Fascism, Christ's Kingship, liturgy, monarchism, ethics & the economy

It's fair to point out that connections between these sorts of ideas can sometimes morph into hideous distortions, as does Christopher Blosser in "IHS Press, Potential Fascist & Antisemitic Connections, Etc.: A Chronicle of Disturbing Patterns" (Against the Grain, February, 27, 2007). Prompted by Matthew Anger (Fringe Watch), he offers a detailed examination of IHS Press associates, John Sharpe and Derek Holland (presently going by the name of Deric Liam O'Huallachain), whose stated mission is the altogether lofty and unobjectionable one of bringing "back into print the classics of last century on the Social Teachings of the Catholic Church." In December 2005, IHS Press, under the imprint "Light and Darkness," published the two-part anthology Neo-Conned and Neo-Conned Again, advertised in the pages of New Oxford Review, among other places. Here's how they describe themselves:

J. Forrest Sharpe is the publisher and managing director of IHS Press. He is a student of Catholic Social Doctrine and the English Distributist movement. D. Liam O'Huallachain is the editorial director of IHS Press and is a student of Catholic Social Doctrine, the English Distributist Movement, and contemporary alternative political movements. Both have edited and annotated editions of works by 20th-century social thinkers such as G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Fr. Vincent McNabb, Fr. Heinrich Pesch, and Dr. George O'Brien.

Altogether unobjectionable. The problem comes, as Christopher discovered, when one digs into the personal background, connections and other writings of Sharpe and Holland (O'Huallachain), which turns up all sorts of disturbing white supremacist, neo-fascist, anti-semitic material.

However, having said that, the authors referenced by these guys must not be tarred with the sins of their abusers. The English Distributist Movement, G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Fr. Vincent McNabb, Fr. Heinrich Pesch, and Dr. George O'Brien, to mention just a few, are eminently worth reading.

I recently received from a reader a link to a most interesting review of an English translation of Fr. Heinrich Pesch's book, Ethics and the National Economy, by Peter Chojnowski ("Book Review: Ethics and the National Economy," Articles by Dr. Peter Chojnowski, December 20, 2006). The volume is published by IHS Press. Yet the content, at least according to Chojnowski's review, seems eminently worth considering as a piece of traditional Catholic socio-economic theory to examine alongside the liberalism of Ludwig von Mises which it challenges. As Chojnowski observes, Pesch had a formative influence on Catholic social teaching as well as on the preparation of Quadragesimo Anno: The importance of his work "to Catholic social teaching is that it served as a bridge between Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum and Pius XI's Quadragesima Anno, the first draft of which was written by Oswald von Nell-Bruening and Gustav Gundlach, both disciples of Heinrich Pesch."

Also of interest, perhaps especially to the monarchists among you, is Alastair Guinan's essay, "The Christian Concept of Kingship as Manifested in the Liturgy of the Western Church," Harvard Theological Review (1956) available online through JSTOR. Particularly interesting, as my reader points out, is Guinan's argument -- which, sad to say, does require argument these days -- that liturgy cannot be fully appreciated absent one's devotion to the King. Near the end of Guinan's essay, he quotes from a work of fiction by one of the Oxford Inklings, Charles Williams' Shadows of Ecstasy, in which an exchange between Caithness and Sir Bernard encapsulates the opposing points of view of the royalist and republican:

'. . . Why is royalty so impressive?'
'It's the concentration of political energy in a person,' Caithness said thoughfully, 'the making visible of hierarchic freedom, a presented moment of obedience and rule.' 'I think I prefer the Republic,' Sir Bernard said, 'it's the more abstract dream. But I'm too tired to discuss it. . . .'

Abstraction vs. 'concention' and 'making visible' in a person, that is, incarnation -- an interesting contrast indeed.

Finally, for the true blue blood royalists among you, the following is the link to the Beatification and Canonization Site for Blessed Karl of Austria, Emperor and King (pictured right), beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 3, 2004. It contains many interesting testimonies and articles on the holiness of Blessed Charles, including one by Christoph Cardinal von Schönborn, as well as one on a miraculous Healing of Sister Maria Zita Gradowska.