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:
- Orestes Brownson (1803–1876)
- John Courtney Murray (1904-1967)
- John Senior (1923-1999)
- Avery Dulles (1918-2008)
- James Schall (1928-)
- Ralph McInerny (1929-2010)
- Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009)
- Mary Anne Glendon (1938-)
- George Weigel (1951-)
- 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?
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