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This Insights eNewsletter was sent to subscribers on August 14, 2012.

eNewsletter Subject: Let's Not Make Things Up

Now that U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has chosen an articulate conservative Catholic, Paul Ryan, as his Vice Presidential running mate, it is interesting to see how commentators on the Catholic left are treating him. In a word, shamefully. See Phil Lawler's City Gates piece, Slandering Ryan.

This is part of a larger pattern of dishonest Catholicism, in which people invent their own spirituality instead of accepting what has been revealed and rooting themselves in the mission of the Church. In these circles, for example, you'll find enthusiastic support for the Leadership Council of Women Religious, which has exactly the same difficulty. I address the problem in The LCWR Needs an Ecclesial Mission.

Such self-serving spirituality does not lead to a tender care for truth. Moreover, it is not even remotely equal to the demands of the new evangelization for which the Pope has called. See what the head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization has to say about what is required: What is the New Evangelization and What Does It Mean for the Church?

I'm not saying, of course, that Paul Ryan's political views cannot be questioned. I am saying only that it makes no sense to look for Catholic political commentary among those who claim the Catholic name without accepting the basic principles of the Catholic faith. That's the first test. The Catholic moral high ground is built on rock, not on sand which takes any shape we please....

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