ABSTRACT
Jacques Lacan declared that Catholicism is the "one true religion"—implying that others are false, or at least defective by comparison. Despite the galloping de-Christianization of Europe after 1968, Lacan declared that Catholicism would eventually triumph over all contending social forces, converting the entire world. Karl Stern's commitment to Catholicism prompted him "baptize Freud," and in the process to modify the Freudian theory of human development in The Flight from Woman. By contrast, Lacan's Catholicism was seldom evident in the substantive changes he made to Sigmund Freud's theories. Lacan's depiction of Jesus as being unsullied by Jewish attitudes and habits of the heart reflects a commonplace defect in Catholic education that Stern, the convert from Judaism, put his finger on very astutely. Judging from the available evidence, it seems more likely that Lacan was not conflicted at all, but simply wanted to have it both ways—to be a loyal Catholic, in some sense, and to be an atheist, simultaneously.
