Editorial

Faithful Catholics should be patriotic Americans

This Sunday, June 14, is Flag Day, which commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress. While not a federal holiday, it is a national observance, with many Americans displaying the flag and participating in community events. The week containing June 14 is designated as National Flag Week, with a presidential proclamation encouraging patriotic displays.

Faithful Catholics are encouraged to be patriotic citizens. To be a faithful Catholic and a patriotic American means to love your country sincerely while never placing the nation above God, the moral law or the dignity of every human person. Catholic social teaching holds that the human person is “the foundation and purpose of political life,” so the state exists to serve people, not the other way around.

Patriotism is not blind nationalism; it is a commitment to the common good, justice, freedom and the rights of all, including minorities and the vulnerable.

To be a patriotic American means that we must think critically and make important distinctions between what our political leaders say or do and what is truly reflective of our most fundamental beliefs and practices as Americans and as Catholics.

To disagree with (or reject) laws and policies that we know are contrary to God’s will is not unpatriotic. In fact, it is sometimes necessary to express our love for our country by speaking out against self-defeating policies and practices. Slavery, abortion, euthanasia, racism, nativism and restrictions on religious freedom are examples of things that loyal Americans must reject if they truly love our country and want only what is best for all.

A faithful Catholic should seek to uphold the inalienable rights of life, liberty, property and justice, and refuse to support laws or actions that contradict natural law. The Church explicitly says citizens have the right to conscientious objection and even civil disobedience when a law violates natural justice. So, a Catholic patriot should not say, “My country right or wrong.” Instead, he or she should say, “I will serve my country by helping it be just, free and ordered to the common good.” That will create tension between individuals who are trying to be genuine patriots and those who want to follow “the party line” uncritically, but this is a healthy tension that can help our nation to maintain its moral authenticity and political integrity.

“Rerum Novarum” (“On Capital and Labor”), published in 1891 by our current pope’s namesake, Pope Leo XIII, was the first social encyclical, and it is the founding document of Catholic social teaching. “Rerum Novarum” responded to the abuses of the Industrial Revolution by defending the dignity of workers, their right to organize, humane working conditions and just wages, while also affirming private property and rejecting both Marxist socialism and unrestrained capitalism.

Since “Rerum Novarum,” the Church has championed democracy as both a right and a duty: Catholics should vote, speak, attend hearings, join public discussion and even protest or resist when necessary to defend justice and the common good.

As Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly said, indifference is a social sin that destroys individual consciences and leads to widespread corruption in society. The Church expects citizens to be vigilant against unfair privileges, corruption and manipulation that harm the common good. A faithful Catholic therefore does not withdraw from civic life; he or she engages it responsibly, with moral seriousness and prudence.

A patriotic American understands that true love of country includes sacrifice and service. The Church says every citizen should work for the common good, including peace, a sound legal order, education, work, housing, health care, communication and religious freedom. In practice, patriotism means defending the family, supporting local communities, exercising subsidiarity and helping institutions at the lowest effective level do their proper work. It also means solidarity: working so that laws, markets and public life do not exploit the weak but promote justice for all.

So, during our observance of National Flag Week this year on June 14–20, it’s important for all patriotic Catholics in the United States of America to ask ourselves: How faithful are we to the founding principles of our democracy and to the fundamental elements of Catholic social teaching? Are we willing to stand up, speak out and act responsibly? Or are we passive, indifferent and disloyal?

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us be who we claim to be—faithful Catholics and patriotic Americans.

—Daniel Conway