[Alex Murphy]

It's not that the terms “liberal” and “conservative” are bad or cannot be used helpfully in certain contexts. I use the terms fairly often myself. But I've sought, in recent years, to use them as little as possible when speaking or writing about Catholicism—especially regarding faith, morals, and even practices—saving them instead for conversation about American politics. (But even that is fraught with dangers, since the range of “liberalisms” and “conservativisms” in this country is more broad than the casual observer knows.) To put it as simply as possible, here's the problem: when the language of American politics is used to define and direct the reality of Catholic belief and practice, the result is confusion, discord, and obfuscation....

....Both “right” and “left” can harbor and foster ideologies; both “conservatives” and “liberals” can take up a rigid and moralistic judgmentalism that is self-congratulatory. Every man is tempted to make himself the creator of truth, rather than a creature made by Truth and for Truth. All Catholics need to work at peeling off the convenient labels and facing this inconvenient but necessary, saving, and liberating truth.

[Sidebar Moderator]

To prevent duplication, please do not alter the published headline, thx.

[Sergio]

bkmk

[NKP_Vet]

“the more liberal inclusiveness of Pope Francis”.

Is this the same Pope that just excommunicated a priest for endorsing homosexual “marriage” and women ordination?

[JoeFromSidney]

The U.S. bishops have been so focused on social conservatism in recent years that they issued no collective statements on the economy

Thank God for small favors. Every time they say something about the economy, they either echo Marxism or they botch it up. They should leave statements about specific economic issues to those who know what they are talking about. The Bishops should stick to emphasizing "Thou shalt not steal," whether (in the words of Woodie Guthrie) it's done with a gun or a fountain pen.