. I see in America room for at least three parties, left to right: Radical Left (welfare class, gays, old style progressives); Suburban Secularists (socially liberal fiscally non-ideological middle class); and Conservative (socially and fiscally conservative). In this system any party can block legislation in congress and neither party can win presidency without a cross-party appeal. The merit of such system is that it fosters nationalism as a basis of political unity.
Now, this is not in contradiction with the fact that a Christian is by definition looking firstly to his home in heaven; leaving aside the hesichast (quietist) tradition, most Christians and certainly most Catholics recognize that they have a social obligation toward their country.