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Entry: The Neocons and Charles Maurras Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/leo_strauss_the_neocons_and_charles_maurras#6739 Post contents: On another subject entirely - I have a certain rule of thumb to decide if a term is being used for honest description or just as a smear. Are there any people who call themselves by the term? Is there any group or even a single individual who has ever called himself a clerical fascist? Or is this just standard Marxist smear tactics by which any group opposed to Marxism (or deemed insufficiently Marxist) is labelled fascist with appropriate modifiers - i.e. social democrat = social fascist, militant Moslem = Islamofascist? I speak as one who has been labelled a fascist and a terrorist for more years than I can remember due to my opposition to Communism, abortion and the US government in general - especially its war policies. After bandying about the term "clerical fascist" but refusing to define it, the coy Mr. Cundiff has finally given us a few examples of what he is talking about. And what a disappointing anti-climax. Here is a group whom he has claimed in comments under another topic is a menace to the Church on a level with cultural Marxists and sodomites, but all of his examples are from the 30s and 40s. And let's take a closer look at his examples. The only one who could qualify as a "clerical fascist" (or perhaps clerical Nazi or clerical extreme nationalist) is Msgr. Tiso. The Blessed Stepinac (beatified by Pope John Paul II) valiantly (and mostly vainly)interceded with the Ustasha government of Croatia on behalf of Jews and gypsies and provided Serbs with certificates of conversion to save their lives while acknowledging that after the war they would return to their normal churches. Of course he desired the independence of his own country - is this so grevious a sin? And then we have the Nazi Arrow Cross in Hungary - not clerical, not even really fascist, but just Nazi puppets. And Codreaunu in Romania - not clerical, not even Catholic, so how would he fit into any group which internally threatens the Catholic Church. And Vichy, France neither clerical nor fascist, but an unfortunate puppet regime where the puppets convinced themselves that they were just biding their time to strike back at their masters - even while doing their master's will. And Engelbert Dolfuss, neither clerical nor fascist, martyred by the Nazis, but forgiving his killers with his dying breath. I'm surprised Mr. Cundiff did not mention Dolfuss's predecessor and mentor Ignatz Seipel. Msgr. Seipel wasn't a fascist either, but at least he was a cleric. I'm a great admirer of Franz Jagerstatter, a saint ahead of his time, leading the Church and me into a much needed Christian pacifism. I don't think he would have a very good opinion of casting mud on the name of his fellow beatus the Blessed Stepinac or his compatriot and fellow martyr Engelbert Dolfuss. Finally, I strongly favor the ruling of Pope John Paul II that priests should no longer hold political office under any circumstances. That establishes that any priest who holds such office is no longer in good standing with the Church and should relieve any concerns about clerical fascism or clerical any other kind of political ideology. Sent at: 2008 05 16