Here are the ten greatest Catholic intellectuals in American history... [Catholic Caucus]

Ignatius Scoop.com ^ | 10-11-11 | Tom Hoopes,

[Salvation]

Here are the ten greatest Catholic intellectuals in American history...

... according to a survey of "top Catholic commentators, editors and scholars" conducted by Benedictine College's Gregorian Institute. Tom Hoopes, Vice President of College Relations and writer in residence at Benedictine College (Atchison, Kansas), writes:

 Since future categories in the Hall of Fame will recognize novelists and bishops of dioceses, nominees such as Flannery O'Connor and Archbishops James Gibbons and Charles Chaput are not included here. The work of those represented here mainly concerns the world of ideas and academic scholarship.

The Catholic Hall of Fame's Greatest American Catholic intellectuals, in the order of their birth:

   1. Orestes Brownson (1803–1876)
   2. John Courtney Murray (1904-1967)
   3. John Senior (1923-1999)
   4. Avery Dulles (1918-2008)
   5. James Schall (1928-)
   6. Ralph McInerny (1929-2010)
   7. Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009)
   8. Mary Anne Glendon (1938-)
   9. George Weigel (1951-)
  10. Robert P. George (1955-)

The inspiration for the hall of fame is the mural at Benedictine College's St. Benedict's Hall. When students walk into our major academic building, they pass through a depiction of the greatest Catholics of all time in various disciplines painted on the walls.

Read the entire post on the Gregorian Institute's site. Funny to think that just this morning I was e-mailing with Fr. James Schall about some important issues related to an essay (as he writes often for Ignatius Insight) and college football (as he's a big fan). I've read essays and columns by all of these intellectuals, but have read most deeply from works by Cardinal Dulles, Fr. Schall, Fr. Neuhaus, Weigel, and George. However, I've been reading more of Brownson lately, and am continually impressed by his writing and thinking. And John Senior's book, The Restoration of Christian Culture, is a fantastic and challenging work.

Ignatius Press, of course, has published some books by Fr. Schall, Ralph McInerny's novel, The Red Hat, Avery Cardinal Dulles' excellent History of Apologetics, and also carries several books by George Weigel, the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Mary Anne Glendon's Traditions in Turmoil, and Cardinal Dulles' Magisterium (the latter two published by Sapientia Press).

[Verginius Rufus]

I wondered about Buckley but figured it was because his writings and public appearances dealt with a wider range of issues, not primarily relating to matters of religion.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[nickcarraway]

No, offense, but Wiegel isn’t a prominent intellectual. Does he even acknowledge any valid popes before or after Pope John Paul II?

[dangus]

Chesterton was British.

[gemoftheocean]

What part of ‘AMERICAN history’ is not getting through to you?

[Tax-chick]

I don’t know that “intellectualism” is something a saint would deliberately seek after, but nonetheless, some of the saints would fit the general definition of an intellectual: someone with a significant output of ideas. Some have been great intellectuals: people with a prodigious output of excellent ideas. Thomas Aquinas, as you mentioned. St. Augustine. Pope John Paul II.

[mikemoose]

Ralph Martin (”The Fulfillment of All Desire”) might be an up and coming addition to the list.

[Pyro7480]

Fr. Rutler also infamously sent Christopher Hitchens into a rage a few years back: In Drunken Rage, Atheist Guru Hitchens Bullies Hero Priest of 9-11

[Diago]

John Senior is great.

[betty boop]

Is it because he was an apologist?

I gather Chesterton didn't make the top-ten list because he wasn't an American.

He was not only a great apologist, but a great intellectual (IMHO) — a British one.

[stfassisi]

Here is a very good list of a few- some of these people were not born in the US but they were and are US citizens

Father Jon Hardon

Father William Most

Dr John Rao

Dietrich Von Hildebrand

Alice Von Hildebrand

Dorothy Day

[Tax-chick]

I don’t think “in American history” requires that someone be born in the United States, but certainly that he did most of his work here, as opposed to simply visiting and/or having the work consumed, so to speak.

[FatherofFive]

No Scott Hahn?

[Captain Peter Blood]

What about Bishop Fulton Sheen? Is he not considered an Intellectual??????? If not, why???