Carey Senior Faculty Fellow 2002-03
Vincent Rougeau (Law)
University of Notre Dame
Sustaining Community in a Culture
of Individuals:
Is There a Place for Catholic Social Thought in American Law?
My goal for next year is to write a book that demonstrates
how Catholic social teaching might be used to respond to American law’s
propensity to view the individual in a radically autonomous way. For
the last few years, I have been exploring the ways in which Catholic
social teaching might be used in American law to offer a vision of the
common good that emphasizes the dignity of the human person and the
importance of seeing the individual as situated in community. Although
the American legal system demonstrates a deep respect for the human
person on many levels, it diverges from Catholic social teaching in
how it tends to view the individual in relation to others.
During the latter half of the twentieth century, American law
has made dramatic shifts toward a general acceptance of a view of individuals
within society as free agents, whose connections and commitments to
others are organized around the principle of personal choice.
Although the political process involved in the creation
of laws and the development of public policy is complex, in much of
American lawmaking the stated justifications (legislative histories,
statutory language, journalistic reporting) for altering many longstanding
legal regimes specifically exalt the individual at the expense of community,
and view the common good as being best served by maximizing personal
choice or limiting the “burdens” imposed by marriage, child
rearing or other social obligations. These changes have been documented by
many observers and, by itself, a study demonstrating that they have
taken hold throughout American law would offer little that is new to
the academic literature. As this trend has deepened, however, what has
been lacking is a coherent response to these changes that might be useful
in public debate. I think Catholic social teaching may provide a compelling
theory for such a response and that its usefulness can be demonstrated
when one looks at specific cases.
Although explicitly Christian and Catholic, I think many of the
themes of Catholic social teaching would find broad acceptance among
religious believers, as well as among others who might define themselves
as secular, but recognize the real risks to the social order when too
much deference is given to, in Mary Ann Glendon’s terms, the “lone
rights-bearer.” Indeed,
for religious believers, Catholic social teaching can provide the intellectual
foundation for more cohesive political engagement across denominational
lines on a variety of issues.
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