The Anti-Catholic Wedge Strategy...

...and the role of nationalist Catholics.

As I've pointed out before, the historic Anti-Catholic "wedge" strategy has involved playing off the understandable love that Catholics have for their local community, their secular community, whether that community be a nation, a people or a party, against their loyalty to an institution that transcends time and space. This translates into a conflict within the the local community between Catholics who identify more with the papacy - ultramontane Catholics - and those who identify more with the local community - "national" Catholics, perhaps, or anti-ultramontane Catholics.

You can see this playing out with anti-ultramontane Catholics like Nancy Pelosi attempting to co-opt the name of "Catholic" for her political ideology. After misrepresenting Catholic teaching on abortion, Pelosi is now claiming that Catholicism mandates same-sex marriage:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that her Catholic faith “compels” her to “be against discrimination of any kind” and thus for same-sex marriage.

A reporter asked Pelosi: “Many of the people that are opposed to gay marriage cite their religion as the reason why they’re opposed. You’re a Catholic that supports gay marriage. Do you believe that religion and the idea that you can support gay marriage can be separated? And how do you grapple with the idea that you support gay marriage as a Catholic?”

Pelosi responded: “My religion has, compels me–and I love it for it–to be against discrimination of any kind in our country, and I consider this a form of discrimination. I think it’s unconstitutional on top of that. ”

Pelosi spoke glowingly of the comments President Barack Obama made Wednesday when he said he supported same-sex marriage.

“So I think that yesterday was a great day for America because the president in a very personal, as well as presidential way, made history, and hopefully this will bring people together on the issue,” Pelosi said.

This attempt is properly slapped down by Mark Shea:

Pelosi Demonstrates, Yet Again, that Her Faith

…is not the Catholic Faith.

Sorry, Nancy, but the Catholic faith is not esoteric. It is not “whatever I feel deeply in my heart”. It is the faith once given to the apostles and handed down to us through the Holy Catholic Church.

And:

If you feel something deeply in your heart that is directly contrary to the faith handed down to the Church, that is not a confirmation from the Holy Spirit that you are right and the Church is wrong. It is confirmation that you are in rebellion against Jesus Christ and should repent. You are also, in this case, giving public scandal (i.e. tempting others to sin) and stand in grave danger of tying a millstone around your own neck as you tempt little ones to sin. God forgive you.

Oh, and by the way, Nancy, don’t try the trick of suddenly turning around and saying that the Church has no business sticking its nose into marriage now. You are the one who decided to play the “I’m saying this because I’m Catholic” card. Don’t want to be corrected about what that Catholic teaching is? Don’t lie about Catholic teaching.

Elizabeth Scalia shares what Pelosi is really doing, giving "talking points" to Catholics who want or need to privilege their allegiance to the secular community over that to their transcendent community.

Right on schedule, Nancy Pelosi tries to do what Ted Kennedy and Mario Cuomo have done before her: give talking points to Catholics who wish to hop on to policy that flies in the face of church teaching.

You’ll recall it was Kennedy (and later Cuomo) who gave voice to the corkscrew notion that one could be “personally opposed” to abortion but too broad-minded to “impose my views on others.”

Because, as you know, modern-day liberals would never presume to impose their views on others, not at all. The HHS Mandate? Pffffft!…it’s not imposing anything on Catholic institutions! It’s just making them do the right thing!

Kennedy’s duplicitous language was effective, though. It informed whole generations of very cowardly Catholic politicians and others.

Scalia shares my view that the end-point of the wedge strategy is the formation of a national Catholic Church:

The handwriting was on the wall, even then. At the very least, those churches who will not capitulate and permit gay marriages in their buildings (or recognize them in their institutions) will be forced out into the periphery of the public square, as the HHS Mandate is already trying to do.

Worst case scenario? Well, I get yelled at when I say this but the worst-case scenario — and I think it’s inevitable — will be a schism and the creation of an American Catholic Church, one that works very closely with the government to “do the right thing” and reaps its worldly rewards, both material and elitist. It will claim apostolic succession as I have no doubt at all that some bishop in the US will be willing to act as titular head, and it will likely — with the help of the government (via fines, settlements, levies) — quickly lay claim to (or be awarded) Roman Catholic properties.

This outcome isn't surprising to anyone who pays attention to history.