It is palpable in the Opinion section of the Sunday NY Times: a sense of doom and desperation; democracy is being replaced by fascism; global warming about to destroy our planet; regressive populism is spreading across the globe. The faith of the progressive is in crisis.
This faith is in...progress. The famous "Arc of History!" The faith that "Progress" is the religious/metaphysical core of history and indeed reality. There are many versions but really two basic models: the evolutionary and the revolutionary. The evolutionary (Darwin, Whitehead, Chardin) sees a gradual, inevitable, imminent force in history/reality pushing forward to utopia and places immense trust in science, technology, education, therapy, reason, and diplomacy. The revolutionary (Hegel, Marx) posits the eternal dialectic of oppressor/oppressed by which the underdog is constantly in rebellion against oppression. The two obviously contradict each other; yet they coexist incoherently in various expressions of cultural liberalism.
This reality of progress is not a scientific discovery; not a revelation from the eternal; not a metaphysical intuition. It is a myth. Actually, the core dogma of secular progressivism. It is organically connected to other myths: gender as self-choice; the sacrosanct right of a mother to kill her unborn child; the contraceptive rupture of sex from having children; the omnipotence of science/technology; masculinity/patriarchy as toxic; "born that way" homosexuality; systemic racism; the messianic role of the maternal state; and the sovereignty of the isolated Self over all bonds of community, history, religion and family.
This pandemic of despair, anxiety, hysteria, and rage is often diagnosed as TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome. But it is surely deeper than a response to this pathetic, manic, histrionic egomaniac. He has been on a tear for over a year, but is already being restrained and will be out of the picture within two years.
The fear is deeper: that the sacral "arc of history" has been stopped, or diverted, or inverted, or nullified. The historic significance of Trump is that he halted that allegedly inexorable direction of history.
But it is much more than him.
- With the advance of technology (cell phones, social media, etc.) we are seeing a decline in learning outcomes.
- With the availability of therapy, we see increase in mental health problems.
- With the eruption of bad actors we see the irrelevance of diplomacy and the United Nations.
- In resisting evidence of the lab origin of Covid, "follow the science" guru Dr. Fauci has been unveiled as a partisan manipulator.
- Climate, the most pressing concern of liberals, is displaced by pressing needs for energy due to wars and emergent AI.
-Shootings continue but gun control makes no real progress across the nation.
- Critical race theory has proven to be a dead end, widely rejected by the working class, including many of color.
- The imminent demographic winter, which spares the more religious and generative of us, is ominous for the secular culture of sterile, non-generous sex.
- Perhaps worst of all: it is the underclass, the workers, the uneducated and deprived who are choosing rightwing populists like Trump in valid democratic elections.
Trust in a secular ameliorative process inherent to history and reality is being destroyed in every arena. The "god of progress" is...if not dead...fatally wounded. Furthermore, progressivism, largely secular, lacks the comfort available to religious conservatives, a transcendent, eternal life beyond this one.
The Catholic Progressive
Let's distinguish the Catholic Progressive from the Progressive Catholic. The noun or substantive is the defining inner form: the CP is progressive interiorly, with a Catholic flavor; the PC is here understood as basically Catholic in foundational moral/theological beliefs but leaning left on pragmatic, political issues. And so the Catholic Progressive accepts contraception, the technology of reproduction, legal abortion, female priests, transgenderism, and the LGBTQ agenda. Substantive Catholics share fundamental truths, but may differ as progressive/conservative/radical on prudential issues such as: immigration, capital punishment, taxes, environmental policy, diplomacy and specific wars as just.
The Catholic Progressive configures classic Catholicism as fundamentally erroneous and hateful as patriarchal, homophobic, judgmental, and authoritarian. The authentic Catholic...liberal, conservative, radical, or other...affirms Catholic dogma and morals but retains freedom of conscience in considering practical policies that do not involve inherent evils.
It is clear that the Vatican and American bishops lean left on many of these issues; but that practical evaluation is not guaranteed by the Holy Spirit and not binding on the conscience of the Catholic laity. A Catholic layman might well consider but then reject magisterial opinion and serve on ICE, or in Iran, or as prosecutor/judge in a capital punishment case.
The pontificate of Francis was a happy one for the progressive Catholic: it left in place basic dogma but mostly favored the liberal policy agenda. Not so much for the Catholic Progressive: he aroused hope for change but remained confusing/contradictory and in the end did not change church teaching. This will be even more pronounced with Leo: his sympathies are with the Left on policy issues. His pledge to follow the direction of Francis suggests a softness on dogma and morals. In temperament and attitude he is mediator, a peace maker, a compromiser. But he is also a canon lawyer, an institutionalist, concerned with Church stability. He is less likely than Francis to change basic teaching, even as he is less clear and forceful as teacher than many of us desire.
What Do We Make of This?
Yuval Levin has helpfully shown that in the Culture War, neither side is able to prevail against the other. The sides are roughly equivalent, although there is a pendelum swing from one election to another. Both sides share an anxiety that their side is in danger of extinction.
With this in mind, we do well as conservatives to take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy a degree of relief from anxiety/anger, serenity and confidence. In many ways the war is a stalemate, like Ukraine/Russia. But in the long run we have the advantage. Our values are perennial, eternal, rooted in the moral order and Revelation. Our fertility, biological/spiritual/intellectual, is superior. The progressive paradigm is sterile, fragile, sentimental, and futile.
This posture of interior peace allows us patience, hope and persistence. It allows compassion for the progressive in his affliction of despair. It even allows us to listen respectfully and affirm the truth offered by our distressed antagonist. It awakens a desire for reconciliation and movement ever deeper into the True, the Good and the Beautiful.
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