proscribed subject

From a theoretical, liberal point of view the ideal social institution is a spontaneous, private, non-coercive, popular institution. Together with the family, the Catholic Church is the oldest, the most magnificent and immensely successful example of such institution. And yet, self-styled liberals purposefully ignore the Church or try to present her as an example of an anti-liberal institution (famous modern intellectual liberals such as Mises and Hayek are not exempt from this charge).

I feel therefore quite happy that Rui in a series of posts below was able to launch a serious discussion about the Church because until a few months ago this seemed a proscribed subject of discussion in the Portuguese blogosphere.