Thursday, August 16, 2012
Remembering John Courtney Murray, S.J.
John Courtney Murray, one of the most important Catholic intellectuals of the 20th century, died 45 years ago today. This site collects a whole bunch of his work, and also work about his work. Check it out. And, of course, if you don't own We Hold These Truths, well, you should.
Requiescat in pace
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2012/08/remembering-john-courtney-murray-sj.html
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Ayn Rand on Father Murray (and Paul VI) re: Populorum Progessio:
"Is there any difference between the encyclical’s philosophy and communism? I am perfectly willing, on this matter, to take the word of an eminent Catholic authority. Under the headline: 'Encyclical Termed Rebuff to Marxism,' The New York Times of March 31, 1967, reports: "The Rev. John Courtney Murray, the prominent Jesuit theologian, described Pope Paul’s newest encyclical yesterday as ‘the church’s definitive answer to Marxism.’ . . . ‘The Marxists have proposed one way, and in pursuing their program they rely on man alone,’ Father Murray said. `'Now Pope Paul VI has issued a detailed plan to accomplish the same goal on the basis of true humanism—humanism that recognizes man’s religious nature.’"
Amen.
So much for those American 'conservatives' who claim that religion is the base of capitalism—and who believe that they can have capitalism and eat it, too, as the moral cannibalism of the altruist ethics demands.
And so much for those modern 'liberals' who pride themselves on being the champions of reason, science, and progress—and who smear the advocates of capitalism as superstitious, reactionary representatives of a dark past. Move over, comrades, and make room for your latest fellow-travelers, who had always belonged on your side—then take a look, if you dare, at the kind of past they represent."
- Ayn Rand, “Requiem for Man,” Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, p. 314
Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei.