George Weigel Urges Catholics to Read and Share Red, White, Blue, and Catholic by Stephen P. White

George Weigel, distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), recommends in his column “The Catholic Difference” (May 4): “Do read Red, White, Blue, and Catholic. Then get copies for your Catholic neighbors.” The book is written by his colleague at the EPPC, Stephen P. White, and is published by Liguori Publications.

If we are to “advance the New Evangelization and give our country a new birth of freedom,” Weigel writes, then we need to understand the principles of Catholic social teaching as set forth by White.

Weigel concludes that we must apply these principles “in the variegated social spaces between the individual and the government…. It’s in these spaces, and not just in the voting booth, that most of the work of citizenship happens.”

Weigel called the book a “brief but incisive look at the issues of the day and of the likely future.” He applauded White for making “several important points”:

— Most of the work of citizenship happens in civil society—the family, parish, school, business, and local community—and not in the political arena.
— The defense of human life, marriage, and family must be a priority, since society cannot exist without new generations.
— Religious freedom of individuals and the liberty of the Church are preconditions for a flourishing society.

Other Catholic leaders agree.

The Most Reverend James D. Conley, Bishop of Lincoln, Neb., who wrote the book’s foreword, said in his “Bishop’s Column” April 24, “The book is...a thoughtful and practical guide to becoming good citizens by building, in real steps, just and vibrant American culture. White says that our Catholic faith should make all the difference in the way we live as American citizens. And he’s right.”

“And to become good citizens,” Bishop Conley concludes, “in the best sense, we should first become good disciples of Jesus Christ. Red, White, Blue, and Catholic can help us to do both of those things—I hope you will read it with your families, and I hope it will help us to build a culture, and rebuild a nation, in which we will be proud to raise future generations.”

C.C. Pecknold called the book “indispensable,” saying it “shows us how the principles of Catholic social teaching raise up our political vision to a godly humanism, rooted in the image of God, and ordered to transcendent truth, beauty, and goodness.”

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George Weigel holds EPPC’s William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies and is a Catholic theologian, leading public intellectual, and the author or editor of more than 20 books. His essays, op-ed columns, and reviews appear regularly in major opinion journals and newspapers across the United States. A frequent guest on television and radio, he is also Senior Vatican Analyst for NBC News. His weekly column, “The Catholic Difference,” is syndicated to sixty newspapers.