"One of the natural signs of the true Paulist is that he would prefer to suffer from the excesses of liberty rather than from the arbitrary actions of tyranny."
Friend and colleague of Lord Acton and Cardinal John Henry
Newman, and founder of the Missionary Society of St. Paul (Paulist Fathers),
Isaac Hecker is chiefly known for his efforts to reconcile Roman Catholicism
with American liberal democracy. His political views were radically Jacksonian
in his youth, and his millennialist belief that God created America as a beacon
of light to the world remained with him throughout his life.
He believed that government should protect the equal rights
of all citizens, including property rights as guaranteed in the Declaration
of Independence and the Bill of Rights. He opposed the granting of special rights
to elites and monopoly interests, and supported small businessmen, tradesmen
and artisans. He wanted as little government as possible. In time, he became
disenchanted with the political process because the “evils of society were
not so much political as social, and that not much was to be hoped from political
action.”
He came to believe that the “Church” was the necessary
vehicle for social reform. Through religious conversion, people would join a
larger community bonded together by faith in God. The Roman Catholic vision
of community contributed to his eventual religious conversion. Through the conversion
of the nation, the Church would have its impact on social life; it should thus
avoid meddling in politics. To Hecker, the community binding agent and the translator
of values should be the Church, not government. He opposed centralized power
and felt that the definition of papal infallibility at Vatican I would result
in the diminishing of papal authority, not its increase-yet he accepted the
teaching once it was decreed.
