Catholics are not liberals.
Many among the modern faithful fear the liberalization of Church teaching. This, of course, is itself an error, as the magisterium of the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, cannot teach error to its flock. Something that we Catholics do have to look out for, however, is the liberalization of our dialectic.
You have certainly noticed this by now: a faithful Catholic, perhaps one who is later in their years or is just a Republican, crying oppression and hypocrisy in response to the latest form of heathenry plaguing our nation. If the incident in question involves the faith being mocked or openly barred from public discourse, they might proclaim “Imagine if they did this to any other minority!,” as if some great revelation has just been made, or perhaps even “Catholics are the real oppressed ones!”
While these conservative Catholics are certainly doing their moral duty in decrying evil acts, and are almost always genuine and coming from a place of goodwill, this dialectic does not positively affect the culture for a myriad of reasons, but today we will cover the big three.
First, the dialectic itself is a liberal invention.
The dialectic of Engels and Marx states that history is a constant struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed. Communism framed this in the context of material wealth, between the bourgeoisie (the wealthy or middle class) and the proletariat (the labor class). Feminism rehashes this concept as having been between patriarchy and women, and homosexualism does so with the “cis” and the “sexual minority.” Creating your own “Catholicized” or “Baptized” brand of dialectic materialism is, at best, a useless endeavor, and at worst, unwitting participation in an anathematized ideology.
The faithful cannot knowingly engage in this dialectic. The incoherent ramblings of the so-called “liberal Catholics” aside, it is increasingly common to hear otherwise-traditional Catholics, even learned apologists, arguing from the angle that Catholics (or Christians in general) are the real oppressed caste of society.
A recent Counsel of Trent podcast titled “Anti-Catholicism is the Last Acceptable Bigotry” is the epitome of this. In this episode, Trent Horn details many instances of anti-Catholicism throughout American history, such as beatings, hangings, and other killings, as well as rampant Church burnings that persist to this day and are possibly yet to reach their zenith.
While Trent clarifies that he does not, in fact, promote a “victim mentality,” the very thesis is itself playing into this. We’ve heard this rhetoric dozens of times before – “It’s still mainstream to discriminate against women, the gays, the trans, the asexuals, the pedophiles!” Again, playing into this line of thinking, and therefore deeming it a valid form of argumentation within Catholic apologetics, is going to yield many more liberals down the line than it is orthodox and pious believers.
Second, crying hypocrisy will do nothing because they are not hypocrites.
Indeed, it feels that the Hypocrite Cry has become a trademarked tactic of the neoconservative movement, with it being a mainstay in the politics of this group since they rose to new prominence in the 2010s.
There is not a soul among the right wing who has not seen it at least once: popular conservative pundit commentates over, or points to a leftie making a fool of themselves in public. Talking heads such as Ben Shapiro and Crowder gained their popularity from this, this was their bread and butter.
“If only the liberals could see the double standards they possess when they argue for abortion but against the death penalty for rapists, or for racial equality while supporting affirmative action, or for being communist while supporting large liberal corporations! If they just looked in this mirror we’re holding up to them, they would surely see things our way, right?”
If that were true, there would be no modern cultural struggle, and we would already be living in our ideal Christian nation.
These liberals, in reality, do not care about what conservatives do or do not think is hypocritical. In fact, they do not care what conservatives think at all. Why this is the case is the same as why they are not hypocrites at all, even: their end goal is the total death and/or destruction of Catholics and the right wing.
Viewing things through this lens, it is easy to understand that this isn’t a force that can be reasoned with. On an individual level, conversions out of liberalism do happen, but on the whole, it will be impossible to subsume them as political allies or to somehow Christianize their policies and worldview. The liberal religion is inherently demonic, and demons have no chance of conversion.
Third, telling liberals that they are, truly, liberals will do nothing because they already know that.
No amount of “looking in the mirror” is going to cure them. The liberals completely understand that they are liberals, and they would have, for the most part, already changed their ways if they saw this as a problem.
Now, one should not understand this as an inability to seek repentance – such an idea is inherently anti-Christian. Rather, they are degenerates, and not in the mere sense that they, like all people, commit sins, but in the strong sense that these people actively and publicly promote, indulge, and force their sins upon you. They do not simply avoid engaging in generative activity, such as career, community, or family, but they actively try to destroy those that do. To reiterate, their religion is demonic.
Coming back to our thesis, when liberals hear conservatives and reactionaries argue with liberal dialectic, they do not perceive a bridge being built to try and understand their perspective. Instead, they remain fixated on the fact that the person making the argument lives a generative lifestyle (or is in favor of such a lifestyle, anyway), and that they are a target to destroy.
The way that we Catholics should respond to liberals in the public discourse is through direct, complete, and simple opposition.
Direct, meaning that one must never compromise in admitting opposition to those who would wish the destruction or diminishing of our faith. The trend of Catholics adopting liberal dialectic originated in reluctance toward directness, the fear that the world would, as our Lord told us, hate them.
Complete, meaning we must wholly expose the truth of the faith when refuting error. We cannot leave out that which is “unsavory” or “controversial,” but we must completely and with genuine goodwill show the doctrines of the Church to those who do not yet accept it.
Finally, simple. People are most rarely converted, or at least pacified, by in-depth breakdowns, analysis, and dives into the hard questions. These are all good things, of course, but they win minds, not hearts. Unless the goal is to create hordes of apathetic and spiritually dead deists (a la Jordan Peterson), we must not compromise on simplicity. God is simple, so reflect His nature in your words.
Decry evil for what it is, and fight it whenever necessary. Do not have fear, do not be vague and cowardly, do not overthink these things. Do have trust in Christ, do have the confidence to boldly spread His word, do be a bastion of the faith. This is our commission.