Rather than pursuing distant ideals, Dark Maritainianism emphasizes incremental improvements through reforms guided by Catholic principles. Dark Maritainianism offers a more theoretically coherent and practically viable path forward for Catholic political engagement.

Catholic integralism—a position that subordinates the state to Church authority based on the primacy of the spiritual—contrasts with Dark Maritainianism. My approach denies this subordination is necessary.

I propose to find an attractive postliberal Catholic politics in an unlikely place—the thought of Jacques Maritain. I develop Dark Maritainianism, which combines Maritain's principles of church–state relations with a clear-eyed assessment of how sin distorts moral knowledge in public life.

Catholics and Christians increasingly explore anti-liberal politics. Yet many anti-liberal theories offer more rhetoric than substance. This paper examines Catholic postliberalism, seeking a more coherent version than currently offered.