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AMERICAN CATHOLICS: Gender, Generation, and Commitment, by William
V. D’Antonio, James D. Davidson, Dean R. Hoge and Katherine Meyer. AltaMira
Press (a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.). 178 pp. $19.95.
Reviewed by JOHN BRODERICK, a professor of sociology at
Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, and a pre-Vatican II Catholic (for
purposes of the categories in this book).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN to be Catholic today? What is distinctive
about being a Catholic? Before the Second Vatican Council, Catholics were pretty
clear on how they differed from their non-Catholic neighbors. The boundaries
are now less distinct.
These authors, all sociologists, attempt to answer these and similar
questions by analyzing survey data of Catholic laity taken at six-year intervals
from 1987 to 1999.
They compare the response of pre-Vatican II Catholics (born between
1910 and 1940) with those of Vatican II Catholics (born between 1941 and 1960)
and post-Vatican II Catholics (born in 1961 or later).
They find a gradual shift over these 12 years and expect it will
continue. (Before reading further, consider what you think the trend might be.)
Cynics might see a move from "pray, pay and obey" to a "cafeteria Catholic"
mode in which the laity pick and choose from among the teachings and traditions
of the Church. But currently, Catholics are more sophisticated than that.
While pre-Vatican II Catholics have stronger visions of Catholic
boundaries than those born later, there is clearly a gradual move from conformity
to autonomy among American Catholics.
In 1966, shortly after the Second Vatican Council, William D’Antonio,
one of the authors of this book, predicted that in the long run laypersons would
do what seems rational and practical whenever a Church tradition could not be
sustained by what they saw as sound reasons. These surveys indicate that his
prediction was remarkably accurate.
The research shows that Catholics have high levels of support for
the basic dogmas (sacraments, the Resurrection and the Real Presence in the
Eucharist, for example), but that they are more likely to reach their own conclusions
in areas where non-theologians and non-clerics have some expertise (sexual issues,
capital punishment and Church governance, for example).
The laity have come to understand that all organizations run by
human beings are subject to revision over time and that participatory forms
of governance are useful for safeguarding against abusive relationships, especially
in hierarchical systems which can sometimes be unmindful of human rights.
The call for active participation by the Church in public
affairs is not new. Early in the last century, Cardinal Jozef
Cardijn of Belgium used the slogan "Observe, Judge and Act"
in founding Young Christian Workers and Young Christian Students.
From these initially European groups, the idea spread into
the labor movement and Christian Family Movement in the United
States.
Prior to that, Pope Leo XIII had called for Catholic action in public
affairs. More recently, the laity have become more active in both public affairs
and Church affairs.
Since the sad disclosures about sex abuse in the Church in Boston and elsewhere,
participating in Church governance by the laity has increased.
For example, Voice of the Faithful, a lay organization which
seeks, among other things, to shape structural changes within
the Church, has grown rapidly since its founding in Boston
in the spring of 2002.
This book’s data were gathered before the current problems achieved
such public attention. Since these surveys were done at six-year intervals,
the next one is due in 2005. It will be interesting to see if current events
will continue the trend toward autonomy by the Catholic laity. The trend has
certainly been away from "pray, pay and obey" toward Cardinal Cardijn’s "observe,
judge and act."
The authors conclude with the suggestion that Church leaders find
ways for the magisterium and the laity to work together in formulating policies
that reflect the will of God and the best instincts of both clergy and laity.
They hope that the "observe, judge and act" movement will continue and that
clergy and laity will work together in developing a new way of "being Church."
You can order AMERICAN CATHOLICS: Gender, Generation, and Commitment
from St.
Francis Bookshop.
IN SEARCH OF AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM: A History of Religion and
Culture in Tension, by Jay P. Dolan. Oxford University Press. 312 pp. $28.
Reviewed by JOHN F. FINK, author, columnist and editor
emeritus of The Criterion, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
THE HISTORY of American Catholicism is the study of change,
Jay P. Dolan says, and this is especially true for the past 40 years.
Dolan, professor emeritus of history at the University of Notre
Dame, set out to show not only the changes that have occurred in the Catholic
Church in the United States, but particularly how American culture has shaped
Catholicism. He has succeeded.
Dolan shows in depth how Americans have influenced Catholicism in
five areas: democracy, devotional life, national identity, doctrine and gender.
Like a good historian, though, before getting to the changes of
the past 40 years, Dolan reviews the way Catholicism changed earlier in America.
During the first decades of our country, when Catholics were few
and far between, the passion for democracy was prevalent. Catholics were sympathetic
to the democratic spirit of the age, and this was reflected in the trustee system
of parishes.
This changed, though, during the immigrant period (1820-1920). The
Catholic Church grew numerically but there was a change of attitude. Dolan says
that, in the era of the immigrant Church, a siege mentality emerged and Catholics
came to believe that they were under attack. Frequently, they were, especially
by the Know Nothing Party in the 1850s and the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.
