Mirror of Justice

Liberalisms and the Scope of Catholic Social Thought

To me it is clear that more than a thin conception of the good is needed to ground a just society. But I do not think that all liberalisms rely on a thin conception of the good. Martha Nussbaum’s conception of human flourishing is a far thicker conception of the good than that of John Rawls (though it is a secular conception). (Nussbaum is a religious Jew, but she does not believe religion should play a public role in grounding religious judgments). I wonder about the utility of arguing that Catholic social thought is politically (as opposed to theologically) superior to all forms of secular liberalism. Does such a claim contradict the claim of Catholic social thought to appeal to all human beings?

Father Joe and activism

Two separate points.
I too recommend Father Joe. It is an excellent book (though I found Father Joe's visitor annoying some of the time).
I also appreciate Richard's point about Sotomayor. If she is pro choice, she can hardly be accused of engaging in results oriented jurisprudence in the abortion cases she has heard.

I think, however, that the term "activist" has been used in a one-sided way and is not very helpful in any event. I would hope that the Sotomayor confirmation process would frontally attack the conservative claim that their justices interpret the Constitution and that liberals are “activists.” When the conservatives disable Congressional power (contrary to many decades of judicial precedent - even conceding that commerce clause interpretations had gone quite far) and in some cases obviously mangling the Constitution, e.g., the eleventh amendment cases) and when they overthrow affirmative action (despite the original meaning of the 14th amendment all the while claiming that they adhere to original meaning), it is hard to understand why their decisions are not activist. Staring at the word activist does not help in the process of constitutional interpretation. It is just an ideological term employed by conservatives, and it should be understood as such.

Sex Abuse and the Church

For discussion of the sex abuse report regarding the Irish Church, see http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=3213 including the comments section. For information about the problem generally, see bishopaccountability.org.

Peripheral Catholics

For Damon Linker's strong reaction (in the New Republic) to Joseph Bottom's assertion (in the Weekly Standard) that "opposition to abortion is at the center of Catholic culture in this country," see http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/linker/default.aspx.
Cathleen Kaveny links to this at dotcommonweal. In the comments section she says, "So do we have one center that cannot hold? Or two stable centers, of two very different worlds? What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward South Bend to be born? And how do we get off that awful widening gyre?"

Doubts About Financial Aid to Religious Education

Rick tells us that we should all be pro choice on education (referring, of course, to state aid to Catholic schools in the form of vouchers). So the Church has thought in Europe (though there, I do not think the aid has not taken the form of vouchers). The result: The Church has been tied to unpopular regimes and its moral witness muffled. Conditions deeply intruding into the autonomy of the Church have been accepted; and, in the long run, the Church has been thought by millions to be on the wrong side of history. Perhaps it should be open for some of us on this blog to harbor doubts about financial aid to religious education.

Question for Father Araujo on subjective conscience

I understand (but do not agree with) Father Araujo's apparent position that Catholics are required to follow Church teachings regardless of their subjective conscience.
I am still not sure whether he thinks the quality of the formation of one's conscience has anything to do with the question whether legal protection should be afforded to it. So, if a Native American sincerely believes that peyote must be ingested as a part of a religious ceremony, I am inclined to support protection wholly without regard to the theological sagacity of the position. I think that is the message of Vatican II. Leaving aside cases where the government has a compelling state interest, this means, of course, that Vatican II honors subjective conscience (not objective conscience) when the government seeks to force a person to act against his or her conscience. Father Araujo's last post seemed to suggest that the question of whether a conscience was or was not well formed had something to do with the question whether the civil law could impose upon religious freedom. Perhaps I misread the answer to Rob's question on this and, if so, I apologize.

Has the Vatican really rejected Obama's proposed ambassadors?

The Washington Times reported that the Vatican had rejected ambassadors put forward by Obama and the story was cited by one of our contributors. Apparently not so. David Gibson at dot.commonweal says:"Much of this sounded like jumping on the Obama-as-unpopular-with-Catholics bandwagon. And now John Thavis at CNS has a pretty definitive debunking:'No proposals about the new ambassador of the United States to the Holy See have reached the Vatican, and therefore it is not true that they have been rejected. The rumors circulating about this topic are not reliable,' the spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, told Catholic News Service April 9.The spokesman’s comments echoed off-the-record remarks by informed diplomatic and Vatican sources in Rome, who said the reports appeared to be unfounded. 'It’s possible names have been circulated inside the U.S. administration, and perhaps rejected for some reason or other, but not because of any Vatican veto.'"

Post-Metaphysical, Michael Perry, and the Limits of Blogs

I too am interested in what Michael Perry means when he says that he is a “post-metaphysical, apophatic  Catholic/Christian.”  It is mainly the post-metaphysical aspect that I am curious about.  I take apophatic  to mean that the nature of God is a mystery.  

But I would like to emphasize that I do not believe that any member of this blog is required to answer the questions of others. It is not just because we all have busy lives and more pressing intellectual interests than those pressed upon us by someone else on the blog.  I share Michael’s view that many of us inhabit different theological universes and those differences are so great that the potential for dialogue is limited. As some others have mentioned, I think this is especially true in the context of a blog the form of which among other things tends toward debate (sometimes heated and nasty) rather than dialogue in part because the person on the other side is not present when the words are typed and in part because the public character of the exchanges lead to defensive reactions. These tendencies are accentuated by the well known capacity of religion to inspire passionate defense of positions rather than open-minded exploration and tempered by the desire to cultivate Christian virtues.

Why Notre Dame is Right to Welcome Obama

For reflections on why Notre Dame should welcome Obama from Kenneth Woodward, a Notre Dame graduate and Newsweek religion editor for 38 years, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/29/AR2009032901352.html?hpid=opinionsbox1.

Glendon and Abortion

I have a question to ask about the Notre Dame award to Mary Ann Glendon. I recall her excellent book Abortion and Divorce in Western Law as taking a relatively moderate approach to abortion. It opposed the U.S. approach, and, as I recall, endorsed the approach taken in many European countries. That approach, as I recall, raises moral questions about abortion generally and legally regulates abortions beginning in the second trimester, but does not outlaw abortions in the first trimester. She called for compromise on the issue, a position quite different from the Vatican. Is my recollection incorrect? Has she changed her position? If not, I would have thought that some (not me) would be questioning an award to her by a Catholic university.