A New Essay by MOJer Patrick Brennan

"The Decreasing Ontological Density of the State in Catholic
Social Doctrine"
     Villanova Law/Public Policy Research Paper No. 2006-23
          Villanova Law Review, Scarpa Symposium, Vol. 52, 2007

  Contact:  PATRICK MCKINLEY BRENNAN
              Villanova University School of Law
    Email:  [email protected]
Auth-Page:  http://ssrn.com/author=518225

Full Text:  http://ssrn.com/abstract=945201

ABSTRACT: Over the last century-plus, Catholic social thought has
gradually reduced the ontological density of the state, to the
point that the state now appears to have only a tentative grasp
on the natural law basis of its legitimacy. During the first part
of the twentieth century, Catholic social doctrine tended to view
the legitimate state as a participant in the divine rule;
although draped in a sacred mantle, the state was subject to the
limits imposed by the divine and natural law. In response to the
totalitarian states' transgressing of those limits at
mid-century, Catholic thinkers reduced the scope and stature of
the state's place in man's life in society, while insisting that
the state remain tethered to the natural law. Today, however,
Catholics and others face a laicized state that utterly denies
its obligations under the natural law. While Pope John Paul II
eventually responded to this denial by emphasizing the natural
law limits on the state, Pope Benedict has instead summoned
leaders and citizens to acknowledge and develop a state that is
committed to "reason," even if this means inviting unbelievers to
act "as if God exists." As understood by Pope Benedict XVI, the
state, a servant of individuals and diverse societies, is to
receive its content and direction from, among other sources, the
Church; it is to receive reason purified by faith.