Earlier, we posted a brief mention of the Troubles of Bp. Morlino. It was very clear that his burden is "liberal Catholicism," which he inherited from his predecessors. (Note well that H E Morlino is hardly the ONLY Bishop with this burden.)
Anyhow, in a short note to a friend on that topic I mentioned that the reason for the underlying article (NCR's re-visit of Platteville) was that 'liberal Catholicism' was dying and NCR was attempting to re-ignite the fire with its screed.
Lo and behold, today we find that Patrick Deneen, arguably the finest successor to Fr. James Schall, SJ, said the same thing, four years ago....
...Liberal Catholicism, while well-represented in elite circles of the Democratic Party, qua Catholicism is finished. Liberal Catholicism has no future—like liberal Protestantism, it is fated to become liberalism simpliciter within a generation. The children of liberal Catholics will either want their liberalism unvarnished by incense and holy water, or they will rebel and ask if there’s something more challenging, disobeying their parents by “reverting” to Catholicism. While “liberal” Catholicism will appear to be a force because it will continue to have political representation, as a “project” and a theology, like liberal Protestantism it is doomed to oblivion....
That's hardly all of what Deneen proposes. It's worth reading the rest, because there are seriously dark clouds on the American Catholic horizon.
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