America’s perpetual election cycle is once again heating up as candidates vie for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. While, much of the campaign rhetoric has centered on “jobs” and the “economy,” the candidates have also gone to great lengths to characterize themselves as the “moral choice” for President. Two candidates, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have sought to distinguish themselves as the uniquely “Catholic choice” for President.
Catholic politicians in the Democratic Party, such as John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, have come under much scrutiny for “ignoring” a key principle of their Catholic faith, that life begins and should be protected from the moment of conception. While, the scrutiny these politicians receive from the Church and from Catholic voters is not unwarranted, Catholic politicians on the “right” are left virtually unchallenged by some Catholics when it comes to their neglect of major tenants of Catholic Social Teaching, namely the protection of society’s most vulnerable members, the poor, the sick and the elderly.
While Catholic politicians on the left have been scrutinized for ignoring a fundamental element of Catholic Social Teaching, in their support of abortion rights, Catholic politicians on the right have been permitted to allow their political ideology, namely their extreme economic liberalism, to shape their interpretation of Catholic Social Teaching.
Conservative Catholic politicians like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are correct in their assertion that Church doctrine opposes intrusive Government that neglects individual freedom and does not respect private poverty. Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum makes abundantly clear that socialist agendas are dangerously misguided and essentially serve to, “rob the lawful possessor, bring the State into a sphere that is not its own and cause complete confusion in the community.”
Unfortunately for politicians like Gingrich and Santorum, this rejection of socialism is not an endorsement of unbridled capitalism. On the one hundred year anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope John Paul II issued Centesimus Annus. While the encyclical reiterates its suspicions about socialist governments, it also warns of the dangers of subscribing to the theory of a purely individualistic free market economy. The Church asserts that the preservation of human dignity for all must take precedence over the maximization of profits and too often human needs are neglected by a purely capitalistic system.
In their misguided defense of economic liberalism in the name of Catholicism, conservative Catholics often fail to take into account that while freedom is a major goal of capitalism, the state remains obligated to ensure that everyone has the right to exercise that freedom. In Centesimus Annus, Pope John Paul II writes of the state’s obligation “to help these needy people to acquire expertise, to enter the circle of exchange and to develop their skills in order to make the best use of their capacities and resources…” Everyone must have the right to work; the right to enjoy a dignified standard of living and the right to enjoy collective goods. The impersonal free market conservatives champion does not guarantee these rights.
Essentially, extreme conservative policies that seek to deregulate the market and slash funding for social programs that protect society’s most vulnerable members, serve to deny basic human dignity and clearly violate the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Therefore, if we as Catholics are in pursuit of a moral and just society, we must look to the principles of Catholic Social Teaching to shape our political ideology. Whether it comes to social or economic policy, we must avoid the temptation to interpret Church doctrine through the narrow lens of an already established political ideology, so that we are able to conveniently justify our personal policy preferences.
