The Catholic crisis.

The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful Are Shaping a New American Catholicism David Gibson (HarperCollins, 2003, 350pp) ISBN: 0060530707, $23.95

A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America Peter Steinfels (Simon & Schuster, 2003, 392pp) ISBN: 0684836637, $26.00

WE ARE FORTUNATE TO have--scarcely one year after the worst scandal in the history of the American Catholic church--these two thoughtful analyses of this crisis. Let's face it: it is pretty difficult for American Catholics and non-Catholics to comprehend the causes and effects of the clerical sex abuse scandal that broke in 2002. The sheer magnitude of revelations of priestly abuse and episcopal cover-up is overwhelming. These two excellent books help us understand this troubling series of events. David Gibson and Peter Steinfels both agree that the clerical sex abuse scandal is about far more than sex. Among other things, it is about power and the abuse of power by church leaders, and it is about a Catholic laity finally waking up to its responsibilities. Moreover, both authors agree that, "if the sex abuse scandal had never occurred, the Catholic church in the United States would still face a crisis." (Steinfels, p67) As Gibson writes, "The scandal, and the reaction to it," grew "out of a larger, ongoing crisis in Catholicism that predated the revelations and continues to push the church in directions it has never gone before." (p1)

Peter Steinfels, former senior religion correspondent for the New York Times and former editor of Commonweal, is both a journalist and an historian who brings scholarly balance to his account of the church's crisis. He frames the crisis in stark terms, stating bluntly that the American church must transform itself or suffer irreversible decline. The reasons the church faces major choices about its future pertain to two fundamental transitions it must negotiate: the passage of leadership from clergy to laity (in view of declining numbers of priests and nuns), and a generational shift from a leadership formed in pre-Vatican II American Catholic culture to a new leadership generation formed entirely after the Council. This succeeding generation "arrives with new questions but increasingly without old "knowledge." (p11)

This raises questions about Catholic identity, and Steinfels addresses these issues in chapters on the church and society, the quality of liturgical celebration, religious education, the role of women in the church and the identity of Catholic universities, hospitals and social service agencies in a pluralistic society. Throughout he is concerned with difficulties in transmitting a rich Catholic tradition to the next generation. Those of us who grew up in the parochial school culture of the American church before the Second Vatican Council know what he means.

Steinfels is most concerned about church leadership now and for the future. The statistical indicators (church attendance rates, ratios of priests to people, declining numbers of religious sisters and brothers, financial contributions) show a church at risk. At the same time, the Catholic population in the United States has increased and now numbers some 65 million. Most important is the fact that increasing numbers of lay people are filling in the gaps left by the decline in priests and nuns. Thirty thousand lay Catholics, 80 percent of whom are women, have entered pastoral ministry and are now working in over 60 percent of the nation's parishes. This altered Catholic landscape demands a new agenda for leadership, from the selection of bishops and the rethinking of the priesthood to the thorough preparation and genuine incorporation of a lay leadership that is already taking over key responsibilities in Catholic institutions. Above all, as Steinfels notes, negotiating these inevitable changes in church leadership (from clergy to laity) "is something that itself requires leadership." (p352)

He does not see that super-leadership necessarily coming from bishops. Not after their mismanagement of clerical sex abuse and, indeed, of the actual scandal itself. There were individual and collective failures in episcopal leadership. Individual bishops covered up clerical abuse and reassigned offending priests to new parishes where they continued their abuse. Collectively, the bishops' conference didn't study the problem or marshal data about its extent, they didn't inform Catholics about the problem or what measures they were taking to prevent further abuse, and they didn't set standards or adopt a mandatory policy for all dioceses. Their poor leadership left Catholics unprepared for the onslaught of revelations in the annus horribilis of 2002.

While the bishops are not "heedless villains," Steinfels notes that "mediocrity, not malevolence, is the more typical episcopal infirmity." (p313) He attributes this in part to the selection process and the criteria used to make episcopal appointments. Under the papacy of John Paul II, "American bishops seemed to be chosen on the basis of their administrative abilities and their connections in Rome." Conformity to current church teaching on priestly celibacy, artificial contraception and women's ordination was a sine qua non. Above all, would-be bishops had to be ready to follow Vatican orders. By and large, this selection process has resulted in paralysis and passive church leadership.

STEINFELS RECOGNIZES THE TREMENDOUS challenge confronting the bishops now: to address the shortage of priests and to integrate lay ministers into church structure and culture. But, he says, to lead rather than react, the bishops will have to change their style of avoiding all public confrontation, stop their subservience to the Vatican bureaucracy and reform the way they are selected. And he has practical suggestions for how they can do so. But he suggests that rethinking the priesthood and reconceiving lay ministry offer more fruitful possibilities for church reform.

Rethinking the priesthood means recognizing that while celibacy is not unnatural, it is exceptional. To routinely require it of every parish priest is simply incompatible with humanistic church teachings affirming the goodness of the world and the goodness of the body. The church now recognizes marriage and sexuality as authentic paths to holiness--as demanding and rewarding as the lives of ordained or vowed celibates. No longer is a celibate priesthood regarded as the sole or superior path to sanctity.

Sociologically, the decline of priestly vocations and the advent of lay ministry mean that a priest's work has changed somewhat. We now need priests to animate and guide others in leadership roles. The priests of the future must collaborate with lay leaders and be able to organize and inspire lay people.

