Does traditional Catholic social teaching apply here in the USA?
I ask because I read they have Uncrowned Him by Bp Lefebvre.
He talks mostly on the European situation where Catholics are the majority.
Here in the USA we are a minority. How do the teachings of the past Popes like leo XIII apply to us here in the USA?
You also have to keep in mind that this country was founded on principles like freedom of religion and freedom of the Press.
Weren't these rights condemned or not?
A change of those principles here is a radical change.
What I want to know is how does all this apply to us in our situation here in the USA where historically we were never a majority unlike Europe.
Catholic social teaching applies to us in the U.S.
However, please do not confuse Catholicism with Americanism. They are not the same and, frankly, sometimes are in direct opposition to each other.
Religious liberty is an American ideal, it is not Catholic. We are not free, in the American Constitution sense, to choose to be a Methodist or Pentecostal. Also, as Catholic politicians we are required to build our society on Catholic social teaching.
This all gets very, very confusing. And I have been reading a lot about it.
I suggest you read up on several things, but the Protestant work ethic is a good place to start. Our current economy and societal decay has, as one of its nasty roots, the Protestant notion of economic ambition and profit without regard to the conditions or consequences that would effect the workers.
There is always much to know and unfortunately we must search for most of it on our own.