At present the European Union is much-discussed in the social sciences
esp. by political scientists and economists. But it is a relatively little known fact that there were
in the years between the two world wars
people who maintained that Catholicism would work as a synthesizing idea of rapidly disintegrating Europe. It was not a favorable time by any means for the Church to propound its message
for it was undoubtedly two totalitarianisms
i.e.
fascism and communism
that filled the minds of European peoples with dream and hpe. Moreover
the church itself was being attacked by secularization among its members.The present research investigated with sympathy the social views of Hilaire Belloc
G.K.Chesterton
Christopher Dawson and T.S.Eliot. It aimed at elucidating the core principle which they seemed to share
to prevent Europe from falling apart
and to restore its unity. These authors represented the Catholic intellectuals in England
which has taken pride in being a Protestant country.So they first had to fight heroically the inveterate prejudices against Catholicism. They all had a common understanding of the Reformation
that it severed off England from Europe which was one Christendom. For them it was basically a tragic event. They attributed the main cause of secularization to Protestantism
which is also held to be responsible for the disintegration of Europe. Facing an alternative of Christianity or new paganism
they tried to convince people of the necessity of recalling the value of the essentially medieval idea of Christendom that still holds for the 20th century. It has become evident that their common idea derives from the Catholic understanding of the Church that it is divinely founded and communal in its nature
and works as a sacramental body of Christ to sanctify people.