Steinfels' account is full of practical, creative suggestions for implementing change in the church. There is an air of inevitability to optional celibacy and a diaconate open to women as well as men. While the current papacy adamantly opposes a married priesthood, Catholics can and should take concrete steps to prepare for eventual change. We should, for example, study other examples of married clergy (Protestants, Eastern Catholics and the Orthodox) to see advantages and problems.

Finally, Steinfels stresses the importance of ending theological gridlock and partisan fighting between liberal and conservative Catholics. Future leaders must be determined to "break out of the trench warfare that has constricted discussion within American Catholicism since the Second Vatican Council." And they "must balance a concern for theological underpinnings with close attention to the practical pastoral realities of animating vital worship, passing on the faith, and fostering Catholic identity." (p353)

WHILE STEINFELS FOCUSES ON church leadership and the challenge of transmitting Catholic tradition to future generations, Gibson focuses more on the sex abuse scandal itself, seeking to understand its causes (clericalism, priest shortage, episcopal subservience to Rome) and its impact on the church. Gibson is a journalist who worked at Vatican Radio for five years and then as senior religion correspondent for the Star-Ledger (New Jersey's major newspaper). He is also a convert; as he puts it, "To convert to Catholicism after spending five years in Rome is in itself a miracle." His is a thorough, balanced, judicious account; as he writes, "I approach the Catholic church from an oblique perspective, as a Protestant who worked for the pope and a Catholic convert who covers the church for the secular press." (p17)

To Gibson, the scandal is the defining event for this generation of Catholics. It "illuminated, like a flash of lightning, a kind of 'perfect storm' of powerful forces that have been bearing down on Catholicism for decades," a restive laity frustrated by unfulfilled promises that they would have a greater voice in the church, a "graying and gaying" priest-hood demoralized by the decline in priestly status and vocations, and a hierarchy increasingly dispirited over Vatican centralization and micro-management. Underlying all this discontent was the growing realization that change was coming soon at the top of the Catholic pyramid, that John Paul II was seriously ill and succumbing to age.

But Gibson is hopeful. "Crisis is not collapse," he notes. "It is, in the original meaning of the word, about choosing (like a critic) the better from the good, the good from the bad." (p15) Arguing that the crisis in Catholicism is a crisis of governance rather than a crisis of faith, he calls for structural changes in the American church. Greater financial transparency at the diocesan and parish levels--it's the laity's money, after all--and greater lay participation are essential. The selection process for bishops should be open to wider consultation. Above all, understanding and transforming the mentality, of clericalism is "the single most urgent priority for the coming Catholic church." (p203)

Too many priests, church leaders, and lay Catholics have allowed the sacred view of the priest's role to obscure his status as one of the baptized, as another sinner in need of redemption. "What is needed is a way to rehumanize the priesthood with out desacralizing it." (p229) Sober realism and the realization that priests are mere mortals must counter the tendency to lionize the clergy. And, oh, a married priesthood will inevitably be a hallmark of the future Catholic church. According to Gibson, the acceptance of Episcopalian and Anglican married clergy who have "gone over to Rome," means that we are already allowing optional celibacy.

Gibson's book is thorough investigative journalism flavored with brief historical introductions at the beginning of each chapter. But like most journalism, it lacks footnotes, bibliography and an index. Given the nature of this crisis, the publisher should have included a list of sources and an index so that readers can check sources and read further.

GIVEN THEIR EMPHASIS ON GREATER lay leadership in the church, I am puzzled by the fact that both authors say little about lay groups (Call to Action, Catholics for a Free Choice, Corpus--the Association for an Inclusive Priesthood, the Quixote Center, Women's Ordination Conference, Future Priest, to name but a few) which have been pushing for church reform for the last thirty years. This lack of attention to what might be called the Catholic Left is surprising in view of the extensive coverage given in these two books to thinkers and publicists from the Catholic Right. Similarly, greater attention could and should be given to the victims' groups, the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests and Clergy (SNAP), the Link-Up and other survivor organizations who refused to let the issue of clerical sex abuse go away. We are indebted to them and to these reform groups for their courage and perseverance.

Gibson writes extensively about Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), one of the more promising lay reform groups now at work. Despite the fact that VOTF explicitly eschews controversial doctrinal issues (taking no position on celibacy, contraception or women's ordination), various bishops have banned VOTF from meeting in church halls within their dioceses. VOTF'S goals are simple: to support victims of clerical abuse, to support priests of integrity, and to promote structural change within the church. Since both authors favor structural change, one would have expected them to feature Voice of the Faithful more prominently in their accounts. Gibson does, Steinfels does not.

Given the need for substantive, critical analyses of the Catholic crisis, these are relatively minor quibbles. Steinfels has offered us a sobering account of the stark choices facing the American Catholic church. Gibson's book is highly informative and punctuated with many humorous asides. They underscore the fact that Catholicism is at a crossroads and suggest how Catholics might see their way through these turbulent times. The stakes couldn't be higher. As Gibson writes, "The danger to the Catholic church is that Catholics will leave. The danger to Catholics is that they will have nowhere to go." (p344) ***********please start here

MARY C. SEGERS is chair of the Political Science Department at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. Her most recent book is Faith-Based Initiatives and the Bush Administration: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (co-authored with Jo Formicola and Paul Weber, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).