Posted on 11/10/2009 11:55:00 AM PST by B-Chan
The passage of sweeping national health care legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives has set the stage for the greatest intrusion of the State into the everyday lives of the American people in the nation's history. Across the Web, the groans and cries of the free-marketers, capitalists, and libertarians have begun to echo in response. Surprisingly, many of these voices condemn the Catholic Church for its "socialist" commitment to feeding the poor, caring for the sick, and doing the other things Jesus Christ commanded of us. "Without the support of you bleeding-heart Catholics," the refrain goes, "this socialist nightmare could never have passed."
An element of truth exists behind this complaint. A pious Catholic's heart does bleed for the sick, the aged, the destitute, the lame, and the suffering; in this, it mimics the Sacred Heart of our Lord Himself, who gave all He had, including His life, for the sake of the suffering.
But is the Catholic Church "socialist"? Impossible. Socialism is a materialist doctrine with a dialectical and teleological basis that is utterly incompatible with the word and example or our Lord. As such, it has been repudiated specifically in the teaching of the Church, most notably in the encyclical Rerum novarum (1891) of Pope Leo XIII, which states
the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property.1But if the Church is not socialist, neither is it capitalist. Capitalism, like socialism, is both philosophically materialist and ethically libertarian -- and libertarian thought (which is just Liberal thought with a different name) is completely in opposition to the teaching of Jesus Christ. Our Lord is not a free marketer, a capitalist, an entrepreneur, or a salesman. As the ultimate altruist and counter-example of rational sef-interest, He stands at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum from Rand's Nietzschean superman John Galt. Jesus Christ is a King, not a CEO*, and He commands His servant Church to uphold the Natural Law, which proclaims that every human being is a Child of God -- and as such, is deserving of food, medical care, and the other basic hallmarks of human dignity.
The Church is called upon to provide these social services. The State has no just role in pubic life except to keep the peace, protect the borders, establish justice, and preserve the national patrimony. In a Christian social order, the State officially recognizes the Church's special role in the life of the nation, and protects and support the Church in its provision of social services. This was the pattern of social organization throughout Christendom until the advent of the Lutheran heresy, which proclaimed the cult of individual Liberty and its separation of Church and State.
By destroying the proper relationship between Church and State, the "libertarian" movement invited the State to overstep its ordained bounds and intrude into areas of life within which it has no just business. In a post-Reformation representative republic such as our own, which pretends neutrality in matters of faith, the State cannot fulfill the role of Protector of the Church given to it by God; as a result, over time, popular demand forces the State to assume the provision of social services which in a Christian social order would be provided by the Church.
Human beings have the positive and Divine right to daily bread, health care, and other aspects of human dignity. In his Luciferian quest for individual Liberty, however, Western man has destroyed the Divinely-ordained social order under which the Church provided these goods. As a result, the heavy hand of the State will now intrude into every aspect of public life in its futile attempt to build a just society. Ironically, the worship of individual liberty instigated by the "reformers" of the Church and the secular counterparts of the "enlightenment" has destroyed the liberty under God that individuals once enjoyed as organic parts of the Catholic and medieval social order.
Nationalized health care is a fact. Soon, the power of life and death will rest entirely in the hands of the State. And as the smothering blanket of socialism settles slowly across our land, I invite libertarians to quit their whining. In their quest for freedom from the Church, they destroyed the institutions that kept the State in its proper place. Libertarians made this bed; we are now all going to be forced to sleep in it.
*That was L. Ron Hubbard's gig.
They got their heads chopped off.
Unlike the leaders of our enlightened democracy, Ferdinand and Isabella took their oaths to defend the realm seriously. Enemies foreign and domestic weren’t allowed to roam the land at will, subverting the culture and killing the people. They were done away with.
Sooner or later, we’ll either do away with our own internal enemies, or they will do away with us.
Oh, really? Click here to report me to the FBI.
I hope you have a good attorney.
I think one of the things we need to do to win this fight is to have allies. Lately we've seen some of the more extreme RC posters advocating a catholic monarchy, state regulation of churches and a union of state and church. However, we've also seen conservative RC's disagree and call these stupid ideas. IOW, we can't stigmatize all RC's because of a few. The Reagan coalition was successful in part because conservative RC's were a part of it.
It is our divine duty to fight for those things that are right and true. However, if that is God's will that we pass into shadow, then so be it.
Amen.
IOW, if we're going down lets go down fighting!
Who cares... when Mortara was old enough he used his free will to become an Augustinian.
Our Lord works is mysterious ways and God protected Mortara from his parents.
Obviously God's will was followed by Mortara
Seeing the mess the Republicans and Democrats have made of things, why aren't you?
You make one statement in your first sentence, that is then contradicted by your next sentence.
This not only makes you an idiot, but a liar as well.
Isn't that a sin?
Who cares... when Mortara was old enough he used his free will to become an Augustinian.
I've read that Edgar's Mom and Dad cared quite a bit, but that their entreaties to get their son back from Pius IX fell on deaf ears.
