November 17, 2016
We, the undersigned Catholic scholars, express our gratitude to, and our solidarity with, the Church of God in Christ and Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake. We deeply admire your profound commitment and bold witness to the sanctity of human life in all stages and conditions and to the protection of the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable from womb to tomb. We applaud your work to uphold marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife and to rebuild the marriage-based family as the fundamental unit of society and the original and best department of health, education, and welfare. We acknowledge with gratitude your devotion to the cause of religious freedom at home as well as abroad and your labors to protect the conscience rights of the Little Sisters of the Poor and people of all faiths and shades of belief.
We pledge to stand with you, our Christian brothers and sisters of the historic Black church, and to work arm in arm with you in Christ-like self-sacrificial love to build in America a true culture of life and of family life. To the cultured despisers of religion and Biblical morality, we say we love you, but we will oppose you—and with our COGIC friends we will strive not so much to defeat you in a cultural and political struggle as to open your hearts and minds to the life-preserving and love-affirming truths of the Gospel that reason knows and faith confirms.
The historic Black church and the Catholic Church in America, though allies in many struggles, have been too much like strangers to each other for too long. It should not have taken the unprecedented moral challenges we now face, or the abject failures of our political elites, to bring us closer together. For this we apologize to God. But with His help and by His truly amazing grace, we pledge to be strangers no longer. Let us unite as "soldiers of the cross" to bring revival, healing, and righteousness to our people.
Sincerely,
Robert P. George, J.D., D.Phil., D.C.L.
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence
Princeton University
Mary Ann Glendon, J.D., LL.M.
Learned Hand Professor of Law
Harvard Law School
Michael Novak
Catholic University of America
Gerard V. Bradley, J.D.
Professor of Law
University of Notre Dame
Hadley Arkes, Ph.D.
Edward N. Ney Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions emeritus
Amherst College
George Weigel
Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Adrian Vermeule, J.D.
Ralph S. Tyler Professor of Constitutional Law
Harvard Law School.
John C. Cavadini, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Dermot A. Quinn, D.Phil.
Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies
Seton Hall University
Matthew Franck, Ph.D.
Director, Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution
Witherspoon Institute
Michael Reynolds, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Near Eastern Studies
Princeton University
Edward Whelan, J.D.
President
Ethics and Public Policy Center
R.R. Reno, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief
First Things
Teresa Collett, J.D.
Professor of Law
University of St. Thomas
Robert Koons, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
University of Texas at Austin
Mark Bauerlein, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Emory University
Senior Editor, First Things
Rev. Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P., Ph.D., S.T.D.
Professor of Biology and of Theology
Providence College
Francis J. Beckwith, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies
Co-Director, Program in Philosophical Studies of Religion (Institute for
Studies of Religion)
Baylor University
Melissa Moschella, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
The Catholic University of America
J. Budziszewski, Ph.D.
Professor of Government and Philosophy
University of Texas at Austin
Christopher Kaczor, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
Loyola Marymount University
Rev. Thomas Petri, O.P., S.T.D.
Vice President and Academic Dean
Assistant Professor of Moral Theology
Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception
Dominican House of Studie
R. J. Snell, Ph.D.
Director, Center on the University and Intellectual Life
Witherspoon Institute
Senior Fellow, Agora Institute for Civic Virtue and Common Good
O. Carter Snead, J.D.
William P. and Hazel B. White Director, Center for Ethics and Culture
Professor of Law
University of Notre Dame
Alexander Pruss, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
Baylor University
Mark Regnerus, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Texas at Austin
Senior Fellow, Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture
Rev. Prof. Stephen L. Brock, Ph.D.
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
Aaron Kheriaty, M.D.
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
University of California, Irvine
Rev. Joseph Koterski S.J., Ph.D.
Fordham University
Robert A. Destro, J.D.
Professor of Law and Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Law & Religion
Columbus School of Law
The Catholic University of America
Carson Holloway, Ph.D.
Political Scientist
Patrick Lee, Ph.D.
John N. and Jamie D. McAleer Professor of Bioethics
Director, Institute of Bioethics
Franciscan University of Steubenville
Christopher Tollefsen, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
University of South Carolina
John M. Haas, Ph.D., S.T.L., M.Div.
President
The National Catholic Bioethics Center
Christopher Wolfe, Ph.D.
Professor of Politics
University of Dallas
Ralph Martin, S.T.D.
Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Archdiocese of Detroit
Monica Migliorino Miller, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Madonna University
Eduardo Echeverria, Ph.D., S.T.L.
Professor of Philosophy and Systematic Theology
Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Archdiocese of Detroit
Matthew Levering, Ph.D.
James N. and Mary D. Perry, Jr. Chair of Theology
University of St. Mary of the Lake
Rev. Thomas Berg, Ph.D.
Professor of Moral Theology
St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie)
Maggie Gallagher
Senior Fellow
American Principles Project
John Grabowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Director of Moral Theology/Ethics
School of Theology and Religious Studies
The Catholic University of America
Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.
