Show Notes
One of the most important encyclicals we need to rediscover is Pope Leo XIII's Libertas (1888), on the true nature of human liberty. This encyclical explains what true liberty consists of, followed by a lengthy exposition of the Church's condemnation of liberalism, in the Enlightenment/classical sense rather than today's narrower use of the word. Most people who call themselves conservative now would, in certain ways, fall into the category of liberalism as defined by Leo. Prophetically warning of the evil consequences of political liberalism, Leo also takes aim at various false liberties in which modern people take such pride: freedom of speech, writing, thought, and worship. In each of these instances, liberals fail to recognize that freedom is not the right to do and say what one wants, but to do justice and to speak truth. As starting as Leo's teaching may be to modern Catholics, his fundamental principle is the one that Pope St. John Paul II enunciated when he said that "freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." Pope Leo XIII: "Man, by a necessity of his nature, is wholly subject to the most faithful and ever-enduring power of God; and that, as a consequence, any liberty, except that which consists in submission to God and in subjection to His will, is unintelligible. To deny the existence of this authority in God, or to refuse to submit to it, means to act, not as a free man, but as one who treasonably abuses his liberty; and in such a disposition of mind the chief and deadly vice of liberalism essentially consists. Thomas's article on Libertas: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/leo-xiiis-condemnation-liberalism/ Pope Leo XIII, Libertas https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=4885 DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
More from The Catholic Culture Podcast
Thomas Mirus and Eamonn Clark discuss a statement they co-authored for Catholic Culture called the Pledge Against AI Catholic Content and Text (PAACCT). The pledge has been signed by a prominent Catholic writers, thinkers, and artists. Links PAACCT https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pledge-against-ai-catholic-content-and-text-paacct/ Eamonn's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@eamonnclark Subscribe to Alto using discount code CATHOLIC10: https://ascension-press.linkjolt.io/l/catholic-culture-podcast DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
Timothy Flanders rejoins the podcast for a freewheeling conversation in which he and Thomas interview each other. Timothy talks about his upcoming book on Catholicism in Russia, and then Thomas gives his thoughts on the place of jazz in the Western music tradition, improvisation as an analogy to the moral life, and the fundamental problem with AI music: AI has no song in its heart. Links The Meaning of Catholic https://meaningofcath.substack.com/ Thomas's lecture on God's role in artistic inspiration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH5KBsOIz_Y Structure and Freedom in Music and in Christ, w/ Mark Christopher Brandt https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-33-structure-and-freedom-in-music-and-in-christ-mark-christopher-brandt/ Christians against AI art, w/ Susannah Black Roberts https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/188-christians-against-ai-art-susannah-black-roberts/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
Thomas Mirus's keynote address at the first annual conference of the Thomistic Artists Guild, on May 30 at the parish of St. Vitus in Los Angeles, CA. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH5KBsOIz_Y Thomistic Artists Guild: https://thomisticartistsguild.org/ DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter
Groundbreaking Catholic political thinker Andrew Willard Jones joins the podcast to discuss a brilliant lecture he recently gave at the New Polity Conference. St. Thomas Aquinas is often said (dismissively) to have gotten his view of woman from Aristotle's biology. But while he did accept some of Aristotle's biological errors, they disagree on something far more fundamental, namely their metaphysical interpretation of difference and inequality among human beings. A comparison between the Aristotelian view and the Christian/Thomistic view of inequality is profoundly instructive for how we see not only the difference between the sexes, but civil society and the entire cosmic hierarchy willed by God. LINKS New Polity https://newpolity.com/ Andrew Willard Jones, The Two Cities: A History of Christian Politics https://stpaulcenter.com/store/the-two-cities-a-history-of-christian-politics Episode transcript https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/hierarchy-and-woman-aristotle-vs-aquinas-w-andrew-willard-jones/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
Ralph Martin returns to the podcast to discuss his new book, The Coming Judgment: Are We Ready? He and Thomas discuss the lack of a Scriptural worldview among many present-day Catholics, and the reluctance of many to believe in or preach what the Church has always believed hell, the urgent need for repentance, and the judgments of God. Links Ralph Martin, The Coming Judgment: Are We Ready? stpaulcenter.com/thecomingjudgment Thomas Mirus, "Bring back 'negative spirituality'" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/bring-back-negative-spirituality/ Eamonn Clark, "The Revenge of Amoris Laetitia" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/revenge-amoris-laetitia/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters