I am usually rather delighted whenever I find a book to review in my mailbox. When I received American Church: The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall, and Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America
It seems book subtitles are becoming much like news headlines as a kind of summary meant to bring you in. Although news headlines often do not have much to do with the actual story. The subtitle in this case is actually quite indicative of the contents. Although the title “American Church” did not thrill me and when I discovered that the original title was “The Gibbons Legacy.” I prefer the original title.
There are a couple themes in this book regarding the history and the future of the Church in America. One is the contrast between the views of Orestes Augustus Brownson and his friend Isaac Thomas Hecker. Orestes Brownson a convert to the Church was rather pessimistic on future of the Catholic Church in America. Isaac Heckler was the founder of the Paulist Fathers and is now a Servant of God. Heckler had a very optimistic view of the Church in America and thought the two fit together perfectly. The other theme regards the 1950’s best selling book “The Cardinal” by Henry Morton Robinson which had a view much akin to Isaac Heckler’s. The book partly based on the career of Cardinal Spellman was also made into a movie directed by Otto Preminger.
These themes help in part to explore the history of the Catholic Church in America. Considering that while there were some prominent Catholics at the founding of this country such as Daniel Carroll, for the most part Catholics were a very small minority. It was only after later immigration that Catholics became a more sizable minority. An anti-Catholic bias was there from the beginning for a variety of reasons, but partly concerning the doubt that Catholics could be good Americans with their “allegiance” to Rome. The Know-Nothing Party was on the extreme side of this bias, but it was prevalent in a largely Protestant populace.
Cardinal James Gibbons (July 23, 1834 – March 24, 1921) who was the Archbishop of Baltimore was a pivotal figure for Catholics in America. He was also quite optimistic on the Church in America and that not only could Catholics be good Americans but that America was ideally suited for Catholicism. As an Americanizer his view, actions, and influence certainly shaped the Catholic Church here in some regards. His view was also not a minority opinion among Catholics and really exists to this day. That the Church fits hand in glove with America. Although really more common now is the false idea that the Catholic Church fits perfectly with one polical party or another.
With this basic setup Russell Shaw explores the history of the Church in America, where we are now, and what portends fo the future. There were so many things I found excellent about this book. I already knew Mr. Shaw was a fine writer and I was really liked the way he explored the history and raised questions. I think it was evident Mr. Shaw had the more skeptical view of a Orestes Brownson, but he also did not let that get in the way. I enjoyed the balance of looking at the various questions and putting forth how others have weighed in on both sides. He presented information without trying to move you into specific conclusions regarding it.
The history of the Church in America makes for a absorbing study and covers the growth of the Church and the prominent historical markers. The failed presidential candidacy of Al Smith and later the election of John F. Kennedy. The Catholic culture of the first half of the 20th century and the tumultuous years during and after the Second Vatican Council. He pulls out detailed information and my copy of the book is heavily highlighted as time and again I found much to think about and want to come back to. A good book of this type can present you with an array of information. This one goes beyond that and has filled my mind with much to reflect upon. I also really admired the way he brought the history alive and I could almost picture the reaction of Cardinal Gibbons when Pope Leo the XIII released Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae an encyclical condemning the heresy of Americanism.
The latter part of the book deals with many of the facts of American Catholic culture as it stands now. The collapse of recognizing vocations to the priesthood and religious life. The sad state of Catholic education. The fact that Catholics are pretty much identical in almost every statistic compared to other Americans regarding divorce, abortion, contraception, and the support of other grave evils. This is not presented as doom and gloom, but as a realistic assessment of the problems we face. He also does not make the mistake of presenting some kind of Catholic golden age in America and in fact shows how from the beginning there have been flaws that in part led to the current state. When I had found Ross Douthat’s Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics a fascinating look at the history of religion in America and Russell Shaw’s book gives a more in-depth look at the Catholic side of it.
I could really go on and on about this book. By nature I am a pessimistic-optimist and this book feed both sides of my own divide. I really need to write a separate blog post regarding some of my thoughts this book has sparked.
7 comments
There’s no shortage of “what went wrong” books and blog posts. Hardly a week goes by without someone offering an opinion. And it’s always dy to look smart when discussing people who are dad and buried who can’t refute your theories. I don’t see the value of buying yet another entry in the decline-and-fall narrative.
I have enough problems in my own parish without worrying about Spellman and Bernadin’s foibles.
Well Ben, sometimes it helps to know history so you don’t repeat the mistakes of the past, which in our fallen nature we are always prone to do.
Yes, but what happens then is that the whole thing degenerates into blame, and that doesn’t solve anything. It may also explain how we got this way, but it doesn’t explain exactly how we are outside of appearances, or what to do about it.
There are a number of new books on the condition of the Church that are far more explanatory and helpful, probably most of them brought on by the relatively new data in the Pew Report, which is beyond reproach (2009).
“Forming Intentional Disciples” by Sherry Weddell is the book of the decade on this topic. Very helpful and insightful, it offers a diagnosis and prescription for where we are.
“Evangelical Catholicism” by George Weigel is also pretty good. He comes to the same diagnosis as Weddell. However, his prescription is much weaker because he has a broad and personal reputation to shelter and what’s going to happen next in the American Church will be interesting and he knows it.
Good review Jeff, makes me want to read the book. But I guess what’s holding me back is how can Americanism be blamed for the decline of the American church when all the European churches have gone downhill much farther and faster?
tso,
That is something he does bring up in the book as an objection. Although he doesn’t do a comparison because that is beyond the scope of the book. Still it was something I was also thinking about in relation to this book into how the tensions in the religious life of Americans can both have serious problematic indicators and to be much healthier than religious life in Europe.
I would love to see a comparison on a percentage of fully faithful Catholics around the world. Maybe we have more people who like the idea of religion and our individualism makes us more immune to our hypocrisy of life. I just don’t know and would love to see an exploration of this. There is also the question of how successful we have been in exporting our individualism abroad. Certainly the ideas contained in the heresy of Americanism are not confined to our borders anymore.
The Church is growing very rapidly in Africa and Asia, but it’s primary evangelization going on there. Here, as in Europe and to some degree also Latin America, we are having to re-evangelize populations that were evangelized long ago and have lost the initial evangelization. This is the essence of the New Evangelization you keep hearing about. It’s not just going on in the USA, and to see it that way is to make a broad and serious error.
What this book does is give a chronicle of our self-understanding through history. But it ends at a cul-de-sac. We will not be able to go on as we have been outside of a ghetto. We have exhausted that avenue as we have exhausted our primary evangelization given long ago. In order to go on, a re-evangelization must take place, which uses the Gospel in a timeless Catholic way without the baggage of the old cultural detritus.