Welcome to Distinctly Catholic, a blog by Michael Sean Winters that examines politics, religion and the estuary where the two meet, all from a distinctively Catholic point of view. The blog is small "c" catholic as well as big "C" Catholic, examining a wide range of issues but always from the perspective of Catholic history and theology.
Yesterday, I thought I did a fairly decent job taking on the economic worldview lodged at the Acton Institute in my review of Samuel Gregg’s book “Becoming Europe.” Alas, I have been upstaged, and not just a little, by Pope Francis who delivered some powerful remarks on economics in an audience where he was receiving new ambassadors. You can find the full text of his remarks here.
At his blog, John Thavis on the pope's recent comments about the Church and the idolatry of money. Great stuff from Papa Francesco.
Last night, it would have been fun to have two TV screens. Fox claimed to find a smoking gun. MSNBC said all smoke, no gun.
In this morning's Washington Post, Jim Roumell makes the case for means-testing Social Security and his argument makes a great deal of sense. Before we start thinking about raising the retirement age or cutting benefits across the board, better to look at alternatives that involve less pain. The math is astounding.
At Aleteia, Sandro Magister writes on Pope Francis' frequent mention of the devil. These comments by the new pope seem like a throwback to medieval thinking to some, but as Magister notes, they reflect just how rooted Francis' spirituality is in the Scripture. Jesus talked a lot about the devil and even if most moderns pass over those references, they are still there, in the Word of God, trying to tell us something.
Samuel Gregg’s new book, Becoming Europe: Economic Decline, Culture and How America Can Avoid a European Future, is a bad book. Its principal shortcomings are its tendentious portrayal of the values that animate those of us who champion the modern welfare state, its simplistic and often distorted reading of events and, most especially damning in a book that aims to make an argument, Gregg makes more assertions than arguments as he sets forth this manifesto for the free market. And, to be clear, while Mr.
Bad news from the Green Mountain State. The state of Vermont passed a law permitting physician assisted suicide, and the governor is expected to sign it. You will recall that last year, voters in Massachusetts narrowly rejected a similar proposal. The new law in Vermont will doubtlessly embolden activists to try their luck in other states such as Connecticut or New Hampshire or even New York.
Vatican Insider highlights another of Papa Francesco's lovely little sermons at his morning Mass. The key line: "The ideologue does not know what love is, because they do not know how to gift themselves.”
In a column in his diocesan paper, Bishop Thomas Paprocki unhelpfully calls out press coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. The key paragraph reads:
A whiff of scandals is pouring forth from the Obama administration. If not dealt with forthrightly and transparently, they threaten to weaken the president’s hand at just the time when a strong hand is needed to address a host of important issues from immigration reform to overhauling the tax code.
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