“In many ways, American evangelicalism is somewhat stronger today than it was in, say 1955 - certainly more mainstream and influential in the culture as a whole. But, the increased strength of evangelicalism hasn't increased fast enough to compensate for the total collapse of mainline Protestantism and the pretty steady weakening of my own Roman Catholic Church.” WayEnoughWholeTodayCultureChurchMy OwnStrongerCatholicSteadyMainstreamCollapseInfluentialCatholic ChurchWeakeningProtestantismRoman CatholicRoman Catholic Church Author:Ross Douthat
“My mother converted when I was 16. She was the driving force behind religion in our family. So, I'm sure I was heavily influenced by that. But, I also was, and still am, convinced by the Catholic churches historical claims to represent the continuity with the early Church that other forms of Western Christianity lack.” StillsFormMotherForceChurchBehindsChristianityClaimsCatholicHistoricalWesternConvincedDrivingOur FamilyContinuityCatholic ChurchDriving Force Author:Ross Douthat
“I read a lot of G.K. Chesterton. It was a fairly conventional intellectual path to the Catholic church, I would say.” ChurchPathIntellectualCatholicConventionalCatholic Church Author:Ross Douthat
“Institutional Christianity has had clear secular benefits to American life for hundreds of years. It's played both a prophetic role in terms of generating moral critiques of American excesses, and so on, and also a communal role, in terms of building community as the country moved westward to the role my own Catholic Church played in assimilating generations of immigrants.” YearsCountryTermCommunityChurchMy OwnMoralChristianityRolesClearGenerationsBuildingBenefitsCatholicMovedImmigrantsExcessSecularCatholic ChurchCritiqueAmerican LifePropheticBuilding Community Author:Ross Douthat
“During a frustrating argument with a Roman Catholic cardinal, Napoleon Bonaparte supposedly burst out: “Your eminence, are you not aware that I have the power to destroy the Catholic Church?” The cardinal, the anecdote goes, responded ruefully: “Your majesty, we, the Catholic clergy, have done our best to destroy the church for the last 1,800 years. We have not succeeded, and neither will you.”” YearsDoneLastsChurchArgumentCatholicCatholicismFrustratingMajestyCatholic ChurchCardinalsClergyAnecdotesEminenceRoman CatholicBonaparte Author:Ross Douthat
