Catholicism and Monarchy

TradCath.org ^ | Unknown | Charles Coulombe

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Magna Carta and various other legal and institutional intricacies of the feudal/manorial system and aristocratic relationships put certain limitations on monarchy. The gradual evolution of constitutional monarchy (as in Britain)
and limited government extends back into the Middle Ages.
There are quite a number of differences which distinguish this from the sort of parody of Absolutism and "tyranny" often associated with kingship in the pre-modern West.
The writings of Thomas Aquinas on the subject are worthy of reflection.

[Lilllabettt]

Okay, you got me. I'll give you Malta and Liechtenstein, simply because I know absolutely nothing about either country, and I'd like to take your word for it. I was thinking about arguing about Ireland and Poland, but I don't have an exceptionally strong case. Isn't it interesting how oppression and misery are "good" for boosting Church attendance? It even happened here on 9/11. Your post also got me thinking about you can always tell if a country is Catholic by how many of their women become mothers. Fewer mothers mean a. the population is contracepting b. the population is aborting c. the population is ignoring the sacrament of marriage and leading a self-centered "me" lifestyle d.The population has taken religious vows e.the population has been exposed to a sterilizing nuclear fallout. Aside from d and e, a country with fewer mothers is a country running against Catholic teaching, on the road to oblivion.

[bonaventura]

I would love to see the country whose population is decreasing because of religious vocations! I would be buying a one way plane ticket to wherever that happened to be. I'm assuming given the current state of the vocations in the world though, people would soon become that country's largest export as it sent priests and nuns throughout the world restoring the Kingdom of Christ. What a glorious country that would be!

[bonaventura]

I think the reason the Church thrives under persecution is the extra grace that Christ pours out on those who are willing to undergo persecution for Him, for one thing. I think another thing is that the liberal and lukewarm influence would drop off pretty quickly and stop calling themselves Catholic if they were risking their life by doing so.

In other words, I see Frances Kissling dropping the word Catholic just as soon as it becomes harmful to be one. So, the numbers may decrease at first, but the intensity of the faith is much higher, and I think it's the intensity that tends to draw more authentic people in.

[Antoninus]

As Machiavelli said, a republic is preferable to a monarchy, but as our Founding Fathers noted, a republic can only stand if the people are generally virtuous and reasonably well educated.

Monarchy isn't all that much different than our current state of judicial tyranny, really. And we all know how much this sucks.

A Christian Democratic Republic is the ultimate. Bring back the Constitution!

[Guelph4ever]

I have never seen a truly Christian republic. In a republic, sovereignty is (supposedly) in "the People" but in a monarchy, sovereignty is in God (By the Grace of God, Queen; von Gottes gnaden Kaiser, etc). Democracy is the rule of the majority, however, in my Bible at least, God says that the majority will take the easy path of wickedness rather than the path of holiness.

I would invite someone to show me where the Bible endorses democracy, republicanism or any version of majority rule. It clearly points out the dangers of having any temporal government at all, but this is to serve as a balance to the command, throughout Old and New Testaments to obey the king and princes God placed over the world.

The United States though is a unique case, it was founded to a large degree on the constitutional monarchy of Britain which most Founding Fathers still thought to be the best form of government in the world. However, I would ask anyone to show me one revolution which overthrew a monarchy and erected a republic that worked to the benefit of the Church.

[royalcello]

I'm sorry I missed this thread when it was new, especially since the page you found off tradcath.com is actually from my own site. (The author, Charles Coulombe, is an occasional correspondent of mine, and he gave me permission to host his articles when he discontinued his own site.) Needless to say, as a monarchist myself (though not Catholic) I am in agreement with Charles. Anyway, thanks for posting this.

The rest of Charles's articles are also available here:

http://www.angelfire.com/in3/theodore/opinion/articles/coulombe.html