New Political Blog: American Catholic

Today is the first day of operation for a new political blog that you should definitely check out: American Catholic.

Here is the description of the blog that I received from the blog's founder, Tito Edwards:

I have assembled twelve bright, engaging, thoughtful, and faithful Catholics to blog on American politics from a Catholic perspective. This new blog is called American Catholic.

We hope to share our Catholic faith in the public square of politics and culture for the betterment of the common good.

... We hope (I want) to make a major impact in the public discussion of politics not only in the Catholic blogosphere, but in the Political blogosphere as well. We have answered the call from the Second Vatican Council to positively engage the world with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Catholics in the Public Square's own Christopher Blosser is one of the contributors to American Catholic, and I'm looking forward to their having a big impact on the discussion of politics, public policy, and the common good in the Catholic blogosphere.

Mark Stricherz' "The New Catholic Politics"

Mark Stricherz has a blog, entitled "The New Catholic Politics":

Why is the site named New Catholic Politics? The old Catholic politics has been based on a modern political division. Conservative Catholics are culturally and fiscally conservative, while liberal Catholics are culturally and economically moderate or liberal. A new Catholic politics should be based on a unity rooted in Christian humanism in general and Catholic social teaching specifically. It accepts the conservatives’ insight that extending legal protection to the unborn is a foundational issue, but it agrees with liberals that social-justice issues are too often dismissed as prudential judgments.

Is your site geared just to Catholics? No. The site is likely to appeal to Catholics, as it will discuss the state of Catholic education, the sex-abuse scandal, and the sacraments. But its concerns are not limited to Catholics; far from it. My posts about politics will, as much as possible, be rooted in the universal principals of natural law.

What is the mission of this site? This site seeks to uphold the three cardinal virtues: faith, hope, and love. It believes that those virtues are under attack from three sources: secularism, elitism, and relativism. We Americans have too little faith and are too materialistic and individualistic. We ought to be more faith-filled, family-oriented, and civic minded.

Mark Stricherz is the author of Why the Democrats are Blue: Secular Liberalism and the Decline of the People’s Party (Encounter Books) and a contributor to GetReligion.org and InsideCatholic.com.