Abstract

Catholicism and Liberalism

The article presents views of the author on Catholicism and liberalism. According to the author, an artificial definiteness has been accorded to these terms, "liberal" and "liberalism." Some critics assume that any Catholic who accepts the designation "liberal" necessarily uses the word in the sense attached to it by critics themselves. When one considers the history of these two terms one is surprised at this assumption. Liberalism may denote a disposition of will, an attitude of mind, or adherence to a set of opinions. Accordingly the liberal is a person, who is generous, tolerant and inclined to credit with sincerity those who differ from him, or he is unprejudiced and open-minded, or his opinions tend to magnify the importance of freedom and to diminish that of restraint and authority.