Catholic Power versus Catholic Morals

Liked this article by Joseph Bottum. He uses Notre Dame's recent dropping of charges against pro-life protestors as an occasion to narrate the right/left political split in American Catholicism. I think the narrative is good; here's the crux:

The curious part, however, was the way that it broke. The liberals, the left wing of the Murrayans, chose the political side, electing to join and support the American political establishment. And the conservatives, the right wing of the Murrayans, chose the moral side, electing to use Catholicism to call the nation to a higher morality that sees abortion as an outrage against human dignity.

The result is things like the clash on Notre Dame’s campus in 2009. No doubt the protesters believed themselves good Americans. And no doubt Fr. Jenkins, president of a Catholic school, believed himself to be pro-life. But the sides they’ve chosen in the Murray Project compel them all to certain behaviors—on the one hand, to march against the simple appearance of a pro-choice American president at a Catholic college, and, on the other hand, to have Catholics arrested for protesting abortion.

Like all narratives boiled down into a short article, it's not a perfect account, and much more could be said on the matter, obviously. The Catholic Left would especially protest the idea that they alone ceded the moral high-ground, and support their point by mumbling something about seamless garments and how McDonald's doesn't pay a living wage. But the end result, the loss of moral authority in the political sphere, is the same regardless of whether the Catholic Church in America is divided or morally bankrupt on both sides. I'm glad that I'm not on the side that has to send out thugs to beat down fellow Catholics.