The Engaged Thomist

The Catholic Church has always been involved in temporal affairs and, for most of its history, was the earthly institution with the most political, economic, and social power in Europe (Hamilton 1). During that period of great temporal power, the Church was directly involved in shaping the culture of Europe through evangelization and the teaching of the Faith through schools and universities, but also by living out the Gospel through the founding, managing, and operation of hospitals and charitable institutions (Hamilton 1). However, once the Reformation took place, the Church’s temporal authority began to be threatened because Her spiritual authority was under attack (Snell 1). Thus, following the Reformation were a series of events, such as the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, which further diminished the Church’s ability to directly intervene in political, economic, and social events (Snell 1). This ultimately resulted in the fall of the Papal States (Snell 1). Following...

Jesus Christ is “the light of the world” and “whoever follows” him “will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). The Lord Jesus is the source of life itself and walking apart from Him leads to destruction and in the modern world, many people have heard of Jesus and billions of people know about Jesus’s claims about Himself. Despite this, many people still refuse to follow Him. The modern world has brought about unprecedented technological and material prosperity, but also an unprecedented level of secularism, religious skepticism, and scientific materialism. Thus, the modern world needs to be reminded of the ultimate importance of Jesus Chirst. This need is what Pope Saint John Paul II began to fulfill in his first papal encyclical, Redemptor Hominis . The encyclical presents the relevance of Jesus Christ in the modern world and also offers ideas and practices to grow closer to the Lord which the modern world can receive. Simply exploring a few sentenc...

Introduction The Catholic Church has a long and extensive history in China. Throughout its time in China, the Catholic Church has had a complex relationship with other aspects of Chinese society, especially the government of China. This fact is especially clear in the Reform Era when the Chinese Catholic Church was reeling from the effects of the Cultural Revolution: Catholic churches were closed, priests and other prelates were imprisoned, and “all forms of religious practice were condemned as a part of the ‘four olds’” (Madsen 472). Despite this harsh persecution, the Catholic Church survived in China and would enter into a complex period known as the Reform Era.  The relationship between the Chinese Catholic Church and the PRC was characterized by opposition from the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) and resilience from the faithful during the Reform Era. While the PRC loosened some of its policies from the Cultural Revolution, it still tried to control the Chinese Catholic Chu...