Ross Douthat's Erasmus Lecture | National Catholic Reporter

Ross Douthat's Erasmus Lecture | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: I will start by saying I am commenting on the comments, not the lecture.  My eyes burn if they are exposed to such garbage as First Things.  I also don't know why they would publish an Erasmus lecture or why it would be about conservatives.  Erasmus was a Christian Humanist - a humanist believes that natural law comes from and is for the human life, not some divine after-life.  In other words, morality is about this life, not the next - at least for us humanists, Christian and secular.  That is as far from the authoritarian right as you can get.



Douthat should not call these people conservatives.  They are traditionalists at best and authoritarians more acurately.  The liberal trads cite encyclicals for their economic points, which the authoritarians ignore because authoritarians are about organization from the top - and Rerum Novarum is about counter-organizing from the bottom.  Modernists do not dislike these encyclicals, but are not limited by them as the sole truth.  What has people upset with Francis is his liberation theology, which essentially goes the same place - outside the magisterium - for answers.  The conservative support for the war was all about authoritarianism, which loves the military - and the sexual revolution was about both anti-authoritarianism and a modern acceptance of sexuality as a good thing.  Its not about consumerism, its about rejection of sexual advice by celibates - whether in the single or married lifestyles - and including the gay ones.



Douthat is right about the smugness of the conservatives.  They thought all the Vatican II priests had left to get married.  They did not believe one of them would become pope!  The Hegelian reference is to the evolution of God (the idea, not God Herself - note the Her -which is actually ancient in Christianity) in human understanding.  It is also a reference to Modernism, albeit an unknowing one.



There was nothing revolutionary about the result of Vatican II (save a decade where its spirit was honored), however the victor rights the rules - and at the time the victor was St. John Paul II, who was an opponent of any change.  While the Index of Forbidden Books is gone, it would have been gone anyway as so many titles published annually would have made it impossible to uphold - and now the CDF merely goes after doctrinal rebels - not Harry Potter.  Still, Saint JPII did reject capitalism explicitly, which the authoritarians ignored because capitalism is also a source of authority.  They really freaked at Benedict and Francis gives them well deserved nightmares.



Maciel and Law and all the episcopal enablers did so in the interest of authority, thinking that their authority would damaged if the truth got out (and that they could do no wrong anyway).  They were not wrong about  their loss of authority, but it was about time.  That is the difference between authority and leadership (which is the antithesis of authority because it depends on participation by those led - which is also why the pro-life movement in the Church is a banging gong).  Archbishop Cupich is a leader, which frightens the authoritarians, as well as conservatives, like Douthat, in general. They don't like Francis either.  Oddly, it is not Francis who is the relativist.  Francis actually seeks truth - for all, not just for Catholics under his authority.  The authoritarian Magisterium is the height of relativism, but is blind that fact because it really cares little for those outside the Church, or the Catholic sect of Western Christianity.  Francis reaches outside the group with love, not scorn, as the authoritarians do.



That Francis is looking remarriage is good and as a modernists, I hope he does change doctrines.  The view of marriage the old authoritarians cling to is an authoritarian one where women are chattel.  Those days are really gone and divorce is a part of that.  While that is painful for some males who liked their privileged place and hate that their wives leave them (including me).  That is not bowing to the world, it is accepting reality.  Modernism is about reality over tradition - a good bet in most cases when human conduct is the subject.



MSW and Douthat talk about the weakness of the Catholic Center.  I think the Center is strong.  It goes to Church, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, sometimes CEO - or not at all.  Its the vast majority that simply don't care for our little debates.  They come to pray - not because they are told to but because it feeds their souls.  They don't necessarily all pay, but many do (which the authoritarians wrongly see as other than charity - they think its an endorsement) - and they don't necessarily obey - they vote Democratic and Republican the same as others and practice contraception almost universally.  They come for spirituality, not politics.  Perhaps they are the smart ones.