The Church and the End of the Welfare State

George Weigel

by George Weigel on July 30, 2012 · 2 comments

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. 

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George Weigel

By George Weigel

George Weigel is an American author and political and social activist. He currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the Founding President of the James Madison Foundation.

  • Joe DeVet

    I don’t see much evidence that the USCCB bishops have changed their minds about their Marxian interpretation of Catholic social teaching.  The blame isn’t only theirs–the social-teaching documents often enough sound like they promote welfare-state and socialistic “solutions” rather than plain ordinary charity.  Though starting with Rerum Novarum the documents condemn socialism directly, they often seem to promote socialistic behavior. 

    There’s one exception I know of–John Paul II’s Centessimus Annus, which sharply criticizes what it calls the Social Assistance State, and for reasons similar to conservatives’ criticism of the Obamian program.

    In any case, the USCCB bishops continue to lobby for socialized medicine (just not exactly Obamacare, with its several “problems”), and for ever more borrowing and spending, and for aid and comfort to those breaking the Seventh Commandment by coming here illegally, and against the only sane budget proposal seen in Washington for years–the Ryan plan.

    I’m not so sure, Mr Weigel.  Who are the bishops you refer to, who seem to be heading in a new direction?

  • http://platytera.blogspot.com/ Christian

    This article dovetails well with Paul Rahe’s “Conscience and Catholicism” in the latest issue of The City from HBU.