nomadic5
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- Nov 28, 2022
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Here is an interesting piece on liberalism written over 100 years ago by Pope Leo XIII (with comments from someone alive now)
This following was written by Dr. Aaron Henderson at the Alcuin Institute… who quotes Leo XIII
My own comments are in brackets
Pope Leo XIII: "Followers of liberalism deny the existence of any divine authority to which obedience is due, and proclaim that every man is the law to himself; from which arises that… [belief] system which they style [as] independent morality and which, under the guise of liberty, exonerates man from any obedience to the commands of God and substitutes a boundless license. The end of all this is not difficult to foresee… [W]hen once man is firmly persuaded that he is subject to no one, it follows that the… cause of… civil society is not to be sought in any principle external to man... superior to him, but simply in the free will of individuals; that the authority of the State comes from the people only [In communism and modern liberalism, it is the state only] and that, just as every man’s individual reason is his only rule of life, so the collective reason of the community should be the supreme guide in the management of all public affairs."
Dr Henderson, the person quoting Leo XIII here says… “[L]iberalism.. is the air we breathe, the water in which we swim, the inescapable presupposition to every political action we take. Bound up with liberalism is an understanding of human rights based on… a negative precept never to violate the desires of another citizen [which is ironic, to say the least, since... one word: abortion].
Notice that [to liberals] the legitimacy or illegitimacy, the uprightness or perversity of these desires is irrelevant. In a world in which will reigns supreme, it matters not what I have chosen or why; it matters simply that I, a free subject, have chosen it. .. [it is] a world in which “might makes right.” [abortion is the prime example]…
Individual freedom should not be elevated above all other goods… and since law is not made to protect the rights of any one person [group] but.. every [person]... [this is] not [at all] a Catholic vision… [True freedom] is always founded and grounded in the truth, in an understanding of the wise and good order that God has made and willed for us to inhabit. Human freedom blooms in the soil of truth and responsibility toward our neighbor, to say nothing of our responsibility to.. God. It does not grow or bloom in the soil of indifference and selfishness. Sometimes these competing visions of freedom are called “freedom for excellence” or “freedom of indifference” .. the former gives rise, when adopted by [society] to more peace, more justice [and] solidarity. The latter gives rise, as we see daily in our nation…to more violence, more malice, more social discord..
This following was written by Dr. Aaron Henderson at the Alcuin Institute… who quotes Leo XIII
My own comments are in brackets
Pope Leo XIII: "Followers of liberalism deny the existence of any divine authority to which obedience is due, and proclaim that every man is the law to himself; from which arises that… [belief] system which they style [as] independent morality and which, under the guise of liberty, exonerates man from any obedience to the commands of God and substitutes a boundless license. The end of all this is not difficult to foresee… [W]hen once man is firmly persuaded that he is subject to no one, it follows that the… cause of… civil society is not to be sought in any principle external to man... superior to him, but simply in the free will of individuals; that the authority of the State comes from the people only [In communism and modern liberalism, it is the state only] and that, just as every man’s individual reason is his only rule of life, so the collective reason of the community should be the supreme guide in the management of all public affairs."
Dr Henderson, the person quoting Leo XIII here says… “[L]iberalism.. is the air we breathe, the water in which we swim, the inescapable presupposition to every political action we take. Bound up with liberalism is an understanding of human rights based on… a negative precept never to violate the desires of another citizen [which is ironic, to say the least, since... one word: abortion].
Notice that [to liberals] the legitimacy or illegitimacy, the uprightness or perversity of these desires is irrelevant. In a world in which will reigns supreme, it matters not what I have chosen or why; it matters simply that I, a free subject, have chosen it. .. [it is] a world in which “might makes right.” [abortion is the prime example]…
Individual freedom should not be elevated above all other goods… and since law is not made to protect the rights of any one person [group] but.. every [person]... [this is] not [at all] a Catholic vision… [True freedom] is always founded and grounded in the truth, in an understanding of the wise and good order that God has made and willed for us to inhabit. Human freedom blooms in the soil of truth and responsibility toward our neighbor, to say nothing of our responsibility to.. God. It does not grow or bloom in the soil of indifference and selfishness. Sometimes these competing visions of freedom are called “freedom for excellence” or “freedom of indifference” .. the former gives rise, when adopted by [society] to more peace, more justice [and] solidarity. The latter gives rise, as we see daily in our nation…to more violence, more malice, more social discord..
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