Friday, April 5, 2019

The Glorious Revolution and the Development of Catholic Political Philosophy

On Thursday evening, April 11 2019, at the Syracuse Marian Center, Mr. Richard Fitzgerald O.P. will resume his class on the History of the Catholic Church in the United States. The meeting will begin with prayer at 6:30 PM followed by the lecture described below.

The Glorious Revolution and the Development of Catholic Political Philosophy

This months presentation will focus on the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689, which unleashed widespread persecution of Catholics in the British North American colonies. Chapels were closed, the celebration of Mass and the sacraments were outlawed, and Roman Catholics were denied the right to vote and hold political office.

The lecture will also explore the Catholic response to this oppression. Roman Catholics in the colony of Maryland developed a Catholic counter-revolutionary society and a political philosophy based upon the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, Francisco Suarez, Juan de Mariana and Catholic Natural Law Doctrine. This school of thought formed the foundation of Catholic political philosophy during the American Revolution.