Allen’s first trend describes how over the course of the
20th century a “tight identification between the West and
Christianity” has “disintegrated” and Catholicism has been turned “upside-down.”
In terms of numbers, at the beginning of
the century, only 25% of the Catholic population lived outside of Europe and
North America; by century’s end, 65.5% of the Catholic population was found in
Africa, Asia and Latin America. (15)
Allen quotes Rahner’s observation that as a theological matter,
Catholicism as a theological has always been a “World Church” in principle, but
“now that identity is being realized as a sociological fact.” (16)
After recounting some of the reasons for Catholic growth
in the global south, he then denotes some of its characteristics, including:
“morally conservative, politically liberal;” a comfort level with “miracles,
healing and the supernatural;” institutionally, grappling with problems of
growth—eg, infrastructure and staffing—rather than problems of decline; and
several positive examples of the Church playing a strong role in political
life. (23-32)
Throughout the book, Allen’s reflections on what a given
trend means for the future church are mapped out on a spectrum of near-certain,
probable, possible and “long-shot” consequences. Near -certain consequences of a World Church include
increasing attention to matters of pastoral concern in the South (such as
polygamy and witchcraft); and a gravitational pull away from internal “inside
baseball” questions (such as how power is distributed in the Church) toward “ad
extra” question of mission.
Allen also predicts that Southern influence will bring an
injection of “turbocharging orthodoxy” on sexual morality, with simultaneously
stronger support of “left” leaning policies on economic justice and war. (32-42) Attitudes toward ecumenical and
interreligious dialogue (discussed with more depth in later chapters) might see
a slightly tougher stance in light of Southern experience. As the head of a Nigerian league formed in
defense against anti-Christian violence by Islamic radicals put it: “You can’t
turn the other cheek is you’re dead.” (46).
What might this trend mean for Catholic legal theory and
Catholic legal education? In my own
teaching and scholarship, working with the genre of the encyclicals, I have often
struggled with the profound cultural differences between the European and
North-American mind-frames: eg, the
European tendency to articulate highly abstract principles, and only eventually
work its way down to a more concrete discussion, in tension with the more
pragmatic problem-solving leanings of North-American culture. I believe these perspectives have a profound impact
on how we understand the mesh between law and church teaching, and on how we
articulate how moral principles can inform their daily lives. Reading Allen’s analysis, I have the sense
that an “upside-down” World Church will present an even more interesting set of
dynamic tensions which will require a much more complex exploration of how
cultural attitudes toward law and social structures inform how we think about
the Church’s social teaching—based not just on how the US interfaces with
Europe, but on a richer, thicker interaction among the variety of legal
cultures in the global South.
In my seminar on CST & Economic Justice, when we have
tackled portions of the US Bishop’s letter, “Economic Justice for All,” I have
always gotten slightly stuck on the extent to which the CST principle and value
of participation is in tension with a robust sense of global solidarity. With Catholicism turned “upside-down,” and
with the hope of becoming more aware of and sensitive to perspectives from the global South, I wonder how this
might challenge and change how I think about advocacy for the kind of wages,
healthcare and basic services which enable
full and dignified participation in our industrialized nation?
Finally, in light of Allen’s account of the challenges and
tensions which emerge with the South-North movement of priests (45), I wonder what
kind of institutional structures might help my students, and US Catholics
generally, open up to the beauties and possibilities of a World Church. In his introduction, Allen observes: “It
sometimes comes more naturally for Catholics elsewhere to connect what’s
happening in Congo, or Colombia, or Cambodia to their own fate. A largely benign form of national
parochialism is in some ways the original sin of much Catholic conversation in
the United States.” (12) Perhaps those grassroots
components of the Church that already thrive within the structures of
international staffing and exchange—religious orders, international service
programs, and many of the new ecclesial movements—could be of service. Reading Allen’s account, I realized that one
of the reasons I am not afraid of the changes that an “upside-down” Catholicism
presents is because I have before me the names and faces of women and men from
Brazil, Argentina, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Mexico, Uruguay, and the
Dominican Republic, whose personal background, cultural heritage, and
experience of the Church in their own country, have greatly enriched the
Focolare communities where I have lived and worked.
I believe I have "opened" the comments section (and will get some technical help if I haven't!) - I look forward to further discussion of this chapter and the book generally.
Today we are opening our focused discussion of John
Allen's new book, "The Future Church." Ten of us have signed up to post the lead
blog on different chapter each week (for the most part in order, but note the switch on the last two), with an effort to include our thoughts on the implications of
the particular “trend” for Catholic legal theory and Catholic legal education. And with this discussion we'd also like to experiment with direct comments from readers, we'll see how that works. Here is our schedule:
Week of 1/18 - A World Church - Amy Uelmen & Rick
Garnett
1/25 - Evangelical Catholicism - Rob Vischer
2/1 - Islam - Russ Powell
2/8 - The New Demography - Michael Scaperlanda
2/15 - Expanding Lay Roles - Lisa Schiltz
2/22 - The Biotech Revolution - Robert George
3/1 - Globalization - Kevin Lee
3/8 - Ecology - Bob Hockett
3/15 - Pentecostalism - Greg Sisk
3/22 - Multipolarism - Tom Berg
Thursday, January 7, 2010
We'd like to have a focused discussion of John Allen's
new book, "The Future Church."
