Pro Ecclesia, Pro Familia, Pro Civitate

Jay Anderson takes his faith seriously. The law school graduate and former small-town mayor is a convert to Roman Catholicism, and holds a staunchly conservative interpretation of his religion. His blog, described as “a Catholic blog covering matters related to Church, Family, and Politics,” highlights current events that deal primarily with the role of religion in public life. 

Anderson crafts his voice primarily by linking to articles, quotations, and YouTube videos that affirm his point of view. His most recent entry celebrates the possibility that the US Department of Agriculture will lift the 21-year ban on haggis, however generally his posts are concerned with more controversial topics.

Abortion is usually high on the roster of contentious social issues, and US Representative Joseph Cao is one of Anderson’s heroes for his eloquent stand against federal funding for abortions in the proposed healthcare reform legislation. His disdain for “Malthusian nonsense” on issues of population and child bearing reflect an uncompromisingly pro-life position. You know you’re dealing with a true conservative when he says the following about Mitt Romney:

Romney, who pretends to be a pro-life social conservative when he's running for President (as opposed to the pro-choice, pro-gay rights social liberal he governed as in the Massachusetts statehouse), may have just cemented the 2012 GOP nomination.

In the “hello world” post I briefly cited the Massachusetts special election as a potential example of religion informing political decisions and impacting electoral outcomes. Anderson has been unrelenting in his condemnation of Democrat Martha Coakley and her “ignorant” comments about Kurt Schilling and Catholics working in emergency rooms. He touches upon a central divide between secular liberals and religious social conservatives: progressives like Coakley tend to separate faith from daily life (a discrepancy the Catholic Church roundly condemned at Vatican II), whereas conservatives like Anderson feel that the teachings of the Church inform almost every facet of living. Liberals might deplore abortion personally, but still support a healthcare bill that provides coverage for it. Those who accept that abortion is the taking of an innocent human life cannot accept such a suspension of morality.

Agree or disagree, Jay Anderson’s blog is informed and relevant, and demands consideration as we look into how religion figures into the way individuals participate in the national discourse. Moreover, it’s more productive to engage in dialogue with people who sincerely believe in their faith, and in Catholicism I find that converts often argue most persuasively and passionately than ambivalent ‘cradle Catholics’. I like hearing what hardliners like Anderson have to say and how they see political events like the Massachusetts election because it is often so different from (1) the way I see the world and (2) the way the American media portrays people of faith, namely those with strong and vocal opinions. 

The pitfalls of such a point of view are equally instructive. Invoking Thomas More, a man who ruthlessly persecuted and tortured so-called heretics in his native England, for spiritual protection hardly fosters a welcoming and open-minded dialogue. But that’s somewhat beside the point. “Pro Ecclesia” promotes a forceful and informed point of view and deserves coverage here at Stained Glass Politics.