Nevertheless, there were leaders, such as Isaac Hecker, who believed
that the destinies of the United States and American Catholicism were bound
together.
It was after World War II that Catholics became more affluent, moved
out of the Catholic ghettos into the suburbs and began to change Catholicism.
Then came the Second Vatican Council, with its changes.
Dolan believes that the renewal of Catholicism would have taken
place in the United States even if Vatican II had never happened because the
social and cultural transformation after World War II was more important for
American Catholics than the council was.
The best example he gives of the way Americans influenced Catholic
doctrine was the Vatican Council’s document on religious freedom. "When the
Council fathers endorsed the principle of religious freedom," he says, "they
acknowledged that culture does indeed shape religion."
Another example is the acceptance of birth control by 90
percent of American Catholics despite the Church’s condemnation.
Dolan says, "The acceptance of artificial contraception within
American society has transformed the belief of Catholics."
He notes that post-Vatican II Catholicism has largely become the
Church of the laity. Furthermore, he shows how the American women’s movement
of the past 40 years has had a truly revolutionary impact on the Church.
He acknowledges, though, that there is often conflict between American
Catholics and the Vatican. He says that the hierarchical Church represents
one dimension of Catholicism, but another dimension is the people’s Church
rooted in the parish community. "The Vatican issues its edicts," he says, "but
they do not seem to have much impact at this local level."
Dolan added a postscript to his book in order to comment on the
sex-abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church since he wrote the book.
He concludes that the Church needs better leaders who are more accountable to
the people they serve. The scandal, he says, has revealed the need for far-reaching
change.
As thorough as Dolan is, I believe there are some omissions.
When discussing the 1950s, for example, he says that this
is when Catholics became more affluent and began to move to
the suburbs. He could have attributed this to the G.I. Bill
after World War II, which made it possible for many Catholics
to go to college who otherwise would not have been able to
do so.
He also could have emphasized the influence of the Catholic press
throughout U.S. history. He mentions the influence of Commonweal and
The Catholic Worker, but neither of them had either the circulation or
the influence of numerous other Catholic periodicals. You can order IN SEARCH OF AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM: A History of Religion and
Culture in Tension from St. Francis Bookshop.
TOWARD A NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH: The Promise of Reform, James Carroll. Mariner/Houghton Mifflin. 116 pp. $8.95.
Reviewed by the REV. LAWRENCE VENTLINE, D.Min., a longtime
religion writer for The Detroit News. Author of six books, he is the
founder of Cura Animarum. A priest of Detroit for 26 years, he is a licensed
counselor.
WINNER of the National Book Award for An American Requiem,
James Carroll challenges the Church to atone for its sins. Some, like me, will
find Toward a New Catholic Church: The Promise of Reform a most negative
confrontation.
In Constantine’s Sword, Carroll excavated and explored a
long story of anti-Semitism in the Roman Catholic Church. Carroll has also gone
public with the story of his departure from the Catholic priesthood into the
world of professional writing. Now, in this book, Carroll says he sees reform
as the Church’s only way out of the sexual-abuse catastrophe.
Dramatically, he says, "Not only the discredited bishops who protected
abusive priests must go; the whole system that produced them must go." "A power
structure that is accountable only to itself will always end by abusing the
powerless. Even then, it will paternalistically ask to be trusted to repair
the damage."
In seven chapters, the writer makes five proposals: from a call
for a new biblical literacy and Christology, to changes in Church power and
democracy, to reforming in repentance.
Carroll claims that Jesus’ message is distorted and advocates scholarly
investigation. His ironic chapter entitled "The Holiness of Democracy" assumes
a revolution in the Church’s calcified system of power and authority.
"When children become sexually vulnerable to disturbed men, we are
an inch away from the question of what those men, and also their protectors,
make of women," Carroll charges.
Clearly, Carroll wrestles with reform in the Church while it is
in the middle of systemic decay, and proposes a Vatican III to usher in a new
era of participation and democracy in the Church. With a fervor as intense as
the quest for good over evil, Carroll points out that parishioners, priests
and bishops must make a choice toward a new Catholic Church. He makes much of
lay initiatives for change in groups like Voice of the Faithful.
For this reader, Carroll’s confrontational call for change in the
Church is another negative voice in an already saturated media milieu. Although
I found Carroll’s review of Church history rigorous and his analysis of the
great issues that must be faced pointed, his language will only make Church
leaders more defensive.
Nevertheless, his call for a truly ecumenical council is worthy
of merit. Bringing together the minds and hearts of men and women who love the
universal Catholic Church is an idea whose time has come.
You can order TOWARD A NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH: The Promise of Reform
from St. Francis
Bookshop.
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