Sean Fieler was once asked to name "the thinkers or donors" who have influenced how he practices his considerable philanthropy.
"There's a good network I've gotten to know over the last decade or so, through boards or shared charitable interests, who have had a big effect on me — Frank Hanna, Tim Busch, and Leonard Leo, for sure," he answered.
Fieler is not a household name in Catholic circles, but anyone interested in the future of the church in the United States should keep tabs on what he and his "good network" are up to. His reply opens the door a tiny crack on a peculiarly U.S. version of Catholicism that exploits the nonprofit phenomenon in this country. It does so in a way that gives that network far more influence than the U.S. bishops have in shaping the image and purpose of the Catholic Church in the wider culture.
Fieler, Hanna, Bush and Leo are perhaps among the most notable but hardly the entirety of Fieler's network. They have in common a few characteristics that are essential to the establishment of this new brand of Catholicism.
They are extremely conservative Catholics who either control or have access to enormous sums of money. They are closely connected to right-wing intellectuals who provide them with useful language. They have used those considerable resources and connections to fund a host of think-tanks, agencies, media outlets and even a major university department that act as both alternatives to official church structures and as the network's megaphones.
The real power brokers and the deals that harden the image of U.S. Catholicism as an ultraconservative, libertarian behemoth aren't a product of the bishops' conference.
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