On the Square Today

Patrick J. Deneen on E.J. Dionne and the contradiction of Progressive Catholicism :

Dionne has been lambasting the Catholic leadership for its “conservative” positions, and praising the Church’s “moderate and liberal” elements, whether bishops, religious, or lay. He has accused the bishops of becoming too cozy with the Republican party and engaging too directly in electoral politics leading up to the 2012 election, particularly in regard to its stance against the HHS mandate and in the actions of a number of bishops and Catholic organizations filing suit against the mandate.

Yet, Dionne was a signatory on a letter signed by 90 Georgetown faculty that approvingly cited the “wisdom” of the Bishops when they responded critically to aspects of Paul Ryan’s budget. There was no alarm raised here by the “partisan” nature of such pastoral letters, nor fear expressed that the Bishop’s criticisms aligned them too closely to the Democratic party and would unduly engage them in a major issue animating the upcoming election.

Also today, George Weigel on the new movie, For Greater Glory :

Most Americans haven’t the foggiest idea that a quasi-Stalinist, violently anti-Catholic regime once existed on our southern borders. But those who don’t know how bad Mexico was in the late 1920s are about to learn, at least those who see For Greater Glory , a recently-released movie about the Cristero War, a passionate (and bloody) defense of Catholicism that’s remembered today, if at all, because of Graham Greene’s novel, The Power and the Glory .