That’s my suggested title for an article examining how Catholics operating within the American political tradition — or at least Catholics living in America — might come to terms with Pope Benedict XVI’s by now infamous call for “true world political authority” in paragraph #67 of “Caritas in Veritate.”  I spent my high school years reading stuff put out by the John Birch Society (whose president is a tertiary of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, btw), so I know that a good number of Catholic rightists are American patriots quite opposed to globalism, either economic or political.  So was paragraph #67 ghostwritten by the Bilderbergers/Trilaterals/CFR/Rockefellers/Rothschilds sitting in the Meditation Room at the UN?  At the same time, there are traditionalist Catholics who hold that America itself is the cornerstone of the masonic One World Government/New World Order.   Hence, our Spirit of ’76 – liberal, capitalist democracy – is identical with the Illuminati’s plan for world government.  After all, Adam “Spartacus” Weishaupt founded the Bavarian Illuminati in *1776,* dontchaknow?  And then there will be those who demand a new Holy Roman Empire — with “real teeth” this time! – and claim that this is *clearly* what Pope Benedict is calling for.  In that scenario, American exceptionalism is evil and we should look forward to the Great Monarch who will incorporate us into a restored universal Christendom.  

So, why don’t I write the article myself?  I don’t have the time or the interest, that’s why.  But I’m sure I can be coaxed into straining some gnats and swallowing a few camels provided you write some responses to this post in which you put forth your own two cents (does Benedict want a world currency, too, I wonder?) on paragraph #67.  Or even — dare we?! — about the scores of other paragraphs in the encyclical.

And P.S. — I know that some members of this most august Society spend much time each day on Twitter.  Might they spare some minutes once in awhile to hammer out a pithy sentence or two onto our good ol’ blog?  For nostalgia’s sake?