The Courage To Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, And The Future Of The Church

257 Pages·2002·7.84 MB·English

by  George Weigel

THE COURAGE TO BE CATHOLIC
ALSO BY GEORGE WEIGEL
Tranquillitas Ordinis: The Present Failure and Future Promise
of American Catholic Thought on War and Peace
Catholicism and the Renewal of American Democracy
American Interests, American Purpose:
Moral Reasoning and U.S. Foreign Policy
Freedom and Its Discontents: Catholicism Confronts Modernity
Just War and the Gulf War (with James Turner Johnson)
The Final Revolution: The Resistance Church and
the Collapse of Communism
Idealism Without Illusions: U.S. Foreign Policy in the 1990s
Soul of the World: Notes on the Future of Public Catholicism
Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II
The Truth of Catholicism
THE
C O U R A GE
TO BE
CATHOLIC
Crisis, Reform, and
the Future of the Church
GEORGE WEIGEL
BASIC
B
BOOKS
A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOKS GROUP
Copyright © 2002 by George Weigel
Published by Basic Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part
of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books,
387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016.
Designed by Brian Mulligan
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available at the Library of
Congress.
ISBN 0-465-09260-8
03 04 05 / 10 9 8
For all those who will contribute to the
genuinely Catholic reform of the
Church in the United States.
You know who you are.
Be not afraid.
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C O N T E N TS
INTRODUCTION 1
1 WHAT THE CRISIS Is 9
A Three-Headed Monster 19
A Crisis of Priestly Identity 22
A Crisis of Episcopal Leadership 29
A Crisis of Discipleship 32
2 WHAT THE CRISIS Is NOT 35
Celibacy 37
An "Authoritarian" Church? 42
A Failure to Implement Vatican II? 44
A "Pedophilia Crisis"? 47
A Media-Created Crisis? 48
Is the Catholic Sexual Ethic at Fault? 54
C O N T E N TS
3 How THE CRISIS HAPPENED 57
Why Now? Why This Way? 60
The "Truce of 1968" 68
Dissent Among Theologians 73
The Impact on Seminaries 75
The "Wounded Healer" Syndrome 78
The Beginnings of Reform 80
Faithful Dissent? 83
4 WHY BISHOPS FAILED 87
A Crisis of Identity 93
The Iron Cage of Bureaucracy 96
Clericalisms Old and New 100
The Triumphant Therapeutic 102
The Travail of Compassion 104
On Not Appearing "Conservative" 106
Clubmen 110
A Failure of Imagination 112
5 ROME AND THE CRISIS 117
Off the Information Superhighway 120
Old Habits Die Hard 125
Culture Wars 129
A Problem of Communications 130
An Oversold Product? 134
The Turn 136
The Learning Curve 144
C O N T E N TS
6 AGENDA FOR REFORM—SEMINARIES AND
NOVITIATES 147
Apostolic Visitations? 149
Recruitment and Screening 151
Education for Chastity 155
Homosexuality and the Seminary 160
Putting Psychology in Its Place 163
The Riches of Theology 166
7 AGENDA FOR REFORM—THE PRIESTHOOD 173
A Continuing Education 177
Deepening Fraternity 180
Welcoming the Newly Ordained 182
Asceticism and Lifestyle 183
Priests and Lay People 185
Priests and Vocations to the Priesthood 189
Handling Malfeasance 191
8 AGENDA FOR REFORM—THE BISHOPS AND
THE VATICAN 197
The Selection of Bishops 202
The National Conference 210
Changes in Rome 214
9 FROM CRISIS TO REFORM 219
The Last Hurrah 220
The Iron Law 224