A prophetic excerpt from his newest “Last Things” column at the New Oxford Review: If I were a secularist tasked with subverting the Catholic Church, I’d coddle her, defer to her leaders, give her all sorts of privileges and special treatment, not hold her accountable — that is, encourage her to live comfortably in the world. She’d learn to fit in, to go along, and to let down her guard. Once in a while I would launch a full-scale investigation that would embarrass and humiliate her and justify imposing political and legal restrictions on her life.
At age 71 I grew up in that era and Church. The not so Cold War pitted America with its American Way including freedom of religion against atheistic Communism. I see now how the Church in America became for those in the halls of power a necessary ally. With 1960 we thought we had finally arrived. We were fully Americans. We did not realize the halls of power saw this as a necessary but temporary alliance. Nor did we recognize just how the more problematic aspects of being America had seeped into the Church, taken root and already beginning to show themselves
At age 71 I grew up in that era and Church. The not so Cold War pitted America with its American Way including freedom of religion against atheistic Communism. I see now how the Church in America became for those in the halls of power a necessary ally. With 1960 we thought we had finally arrived. We were fully Americans. We did not realize the halls of power saw this as a necessary but temporary alliance. Nor did we recognize just how the more problematic aspects of being America had seeped into the Church, taken root and already beginning to show themselves