Krytyka liberalizmu na łamach tygodnika „Myśl Katolicka” (1908‒1914)

Abstract

The present article refers to one of the subjects discussed in Myśl Katolicka, a weekly edited in Częstochowa from 1908 till 1914 for lay Catholics, who wanted to spread the „integral” doctrine of The Roman Catholic Church, especially the papal teaching. The editors engaged in polemics with modernism ‒ an intellectual movement, that had been offically condemned by the Apostolic See; as a consequence, liberalism in question was an issue constantly presented in the columns of the weekly. Obviously, the choice of the subject is not a random: liberalism continues to have a great ‒ and growing ‒ impact on the cultural situation throughout the world, especially in Europe. The authors of the article discuss liberalism mainly from the philosophical point of view. Their citical evaluation of the movement aims at making the lay Catholics aware of the negative effects liberalism produces in almost every area of human life. Simultaneously, the critics makes a call to counteract by presenting the Christian concept of freedom in the social life. The main accusation against liberalism is its abuse of freedom, which consists in treating freedom ‒ a mean of fulfillment of the human vocation ‒ as an aim for itself. Conseqently, liberalism recognizes human freedom as absolute value for itself, whereas ‒ from Christian point of view ‒ it is merely a mean of achieving the supernatural aim ‒ God.