Imperialism was a complex and often troubling force that profoundly shaped the modern world. Understanding its history helps us better appreciate the blessings of human dignity, self-determination, and true evangelization rooted in respect for all peoples.

As Catholic homeschoolers, it’s essential to approach the topic of fascism (and other isms) with both intellectual honesty and a moral lens grounded in our faith.

Can the government become corrupt, exploitative, and oppressive? Most assuredly so. But this should spur us on to improve our governments, not eliminate them in the belief that the disorders of governmental collapse would bring about a self-regulated egalitarian utopia.

In conclusion, Catholic understanding of socialism requires a nuanced approach, as the term encompasses a wide range of economic policies, historical movements, and political ideologies.

The utilitarian idea that happiness can be quantified is a materialist and reductive manner of assessing human happiness. Human fulfillment is too abstract, too intangible, too complex, too subtle to be analyzed in such a way.

While we may admire certain aspects of Romanticism, its tendencies of Romanticism to exalt emotions, reject social norms, and ground moral values in subjective personal experience are incompatible with Catholic notions of virtue, community, and the objective nature of the moral good.