End of an era

George Weigel's reconstruction of recent US Catholic history reflects his own ideological inclinations, but is informative.

Comments

[Stephen M. Bauer]

Ideological indeed. It was only when I got to the end that I looked and saw that the author was George Wiegel. I said to myself, "Of Course!" If ever there was a man who needed to question his own authority it is George Weigel.

[Stephen M. Bauer]

For the life of me, I do not understand why the idea of a consistent ethic of life fails to resonate with most Catholics, especially conservatives. I am not talking about the professionally Catholic, like Weigel, but ordinary church-goers.

In this assessment, I think Weigel made a fair political assessment though:

"In the last decade and a half of his life, Bernardin continued to advance a distinctive understanding of Catholicism’s engagement with American politics. Even as work on “The Challenge of Peace” was being completed, the cardinal began promoting the concept of a “consistent ethic of life,” which linked issues such as abortion, capital punishment, and arms control in what was quickly styled the “seamless garment.” As articulated by Bernardin, the “consistent ethic” rooted itself in the foundational Catholic social–ethical principle of the dignity of the human per-son and then suggested a moral symmetry between the defense of unborn life in the womb, the rejection of the death penalty, and resistance to the rearmament programs of the Reagan administration. Cardinal Bernardin was a committed pro-lifer; charges that he developed the “consistent ethic” approach in order to give cover to liberal (and pro-choice) Catholic legislators who were “good on capital punishment and nuclear weapons” were false. Intentions aside, however, the “consistent ethic” did help buttress the Bernardin Machine’s “in play” approach to the Catholic Church and public policy, which inevitably blunted criticism of such determinedly pro-abortion Catholic politicians as Edward M. Kennedy and Robert F. Drinan."

It seems as thought it was the conflation of politics and religion that killed the "seamless garment."

[Stephen M. Bauer]

I found the subtitle of the Weigel piece annoying: "The rise, dominance, and decline of a culturally accommodating Catholicism."

While the effect of Bernardin's approach towards pro-abortion Catholic politicians may seem to have tended towards accomodation, I think Bernardin's intent was to teach/reform all American catholics, with an eye towards reforming mainstream American culture.