And, I must say, the charity you expressed with your words here -- "Who cares" -- warms the cockles of my heart./sarc
Our Lord works is mysterious ways and God protected Mortara from his parents.
Don't you mean "protected Edgar from his parent's Judiasm?" Once again, I'm amazed at your charity here.
I had no idea Our Lord condoned the state- (and Holy Office) sponsored kidnapping of small children so that they would NOT be raised as Jews.
Obviously God's will was followed by Mortara
I have my doubts, to say the least.
Do you believe that Pius IX was following God's Will when he authorized the police to grab little Edgar from his parents?
Edgar used his free will to become an Augustinian and that is the end of it,like it or not ,dear friend
Oh, so the END DOES justify the means! I had read that such a view was against the ethical theory espoused by the Church of Rome, but it looks like there are exceptions...like Jewish kids being grabbed from their parents and raised as RCs. Equity in action.
Edgar used his free will to become an Augustinian and that is the end of it,like it or not ,dear friend
Did Edgar exercise his free will when he was secretly baptised by Anna Morisi as an infant?
Did Edgar exercise his free will when the police, at the behest of the Holy Office and Pius IX, took little Edgar from his parents?
Did Edgar exercise his free will when he wasn't returned to his parents and was raised in a Roman "House of Catechumens"?
Thank you for your responses -- I'm beginning to see how liberty would fare under a "Catholic" and medieval social order, and what Jews and other non-"Catholics" should expect as organic parts of that order.
I wish you a Blessed evening!
If by "positive" you're referring to a system of positive law, which system are you referring to in the context of a right to "daily bread, health care, and other aspects of human dignity"?
By positive law, I mean we are each and severally charged by God with providing food for the poor, water for the thirsty, etc. I'd be happy to provide Scriptural references if you need them.
As for Divine right, what authority are you referring to here as the basis of a right to daily bread and health care? What Scripture? What Tradition?
The Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition of the Catholic Church as taught by the popes and bishops in union with him since the Ascension of our Lord.
Which "Divinely-ordained social order" are you referring to? During the Late Middle Ages, we had a disintegrating feudalism and a nascent capitalism. Which do you prefer?
Feudalism, as I made clear in my original post.
In terms of a political order, we find political entities such as kingdoms, republics, and empires (among others). Why no valorization of empires or republics on your part?
The Empire was the ultimate earthly expression of the Divine social order. I do not "valorize" republics because they are based upon the idea of popular sovereignty, which is anti-Christian.
Do you mean the "Catholic" and medieval social order that had polities that were so weak that Viking, Muslim, and Hungarian raiders (and armies!) could attack at will for centuries?
Yes, just as our postmodern social order suffers from attacks from Islamic raiders and armies today.
Where famine and plague ravaged urban poor and serfs in the countryside alike?
Yes, just as famine and plague ravage our urban poor and propertyless "serfs" today.
Where those self-same urban poor and serfs had very little of what we would recognize as "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"? Not to mention no King's Justice, which they couldn't afford.
Yes, just as the poor cannot afford the high cost of justice in our "enlightened" society.
(NB: "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is not a Christian tradition; it is a slogan of the anti-Christian "enlightenment".)
Where local economies were so cash-starved that elites either squeezed their serfs for what they could get; raided, robbed or cheated their neighbors; or financed armies for the purpose of obtaining slaves to be sold "down south" to labor-hungry Islamics?
Have you ever cracked open a history book? Yeah, those bad old elites of the middle ages! It's a good thing our God-fearing, Bible-believing modern elites never squeeze their "serfs" to line their own pocketbooks! It's a good thing our capitalism-believin', free-enterprise-worshippin' elites never raid the public treasury, rob the working man, or cheat the system for their own personal gain! I'm so glad the feudal system is gone so that we no longer have gigantic corporations investing in repressive overseas regimes for the purpose of obtaining wage-slaves to be sold "down south" to labor-hungry sweatshop owners!
With all due respect: you, sir, are ignorant. I cannot have a reasoned discussion of the facts of history with someone who is unaware of those facts -- meaning you. Get back to me when you've read enough to have a grownup discussion on this topic.
Reading for comprehension isn’t your strong suit.
Poor Edgar Mortara!
Poor Momolo and Marianna Mortara!
I believe Edgardo was grateful for his life ,thus, he prayed and sacrificed for the love of his parents and they are all in heaven with our Blessed lord Jesus
Now, now, now; what did I tell you about inserting more padding between mutually exclusive statements?
You must learn to at least keep up the polite pretense of respecting your readers' intelligence, even if doing so in reality is beyond you.
It's ironic that DU is actually better run that FR in this regard -- if somebody went there to advocate the dissolution of the Democratic Party (unless is was to replace it with something more leftist), he'd be tombstoned within a day.
You obviously don’t know what a pogrom is.
PROTIP: Get Daddy or Mommy to help you when making posts to grownup message boards.
Pot... Kettle. Typical hypocrisy from the likes of you...
Really, now, "the Joooish Bankers hired enemies to subvert our nation" doesn't even have the virtue of originality.
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