William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow
The Heritage Foundation
Mark Latkovic, S.T.D.
Professor of Moral Theology
Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Archdiocese of Detroit
Christian Brugger, D.Phil.
J. Francis Cardinal Stafford Professor of Moral Theology
Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary
C.C. Pecknold, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Systematic Theology
School of Theology and Religious Studies
The Catholic University of America
Rev. Kevin L. Flannery, S.J., Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana
Rome
Lee J. Strang, J.D.
John W. Stoepler Professor of Law & Values
University of Toledo College of Law
Michael A. Scaperlanda. Ph.D.
President
St. Gregory’s University
Stephen M. Krason, J.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies
Franciscan University of Steubenville
President, Society of Catholic Social Scientists
Prof. Ronald J. Rychlak, J.D.
Jamie L. Whitten Chair of Law and Government
The University of Mississippi School of Law
Kevin Govern, J.D., LL.M.
Professor of Law
Ave Maria School of Law
John M. Breen, J.D.
Professor of Law
Loyola University Chicago
Mary Rice Hasson
Director, Catholic Women's Forum
Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Bill Piatt
Professor of Law
Former Dean (1998-2007)
St. Mary's University School of Law
[Affiliations for identification purposes]
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Here's an interesting description by the great novelist, Anthony Trollope, of the changing profile of the Anglican churchman (by name, in this case, Dr. Proudie) in chapter III of his wonderful novel, "Barchester Towers," the second of The Barsetshire Novels--and in specific the causes and effects of Anglican liberalization in early nineteenth-century England (when parallel, though not of course identical, liberalizations were occurring to Anglicanism in the United States--see, e.g., Virginia). I found especially interesting the admixture of religion, politics, and academics in the creation of this liberal Anglicanism:
Some few years since, even within the memory of many who are not yet willing to call themselves old, a liberal clergyman was a person not frequently to be met. Sydney Smith was such, and was looked on as little better than an infidel; a few others also might be named, but they were 'rarae aves,' and were regarded with doubt and distrust by their brethren. No man was so surely a tory as a country rector--nowhere were the powers that be so cherished as at Oxford.
When, however, Dr. Watley [MOD: the Irish social reformer] was made an archbishop, and Dr. Hampden some years after regius professor [MOD: Renn Hampden, who famously squabbled with John Henry Newman, and eventually became the Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford], many wise divines saw that a change was taking place in men's minds, and that more liberal ideas would henceforward be suitable to the priests as well as to the laity. Clergymen would be heard of who ceased to anathematise papists on the one hand, or vilify dissenters on the other. It appeared clear that high church principles, as they were called, were no longer to be surest claims to promotion with at any rate one section of statesmen, and Dr. Proudie was one among those who early in life adapted himself to the views held by the whigs on most theological and religious subjects. He bore with the idolatry of Rome, tolerated even the infidelity of Socinianism, and was hand and glove with the Presbyterian synods of Scotland and Ulster.
Such a man at such time was found to be useful, and Dr. Proudie's name began to appear in the newspapers. He was made one of a commission who went over to Ireland to arrange matters preparative to the working of the national board; he became honorary secretary to another commission nominated to inquire into the revenues of cathedral chapters; and had something to do with both the regium donum and the Maynooth grant.
It must not on this account be taken as proved that Dr. Proudie was a man of great mental powers, or even of much capacity for business, for such qualities had not been required in him. In the arrangement of those church reforms with which he was connected, the ideas and original conception of the work to be done were generally furnished by the liberal statesmen of the day, and the labor of the details was borne by officials of lower rank. It was, however, thought expedient that the name of some clergyman should appear in such matters, and as Dr. Proudie had become known as a tolerating divine, great use of this sort was made of his name. If he did not do much active good, he never did any harm; he was amenable to those who were really in authority, and at the sittings of the various boards to which he belonged maintained a kind of dignity which had its value.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Find the brief In Memoriam in the current issue posted here. Justice Kagan's remarks are especially moving.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
That's the title of a symposium this Tuesday, November 15, organized by the Religious Freedom Project (RFP) of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University. A number of social scientists will present their work on the relation of religious freedom to the domestic and international common good. As a legal scholar, I will join the opening panel and present some suggestions on how these findings might relate to legal doctrine, and how doctrinal questions in turn might suggest further research emphases.
Here's a bit of the symposium description:
Our symposium will explore the following: To what extent is religious liberty critical for human flourishing? When and how does it contribute to economic prosperity, democratization, and peace? What challenges face religious communities living under repressive governments or hostile social forces? How is the persecution of religion related to other infringements of basic human rights? What is the relationship between religious freedom and violent religious extremism, and is there a role for religious freedom in efforts to undermine radicalization and counter violent religious extremism and terrorism over the long term?
Any readers who are inside or near the Beltway--this should be a really interesting and enlightening day of presentations.
Friday, November 11, 2016
An amazing line-up. If you are in or near South Bend this weekend, come by. Congratulations to my good friend, Carter Snead, the Center's Director.
