Based on a paper presented, and the feedback received, at the 19th Annual Conference of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists held at Franciscan University, in Steubenville, Ohio, October 29th, 2011, this short article proposes to initiate what could be an important research project intended to study the relationship between Catholicism and, respectively, the Tea Party movement and American civilization. Given the generally accepted understanding that American civilization is in the midst of a deep crisis, such a study hopes to provide, among other important analyses, both a Catholic critique of the present crisis and a Catholic critique of the Tea Party movement and the latter’s proposed solutions to the contemporary dysfunctional transformation of the American democratic republic.

The contributions to this symposium raise several issues that extend beyond an examination of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. For example, is the conventional distinction between ancient and modern in political philosophy too simplistic? Is religion necessary to preserve democracy, and if so, what kind of religion must it be? Theological and sociological sources both suggest that the fate of democracy in the modern world is inextricably, not merely accidentally, connected with the fate of Christianity.

This essay explores the relationship between Ex Corde Ecclesiae and its application in the United States on the one hand and the practice and teaching of the social sciences on the other. The paper reflects on ways the bishops and laity can advance the social sciences, which provide the current-day lingua franca of public discourse, and expresses the need to invoke social scientific research in the public square.

This article was one of SCSS President Stephen M. Krason’s online “Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic” columns. It appeared on April 1, 2012. There is a link to Krason’s monthly column at the SCSS website (www.catholicsocialscientists.org). Since August 2012, his column also appears at Crisismagazine.com. This article considers new, serious threats to free speech in the contemporary Western world.

The following is a slightly revised version of the address delivered by His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan during the Twentieth-Anniversary Conference of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists in New York, October 2012. Drawing on his experience as Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Egan offers five rules for the Church’s episcopal leadership: focus on what is essential; don’t be distracted from basic duties; make self-assessments based on documented facts; foster good relationships with priests, lay advisors, and non-Catholics; and pray for the people of the diocese.

The following is the text of an address delivered by Professor George at the twentieth anniversary conference of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists in New York, October 2012. George identifies the intellectual roots of recent threats to conscience rights—especially for people of faith—in the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology’s 2008 report that, he argues, makes ideological claims rather than using scientific evidence to support the denial of conscience rights to medical professionals in the areas of birth control and abortion. (This essay will be included in a forthcoming collection of George’s work to be published by ISI Books.)

Stephen Krason’s study of the American political experiment is a valuable exercise in traditional political science. His analysis leads a reasonable observer to ask whether the republic established by the Founders is still operative, or whether it has evolved into something quite different from the democratic republic of 1787. The creation of an administrative state in modern America, which has taken form especially in the past half-century, has moved the political system toward new modes of governing and domination by a new class of political elites. The article concludes by asking whether the American democratic republic is a lost cause.

In 2008, on behalf of the marriage- and family centers of the Austrian dioceses of Salzburg and Feldkirch, a survey concerning the performance of natural regulation of conception and its potential influence on family life and spousal relations was conducted by the Institute for Natural Regulation of Conception (INER), Vöcklabruck, Austria among its own members, a group of declared users and/or teachers of the method. Questionnaires were mailed to 1131 members in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. The return rate was 43.5%. The results support earlier publications indicating that natural familiy planning (NFP) is associated with positive spousal relationships and family stability. NFP, here specifically the sympto-thermal method of J. Rötzer, improves communication and mutual respect between the spouses and is associated with a low divorce rate (3%). Periodic continence is regarded as beneficial by a majority of respondents. Since the method is free of any undesirable side effects and associated with a favourable Pearl Index, it should become more widely known.