Catholic scholar says classical learning can help renew America
Catholic professor Matthew Mehan urges Americans to revive classical learning as a means of cultural renewal. He links the intellectual heritage of Catholic philosophers and saints to the founding documents of the United States, especially the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Mehan authored "The American Book of Fables" to promote a fusion of faith and reason (fides et ratio) through stories set in the American landscape. He stresses the role of educators and the importance of classical authors such as Cicero and Seneca in shaping American ideals of natural rights and democratic governance.
3 months ago
Catholic scholar Matthew Mehan argues that a revival of classical learning and Catholic moral formation can spark a cultural and civic renewal in the United States as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary. 1 2
Mehan emphasizes that the intellectual heritage of philosophers, theologians, and saints—particularly the Greco‑Roman tradition of Cicero and Seneca—provided the “good soil” for the natural‑rights ideas that shaped the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. 1
He links this heritage to Catholic thinkers such as Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Thomas More, asserting that their contributions are part of the patrimony American Catholics share. 2
To illustrate his vision, Mehan authored The American Book of Fables, a collection set in the American landscape that pairs moral stories with historical documents, aiming to offer a “gift to the country” for the semiquincentennial. 1 2
The work earned the America 250 Innovation Prize from the Heritage Foundation, highlighting its recognition within broader cultural‑heritage circles. 1
Mehan critiques contemporary Catholic education for drifting toward secular models that prioritize information transmission over moral formation. He calls for curricula that center Christ, the Catholic intellectual tradition, and the development of a “clean conscience.” 2
He advocates that Catholic scholars with doctorates consider teaching in K‑12 settings, where they can directly influence the formation of virtuous citizens. 1
Movements such as Opus Dei and the Neocatechumenal Way are presented as “enormous engines” for instilling holiness in students and encouraging teachers to pursue sanctity, thereby reshaping how Catholic education operates. 2
Despite the closure of many parishes and schools, Mehan expresses optimism, describing a “nascent energy” within Catholic education that is re‑orienting toward the goals of Christian humanism and the universal call to holiness emphasized by the Second Vatican Council. 1*
Catholic heritage underpins American democratic ideals
Catholic heritage does, in an important sense, underpin several American democratic ideals—especially religious freedom, the role of moral truth in public life, and the common-good orientation of law. At the same time, the Catholic perspective also insists on a nuance: democracy cannot reliably endure on “rights-talk” alone once a society refuses moral reasoning about ultimate human ends.
One line of Catholic historical reflection emphasizes that American religious liberty did not arise from nowhere. Catholic thinkers point to early colonial attempts at toleration—especially in Maryland—as a seedbed where laws protecting religious freedom later influenced political developments in the English-speaking world. A typical Catholic historical storyline highlights, for example:
Bruce D. Marshall’s account also helps clarify the lived meaning of “toleration.” He describes how Catholics were initially permitted to worship in Maryland, but that over time the situation changed: Anglicanism became established, Catholic worship was forbidden, and Catholics faced penalties such as double taxation, loss of voting rights, and forced Protestant upbringing of children. His conclusion is blunt: “The line between toleration and persecution is thin.”
So Catholic heritage underpins American democratic ideals not only through celebratory origin stories, but also through the Church’s long experience of defending the dignity of religious persons under shifting political regimes. That history supports a practical lesson: religious freedom must be more than paperwork—it must be rooted in a moral understanding of the person.
Pope John Paul II repeatedly treats democracy as something that depends on moral foundations, not merely constitutional mechanics. In 1995, he argues that:
In the same line, John Paul II states that true freedom requires moral responsibility and accountability, and that the success of American democracy depends on each generation taking up the moral truths on which the Founders staked the future of the Republic.
This directly reframes the phrase “Catholic heritage underpins democratic ideals.” The Church does not simply claim cultural influence; it claims that democratic liberty is intelligible only if humans are seen as responsible before God and ordered to real goods, not just to shifting personal preference. John Paul II puts the point in a memorable way: “Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”
Catholic political reasoning here connects naturally to natural law themes mentioned in Catholic scholarship about American foundations—namely, that limited government and rights are intelligible within an objective moral order rather than a merely conventional one.
Catholic support for democratic ideals is most robust where it defends immunity from coercion in religious matters. A recent scholarly account (discussing John Courtney Murray and the Council’s development) points to the way Dignitatis Humanae helped Catholics participate in American public life “unmolested… because of their faith,” not because they rejected the American project.
Keating’s discussion summarizes the Council’s principle in terms of being “immune from coercion” and explicitly allows both private and public religious practice “within due limits.”
At the same time, Catholic teaching does not reduce this to a secular “separationism” where religion is pushed out of public reason. John Paul II warns that a democracy that lacks values degenerates: “a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism.”
And Schindler—critiquing an “Americanist” reading—argues that the Church can affirm the American founding’s achievements without accepting a version of religious freedom that narrows religion to an irrelevant private role. He calls “separationism between religion and the state” an inadequate understanding that has narrowed the permissible scope of religion in American public life.
So, for Catholic thought, the ideal is not “religion gets out of politics,” but rather: politics must be open to moral truth, and religion must be free from coercion.
The Catholic assessment is not triumphalist. Bruce Marshall argues that American democracy historically functioned with a public moral framework longer than later generations realized—and that once the Protestant moral consensus faded, American institutions increasingly served a secular “vision” that dogmatically denies man’s final end. He describes this as the legislative and judicial machinery being used to enforce an “enforced agnosticism about ultimate matters,” setting up a “war” of personal freedom against religious freedom.
Marshall’s argument includes a warning to Catholics: do not expect liberal democracy automatically to protect your freedom, especially the freedom of religious communities, when the public culture’s moral premises no longer include religiously grounded truth claims.
This dovetails with John Paul II’s insistence that democracy’s success depends on whether each generation embraces moral truths.
In other words, Catholic heritage can underpin democratic ideals at their best, but Catholic teaching also recognizes the real possibility of democratic decline when societies adopt a framework that refuses moral truth and then treats religious witness as a threat.
Catholic heritage “underpins” democratic ideals when Catholics bring a specific contribution to public life:
John Paul II describes America’s Catholics as historically involved in “a network of schools, hospitals and social services” and says they are obligated to offer their proper contribution to national life with “people of good will.”
So the Catholic claim is not merely that Catholics “helped found” something once; it is that Catholics should continue to renew the moral premises required for democratic liberty to endure—precisely because democracy needs shared moral truth, not only a legal procedure.
The statement that Catholic heritage underpins American democratic ideals is supported—especially regarding religious freedom and the need for moral truth in democratic life. Catholic sources emphasize that democracy cannot be sustained without moral truth and that religious liberty means freedom from coercion, not exclusion of religion from moral reasoning about how people ought to live together.
At the same time, Catholic scholarship warns that when societies adopt a secular premise that rejects ultimate ends, democratic institutions may be used to erode religious freedom and community witness—hence the Church’s ongoing call for renewal of the moral foundations of liberty.