From the desk of Father Koys

Dear Parishioners, As our nation takes pride in our 250th anniversary, there's a hidden thought that some people are bringing to light regarding the foundations of America. There's something called pride of ownership that isn't usually associated. In fact, a scene from an old movie, The Good Shepherd, comes to mind. Danny DeVito is an Italian mobster being interrogated by Matt Damon—a CIA agent. DeVito asks Damon, "and what do yooz guys got?" Damon, playing the typical white Anglo-Saxon Protestant—replies, "America. We got America. All of you are just visiting." Most of America's Founding Fathers were, of course, Protestant, but what most don't see is the Catholic philosophy hidden in plain sight. Did you know Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence, won a debate with the Governor of Maryland, Robert Eden, a Protestant, in something called the "pamphlet wars"? In the debate, prominent Protestant Baltimore lawyer, Daniel Dulany, uses the phrase we all learned in grade school: "No taxation without representation." England, of course, was trying to recover from its "war debt" from the French and Indian War. Both Carroll and Dulany were against high taxes, but Carroll criticizes the reason behind the prevailing sentiments, thus proving he, Carroll, is a better patriot, a better defender of the fight for Independence than Dulany. Carroll, whose family had deep roots in England, knew that just having a representative in Parliament did not guarantee the King would be fair or reasonable about tax rates or about many other things besides, like religious freedom. Carroll declared to his readers that "no taxation without representation" doesn't go nearly far enough. In fact, it doesn't justify the prevailing sentiments of the American Revolution. It doesn't go far enough because it assumes that Americans will go along with high taxes provided they have a representative in Parliament. Carroll knew that even if there were American representatives in the English Parliament, it wouldn't change a thing. The hidden ideology behind the Revolutionary spirit was the more radical desire to be a free and independent nation. The Catholic element of a complete break with England is rooted in the Catholic principles of "suzerainty" and "subsidiarity." King George III, who is the principal agent of "suzerainty" (the principle that, in some circumstances, decisions properly belong to a higher authority), simply lives too far away to make good decisions for Americans. The rest, as they say, is history! Fr. Thomas Koys, M.A., S.T.L.