Greatest American Catholic Intellectuals

While some of my closest friends are Catholics, I’m not, so I wouldn’t have had a vote in this poll to determine America’s ten greatest Catholic intellectuals.  The current list:

The Catholic Hall of Fame’s Greatest American Catholic intellectuals, in the order of their birth:

1. Orestes Brownson (1803–1876)
2. John Courtney Murray (1904-1967)
3. John Senior (1923-1999)
4. Avery Dulles (1918-2008)
5. James Schall (1928-)
6. Ralph McInerny (1929-2010)
7. Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009)
8. Mary Anne Glendon (1938-)
9. George Weigel (1951-)
10. Robert P. George (1955-)

I’d hesitate to subtract any names from the list, but would be tempted to add at least two: the prolific and profound Peter Augustine Lawler and the always interesting Michael Novak.

As the proprietors of the list note, future versions will have a place for clerics like Archbishop Charles Chaput and novelists like Flannery O’Connor (and, I’d add, Walker Percy).

Any nominations or votes from our readers?