Welcome to The Open Door! This Wednesday (June 29) we discuss Catholicism and politics. In doing so, we’ll also explore the current debate about integralism and post-liberalism. It’s a tall order, but we have a welcome and returning guest, Thomas Storck, to help us. He’s the author of several books, including a new edition of his Foundations of a Catholic Political Order (Arouca Press, 2022). In addition, he recently translated and wrote a new forward for Louis Cardinal Billot’s Liberalism: A Critique of Its Basic Principles and Various Forms (Arouca Press, 2019). Storck is also a prolific writer and reviewer. And, to top it off, he’s an authority on distributism, as befits a member of the American Solidarity Party. We’ll be asking the following questions. Please feel free to suggest your own!

1. We’d best get started with some working definitions. Could you tell us just what “liberalism” is? And how about post-liberalism and integralism?

2. Do our governmental leaders have a duty to help make us better people? Is such a duty possible in a society that is sharply at odds about the nature of the good?

3. Do they have a duty to put society under the reign of Jesus Christ? What does the feast of Christ the King celebrate?

4. How can there be such a duty in a post-Christian society?5. Is it enough for the State to recognize the instrumental value of religion? Is this what George Washington advocated in the famous passage from his Farewell Address where he speaks of the necessity of religion and morality for public welfare?

6. The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board informs us that

“Freedom is our core value,” and adds that “We reject overreaching moves by public authorities to control the culture or private mores. Citizens’ right to privacy, to decide for themselves how best to lead their lives, is fundamental. It is in keeping with our Western roots to champion individual autonomy and the freedom of conscience.”

Is this true for both American conservatives and American liberals?

What is your response?

7. How are we to understand civil society? Does individualism undermine it?

8. Just what is distributism and how does it relate to Catholic Social Teaching?

9. Does Catholic Social Teaching provide us with the resources to move beyond both capitalism and socialism?

10. What projects are you working on now? What books are you reading?