Fr. Jerry J. Pokorsky: Opinion: Visualize Christian Subsidiarity

“Visualize World Peace.” It’s a noble sentiment, but Original Sin often gets in the way of our imaginings.

Rather, let’s imagine political parties that seek healthy bipartisanship serving the common good. But the troubles in the Middle East, culminating in the War in Iran, have shattered the traditional political divide of the United States, and events promise to redefine the political/religious spectrum.

Since the Civil War, the political differences between Republicans and Democrats have often converged. After promising to keep America out of the Great War, Democrat Woodrow Wilson declared war in 1917. The war unified the nation. Catholics, as encouraged by Cardinal Gibbons, eagerly complied. After Pearl Harbor, the previously isolationist America unified and waged a war of destruction the likes of which it had never known. During the 1960 Presidential campaign, Kennedy outflanked Nixon in the “missile gap” national security issue. …

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