Thomas Storck, Author at Catholic Herald

Thomas Storck

Of course the Church can teach authoritatively on economics

November 19, 2020

Economic activity, like any area of human life, has moral implications, and hence it is the right and duty of the Church to set bounds of justice and injustice.

St John XXIII’s first encyclical reveals his orthodoxy and optimism

October 16, 2020

John XXIII. The very name is apt to elicit strong reactions from many Catholics. He was either the pope who finally began to free the Church from her medieval accretions and rigidities or, on the other hand, the pope who initiated the fatal compromise with the world which has proven to be such a disaster.

Neither modernist nor fundamentalist: Pius XII on Scripture

August 28, 2020

Catholic theologians since at least St Augustine have understood the complexity of Sacred Scripture, and reiterated that to insist on a literal reading of the text is both unhistorical and bad theology. But in part because of the reaction against Modernism in the early 20th century, even Catholics began to tend towards a too literal

In Pascendi Dominici Gregis, St Pius X defended both faith and reason

July 24, 2020

In one of her letters, the American novelist Flannery O’Connor relates how, at a dinner party, one of the guests – an ex-Catholic – called the Eucharist a nice symbol. O’Connor replied, “Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.” This incident highlights a fundamental point about the Catholic faith: if it’s not true,

Encyclical of the month: Pius VII on the only source of hope

June 26, 2020

Knowledge of Church history is one of the most helpful things in keeping our balance as Catholics. A few hours’ reading will make clear that nearly all the things that disturb faithful Catholics have happened before. The first encyclical of Pius VII, Diu Satis (May 15, 1800), gives us an excellent example. At the outset

Catholic teaching can guide the economic recovery

May 28, 2020

Although the Church has lived alongside disease and plagues for centuries, her social doctrine does not directly address such extraordinary conditions. Nonetheless, it is possible to discover fundamental principles which should guide the thinking and conduct of individuals and nations during such a time. The course of the coronavirus pandemic is unclear: there are disputes

Encyclicals worth knowing : Quadragesimo Anno

May 15, 2020

Probably the key encyclical among papal social encyclicals is Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno (1931), written to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. What makes Quadragesimo Anno important? We can get some idea if we look at the encyclical’s formal title: “On reconstructing the social order and perfecting it conformably to the precepts

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