I think most (not all) people would be hard pressed to name a Catholic scholar who was dealing with the critical issues of our time. That may have something to do with the attempted suppression of creative thinking in the post-conciliar era, with many scholars now willing to fly under the radar and duel one another through journal articles. 
I'm especially concerned with the field of moral theology, where Catholic thought on human sexuality seems particularly truncated, stuck at the conceptual level where moral decisions are almost never made. If you had a pubescent daughter going to her first prom with her boyfriend, would you turn to a Catholic source for advice on how to handle the multiple scenarios that could arise? (Yes, I said "arise." Let's be real for a change.)
I'm not at all sure Catholic scholars have succeeded in putting Catholic thought at the cutting edge of modern society.