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Entry: Race, Nationalism, and Patriotism, Part I: Race Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/race_nationalism_and_patriotism_part_i_race#15505 Post contents: Scott, Perhaps another way to look at it from the Catholic perspective would be from an understanding of the theological virtue of charity. We are bound by charity to love our neighbor for the sake of God, where 'neighbor' is clearly intended in a universal manner. But someone who possesses a mere abstract love for humanity in general does not possess supernatural charity since this must manifest itself in concrete actions. With respect to concrete acts of charity, theologians distinguish between the persons who claim our love. This is the <i>ordo caritatis</i>, or order of charity, which ranks the strength of obligations towards others in descending order of importance based on personal ties. The old Catholic Encyclopedia (entry on "Charity") suggests the following order: self, wife, children, parents, brothers and sisters, friends, domestics, neighbours, fellow-countrymen, and all others. The question, then, is "is there a place for 'race' somewhere in the order listed above?". If the answer is 'yes', where should it be ranked? From your quote of Mit Brennender Sorge, it appears only to condemn raising notions such as race "above their standard value and diviniz[ing] them to an idolatrous level". So, for example, would it be disordered to rank race before fellow countrymen but not disordered to rank race after it in the schema listed above? Or should race not appear at all in the order of charity, but rather related notions such as culture, language, ethnicity, etc.? Sent at: 2008 10 06