This paper discusses the erosion of the conditions of American civic education and engagement described by Tocqueville, the connection between Tocqueville’s understanding of democracy and the teachings of the Catholic Church, and the contribution of both civic and religious decline to the threat of democratic despotism as discussed by Gary Glenn and Kenneth Grasso in their symposium papers. It concludes by asking what students of Tocqueville and of Catholic social doctrine can learn from one another about questions of God, human nature, and the proper influence of the social state on our understanding of moral and political duties and rights.

This essay compares the reflections of Tocqueville and the Second Vatican Council on the perils of modern civilization as they relate to the question of limited government. While their analyses diverge in some respects, both Tocqueville and the Council are concerned about the proclivity of the modern state to absorb all of human life and see this political danger as the expression of a deeper crisis prompted by the secularization of Western culture. Convinced that this threat cannot be addressed at the political level alone, both conclude that the principle of limited government cannot be successfully institutionalized absent a far-reaching religious renewal. In Tocqueville’s famous formulation, “despotism can do without faith, but not liberty.”

In order for individual Catholics to be able to properly comprehend, articulate, and prudentially apply certain foundational components of Catholic social teaching, they need to have a sound grasp of classical political philosophy, particularly as it has come to us through Aristotle. Aristotle’s political thought helps to provide a strong foundation for understanding man’s life as a political animal while simultaneously acknowledging that man’s ultimate destiny is apolitical. Specifically, the convergence of Aristotle’s thought and Catholic social teaching can be seen in, but is not limited to, the following areas: the goodness of political society and authority, choice of regime, and the transpolitical character of the faith. These points of Aristotelian political philosophy, often misunderstood in light of modern liberalism, can assist Catholics in bearing public witness to the essential relationship between faith and political life, since the goodness of political life must be aligned with the truth of who man is, something that both Aristotle and Catholic social teaching rightly affirm.

This article analyzes Alexis de Tocqueville’s eloquent and noble 1848 “Speech on the Right to Work.” The speech provides Tocqueville’s most powerful and sustained critique of socialism. Socialism is taken to task for its “energetic, continuous , immoderate appeal to the material passions of men,” for its “continuous” attack on the “very principles of private property,” and for its scorn for individual reason and initiative. Tocqueville argues that democracy and socialism are at their heart “contradictory things.” But at the same time, Tocqueville affirms a Christian and democratic obligation for government to provide “public charity” for the poor. For all his concerns about tutelary despotism and the socialist subversion of democracy, he did not oppose the welfare state per se, at least in a modest form. The article shows that Tocqueville’s “Christian democratic” vision provides a principled, humane, and morally serious alternative to both libertarianism and collectivism.

This document, drafted by SCSS Treasurer and UN Non-Governmental Organization Representative D. Brian Scarnecchia, was submitted on behalf of the SCSS and a sister Catholic NGO in response to a request for papers concerning recommendations to improve maternal health and reduce child mortality as part of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

This was one of SCSS president and Franciscan University of Steubenville professor Stephen M. Krason’s “Neither Left Nor Right, but Catholic” columns that appeared initially in Crisismagazine.com on May 1, 2013. It argues why the U.S. criminal justice system is in a state of crisis. It argues that what seem to be ideologically-oriented critiques of the problems of the system actually have their basis in traditional Christian thinking.

The inadequacy of secular humanistic understandings of human sexuality has been demonstrated in the contemporary dissatisfaction with the superficiality of sexual activity and romantic relationships. The limitations of the secular psychology that gave rise to the debased contemporary view of sexuality—exemplified in the work of Carl Rogers—can be overcome by applying the fuller personalist anthropology of Pope John Paul II. This application is made by examining the topics of man’s relationship with God, subjectivity versus subjectivism, the source and character of morality, the nature of freedom, and the nature of marriage.

This article is concerned with four questions. How are decisions made in economic affairs? What role does freedom play in a market economy? How important is freedom in a market economy? How best to preserve freedom of economic initiative? Based on responses to those questions, we argue that a personalist economy with its reliance on intermediary groups and preservation of economic freedom represents an alternative to the individualism of capitalism and the collectivism of socialism. The evidence presented breaks the stereotype of private group decision-making as collusive and demonstrates that a personalist economy is a functioning reality in the United States.

This response to Daniel Mahoney’s symposium paper raises the question of whether Tocqueville’s “middle way” between libertarianism and socialism is ultimately tenable, due to the tendency of people under democratic regimes to pursue equality more passionately than they defend liberty.

The New Evangelization presumes that Catholic schools play a valuable role in spreading the gospel and transmitting the faith. For the first time in their collective history, demographic changes have nevertheless made it difficult for Catholic schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to do this. Using a mixed-method study with data obtained from fourteen institutions, this study determined that the mandate of these schools is affected by challenges related to their Catholic identity and financial stability. With limited resources at their disposal, administrators of these institutions are in a precarious situation. Without strong leadership and support from the international community, the future of Catholic education in the region is uncertain.