Loyalties, Kulturkampf and the Liberal Wedge Strategy.

Mathew N. Schmaltz at the Washington Post writes:

When the HHS mandate was first announced, especially surprising to some was how negative reactions were expressed by Catholics who were doubtless uncomfortable with church teaching on contraception, not to mention with the current state of affairs in American Catholicism.

The original HHS mandate was seen as potentially encroaching on Catholic spaces by a different order of magnitude than similar state laws. Those Catholic spaces include not just churches, but hospitals and educational institutions-- spaces that were created out of the dreams Catholics had both as Catholics and as Americans.

Looking back on my “Patriot Catholic” dream now, I realize that it was about where I could be safe during a particularly uncertain time in my life. Today we are far removed from vituperations about “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.” But every Catholic can point to experiences in which she or he has been considered strange or suspect. So, while the rhetoric surrounding American Catholicism has changed, the dream of having a safe space as a Catholic can still become quite powerful indeed. However that dream plays out for individual Catholics, the bishops’ letter reminds us that it is properly connected to a larger dream that is not about seeking refuge, but about seeking to be fully American and fully Catholic. The crucial issue is how this larger dream can continue to find expression in waking life.