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mARXIST INFLUENCE IN WRITINGS OF MARYLAND CATHOLIC CONFERENCE??

As some of you know, in October of 2007, the largely pro-abortion Maryland state legislature passed one of the biggest tax increases of Maryland’s history. Governor O’Malley promptly signed it into law.

At the same time, coincidentally (ahem!), the Maryland Catholic Conference let loose with its “Statement on Taxation”. Click here to see this document for yourself. As you read this, you’ll see that this “Statement on Taxation” would more aptly be named, “Brainwashing for Socialism”.

The socialist/humanist boondoggle is stated quite early in the document. The last sentence in the first paragraph claims, “Applying Catholic social thought to the matter of taxation in Maryland, we find that there are two basic moral principles that should govern…contributive justice and distributive justice.” Teensy-weensy little problem! You will find neither the phrase “contributive justice” nor “distributive justice” in any Magisterial document! Doing some internet research, we find that these concepts were the brain children of one John Rawls. It appears from this site http://www.iep.utm.edu/r/rawls.htm that he was not an economist per se; rather, he was a political philosopher who was influenced by (among other people), Karl Marx, whose “Communist Manifesto” laid the foundation for the modern Communist dictatorships that have plagued civilization. Indeed, as one reads this MCC “Statement of Taxation”, one can see that the Marxist phrase, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” is unabashedly adulated throughout the document. At any rate, John Rawls was never a theologian; to the best of our knowledge, he never pretended to be such. In fact, it appears that he took great pains to avoid “metaphysical” considerations and implications, seeking only for utilitarian outcomes. Thus, whatever else his theories are, therefore, they cannot possibly constitute valid basis for Catholic social teaching.

The document goes on to list five suggestions. The MCC acknowledges that “these applications of moral principles do not have the same moral certainty as the principles themselves and that people of good will can agree or disagree on the application of moral principles.” That’s true, in and of itself. However, the alleged “moral principles” themselves, in this case, completely lack “moral certainty” as they had no origin in any Catholic theology whatsoever. That doesn’t seem to stop the MCC from breathlessly elaborating implementations of “from each according to his ability…”

Let’s look at the first “application”. Do you notice how the MCC opines that the State of Maryland is obliged to meet the needs of ALL PEOPLE? Yep! That’s you and me! You see, we’re sheeple who desperately need the Nanny State to make sure we get by! And we thought that we were intelligent and capable adults, working to support ourselves and our families, with our own abilities and God’s blessings! Silly us! How could we have gotten by without the Nanny State guiding our every step? Gee whiz!! Moving on, we see in the third “application” that the Nanny State should maintain sufficient revenues to take care of poor little us. And how do they do that?

Comes now the second “application”! We have to “contribute” and moreover, we must “contribute” through our noses. But golly gee! Shouldn’t we be overjoyed to be paying for tax-funded abortions, for socialist/atheist indoctrination of our children, and a host of other pet pork projects? More to the point, does this “Statement of Taxation” reflect the true teaching of the Magisterium? No. Read below for our reasoning.

Pope Leo XIII wrote Rerum Novarum in 1891, probably the first encyclical to deal with socialism versus capitalism. Click here for the link. See how the Pope condemned the notion that the state is the primary caregiver of the individual citizen. See how the Pope upheld the rightness of private property, as opposed to socialism and redistribution of wealth.

In 1991, Pope John Paul II wrote Centesimus Annus to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of Leo XIII’s encyclical. Here it is. Particularly in section 48, the late Holy Father sounds the warning about “the Welfare State” – the same kind of state over which the MCC waxes lyrical in its “Statement on Taxation”. Note especially the elaboration on the Principle of Subsidiarity, that clearly states that the state is NOT to be the primary provider for the individual citizen.

He cites dangers of such a behemoth state: loss of human energy, increase of public agencies, bureaucracy, massive spending. Does any of this sound eerily familiar? Indeed, the so-called “principles” celebrated in the MCC’s document unabashedly foment the dangers and anomalies that Pope John Paul II rightly held as spiritual and moral cancers in our society. For example, note this remarkable statement in the “Statement on Taxation”. We quote, “Private charity cannot substitute for what the public sector (the State) can do through the just collection and distribution of tax monies.” Isn’t it obvious, from your own reading of the Pope’s words versus this document, this wild claim flies in the face of papal teaching?

In this “Statement on Taxation”, there is little, if any, basis in Roman Catholic (as opposed to socialist-influenced American Catholic) teaching. It has all the earmarks of socialist apologetics. Moreover, the timing of this document’s release is most interesting, if not downright suspicious. This “Statement on Taxation” appeared in the Catholic Standard one week before the Maryland State Legislature passed a massive tax increase in Annapolis. Ladies and gentlemen, that was no mere coincidence! I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suspect that this publication in the Catholic Standard was an attempt to quell and inhibit Catholic protest over the massive tax increases that were to be voted upon at the time.

Not only is the timing of this document highly suspect; even more so is the source of underlying assumptions found therein. We have seen the almost blatant Marxist underpinnings of the “moral principles” it cites. As stated earlier in this piece, the two key concepts of the “Statement of Taxation” appear to be taken from the thought of John Rawls, who himself never embraced the Faith. Indeed, his positions on human life were diametrically opposed to the Magisterium.

In his book, “Political Liberalism”, he wrote the following in a note: “Now I believe any reasonable balance of [the values of due respect for human life, ordered reproduction of political society over time, and the equality of women as equal citizens] will give a woman a duly qualified right to decide whether or not to end her pregnancy during the first trimester. The reason for this is that at this early stage of pregnancy the political value of the equality of women is overriding, and this right is required to give it substance and force.” These are the words of an abortion proponent. As such, he cannot be considered a source for any idea concerning Catholic morality. Yet it appears that the Maryland Catholic Conference so esteems him.

Can this hearkening to a pro-abortion philosopher possibly be the doing of anyone in the Maryland Catholic Conference, or of anyone who purports to teach Catholics? As we said earlier, we find the timing of this document’s appearance, right at the time of the Maryland tax increase, to be very curious. We also note (with no disappointment, mind you) the relative brevity of this document. We wonder if perhaps the document, or at least its underlying concepts, was not supplied by outside sources in a hurried attempt to discourage Catholic opposition to the tax increases. While we deplore the obvious attempt to shut up those who were opposed to the rather draconian increases, we hope that possible outside influence was the key factor behind the careless selection of its principles. Otherwise, we must believe that Marxist socialism is to be found inside the Maryland Catholic Conference – and perhaps in other state Catholic Conferences as well.

In the words of Pope Pius XI, “No one can at the same time be a sincere Catholic and a true socialist.” (Quadragesimo Anno). Too many have forgotten his wise words. We simply are forbidden to flirt with socialist ideas: even more so when they come from pro-abortion sources. Because of such ill-advised collusion with pro-aborts, socialists and others from atheistic/humanistic bents, many of the official arms of the Church that deal with social justice matters have lost credibility in the eyes of faithful, orthodox pro-life Catholics. When the “social justice” Catholics embrace ideas that have as their roots atheism, humanism and the Culture of Death, they undermine what should be their true mission: the facilitation of the eternal salvation of souls through the establishment of God’s temporal order on earth. In saying this, we do not wish to impugn the motives of any individuals who labor in such organizations; we believe that the vast majority of them are sincere and truly wish to do God’s will. However, they are receiving, at best, very faulty guidance.

In short, this “Statement of Taxation” demonstrates once again why we cannot take the state Catholic Conferences at face value. We’ll never be able to trust them implicitly until they stop being unwitting apologists for socialists and atheists.