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An Essay on the Political Division of American Catholics

Bray, Keith W.
http://orcid.org/0009-0004-3161-1127
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oduhonors1682634338087233

Abstract Details

2023, Honors Theses, Ohio Dominican University, Honors Theses.
American Catholics were once a voting block which favored the Democratic party. However, Catholics now vote nearly the same as the general population, a contradiction when compared to other Christian denominations in the United States. This essay works to explore the political, historical, and theological elements of this division which caused the Church to fracture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Philosophically, the core political ideals of the Catholic Church and the modern United States stand in stark contrast with one another. Presently, the foundational political theory of the United States as formulated by John Locke has become warped into a sort of hyper-individualism. This hyper-individualism emphasizes a personalization of moral truths, and thus stands against the natural law theory of the Church developed from the works of St. Thomas Aquinas. This hyper-individualism would eventually seep into the American Catholic Church, and events throughout the twentieth century would work to further this permeation. Historical events such as the Americanism controversy, the Second Vatican Council, the election of John F. Kennedy, the widespread rejection of Humanae Vitae, and the political actions before and after Roe v. Wade, would work to further divide the Church. Finally, the essay concludes with an examination of various topics prevalent in American political discourse and determines how a Catholic could respond to those issues while remaining faithful to the teachings of the Church. This examination includes consideration of teachings from the Magisterium and determines the level of authority each teaching has by utilizing the concluding paragraphs of the Profession of Faith. The conclusions of this examination show that many politicians who claim to be Catholic take up positions contrary to the faith and risk placing themselves outside of full communion with the Catholic Church. Finally, this essay raises the question as to whether American Catholics as a whole have chosen party dogmas over the teachings of their Church, and the wider implications this has for American democracy.
Ronald Carstens, PhD (Advisor)
Matthew Ponesse, PhD (Committee Member)
Leo Madden, S.T.D. (Committee Member)
64 p.
American History; Political Science; Religious History; Theology
Catholicism; American Catholic history; American politics; Catholics in politics; John Courtney Murry; John Locke; Thomas Aquinas; Abortion; Just War Theory; Theology; Political Science; Catholic Church

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bray, K. W. (2023). An Essay on the Political Division of American Catholics [Electronic thesis or dissertation, Ohio Dominican University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oduhonors1682634338087233

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bray, Keith. An Essay on the Political Division of American Catholics. 2023. Ohio Dominican University, Electronic thesis or dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oduhonors1682634338087233.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bray, Keith. "An Essay on the Political Division of American Catholics." Electronic thesis or dissertation, Ohio Dominican University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oduhonors1682634338087233

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

oduhonors1682634338087233
258
© 2023, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio Dominican University Honors Theses and OhioLINK.