By Brother André Marie, Sister Marie Thérèse, M.I.C.M., Brian Kelly, Gary Potter, Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M., Jack McManus, Robert Hickson, C. J. Doyle

Theme: Toward an Integral Catholic Culture: Variations on a Theme of Father Feeney

Title: Panel Discussion

After dinner, by way of bringing the conference to a close, there was a round table discussion with each of the speakers offering their thoughts about what they considered to be an essential element for a truly Catholic culture. Brother André Marie chaired as moderator while adding many insightful comments of his own. One of the issues that came up was the question of a Catholic confessional state. Even if there were a Catholic culture to support it, would it be in the best interests of the social reign of Christ the King to have the state recognize the Catholic Church as the religion of state? Or, would it be better for the liberty of the Church, if the state acted as protector of the Church, and of the one true Church alone, keeping the two authorities, spiritual and temporal, distinct without being separate. Opinions were tossed about on this interesting subject and it lent for a very lively discussion. Another issue that came up in the Q&A period was whether or not a faithful Catholic could enlist in the U.S. military today without exposing his Faith and morals to grave danger. All the speakers were agreed that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not just wars, so, too, they agreed that it would be wrong to use weapons against an enemy that cannot even be defined. And what kind of weapons? Dr. Hickson had some alarming points to consider, such as the use of nanotechnologies and robotics among the soldiery. All in all the discussion was as spirited as it was informative.

2009 SBC Conference

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