As the book is organized according to 10 "Trends," we'll focus
on one trend per week. On the Monday of
the designated week, one of us will provide an opener, hopefully with some
thoughts on the implications for the Catholic legal theory project, and then to
the extent that it is helpful to keep the discussion focused, also serve as a
thread coordinator for that week.
Discussion from the previous thread could also continue, but this way
we'll be sure to cover the wide ground that Allen sets out. For MOJ readers who would like to read along and participate, here is our schedule with the coordinators:
Week of 1/18 - A World Church - Amy Uelmen & Rick Garnett
1/25 - Evangelical Catholicism - Rob Vischer
2/1 - Islam - Russ Powell
2/8 - The New Demography - Michael Scaperlanda
2/15 - Expanding Lay Roles - Lisa Schiltz
2/22 - The Biotech Revolution - Robert George
3/1 - Globalization - Kevin Lee
3/8 - Ecology – Bob Hockett
3/15 - Pentecostalism - Greg Sisk
3/22 - Multipolarism – Tom Berg
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
I
am back and my New Year’s
resolution is… to blog more! (Or at
least to try…) As Christmas was
approaching, my Focolare house had plans to go upstate to our conference center
in order to celebrate with a larger group, but we were also flanking one of the
women in my community as she accompanied her mother in her last days. Sensing that the time was close, we decided
to scrap our initial plans so as to facilitate taking turns being together with our friend as she kept vigil over her mom. I
have had many wonderful Christmas Eves in my life, but this was the most
beautiful: standing next to my friend as we assured her mother that Jesus and
Mary were close to her. On Christmas morning
another group went to be with her… and she left peacefully for heaven on Christmas
evening. The wake and the funeral were
filled with this sense of peace. All of
this helped me to discover in a deeper way the meaning of Christmas, which is
closely tied to the whole point of a Focolare house: to love one
another to the point of receiving the gift of Christ’s presence among us and
for the world, “where two or three are gathered in my name…” (Mt. 18:19). It seems like in these moments that reality
takes on an extraordinary depth.
Then
we all shifted gears and went up to the conference center for our annual
retreat. The theme that we are reflecting
on this year is the reality of God as love in our lives, and our response to
that love. I realized that when I am in
the middle of stuff and the messiness of life—struggles, questions, issues, and
just the work of growing in understanding how love can permeate in a deeper way
my work in being a member of a community, a scholar, a teacher, a colleague, a daughter,
a sister, a friend… often in this process it is not always straightforward to
see God’s love at work. What came to my
soul at the end of the retreat was that exchange between Jesus and Martha after
Lazarus’s death. (John 11:21-27). When
Jesus says, “Your
brother will rise again,” Martha’s first reaction is, I know that will happen—eventually:
“I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus invites her to look again, to recognize
the power of his love in her life not just eventually but also right now, standing
in front of her: “I am the resurrection and the life.” I sensed the Jesus was saying also to me, “Do
you believe this?” It was a wonderful
invitation to look again, to see all of the ways in which the life of the Risen
One is at work right now, even in the midst of the struggles. Not a bad way to start the new semester!
So I
guess with that, also a New Year’s wish that our little “Mirror of Justice”
community can this year discover in a deeper way how in the midst of our
conversations in which differences often emerge, and as we engage the messiness
of our culture, that we can look again to see all of the ways in which God is
loving us, and at work in our lives.
Happy New Year, and happy new semester! Amy
Monday, July 27, 2009
I am just back from a Focolare’s northeast summer gathering held at the University of Scranton, “Mariapolis” (city of Mary) where about 400 people of all ages and from an amazing variety of ethnic and social backgrounds, came together for three days to delve into the Focolare’s spirituality of unity and live it together. (This year translations were in Spanish, Korean and Chinese). The theme, “love generates wisdom” dug into some of the challenges that people are facing today.
A workshop on economic life opened a space for discussion about how efforts to love might inform the approaches to the recession, with examples of living through a layoff, and helping small children to participate fully in a family’s efforts to discern wants from needs. Another on family life explored how to find time to communicate in the midst of a frenetic pace; and how to maintain unity in situations when the couple finds they have different approaches to parenting. The youth put together for everyone else a workshop on how they try to let love inform their efforts to navigate the media and means of communication (social networking, text messaging, etc.) in order to build solid and respectful relationships.
The CST insight? I think it might have something to do with how the communal effort to love and be open to receiving love creates a social space of total inclusion in which people can fully participate, giving the gift of themselves. Like the man in the scooter-wheelchair who formed a deep bond with a group of kindergartners, who were delighted to take rides on the scooter, and “race” him; and then together they formed an amazing team to help clear the tables in the dining area and put the dishes on the conveyer belt. Or the profoundly autistic teenager, unable to communicate verbally, who was clearly happy and comfortable dancing with the other young people at the end of the program, and the youth were clearly focused on her and the priority of creating a space to include her just as she was.
On our way back to the Focolare house in the Bronx, my friends and I stopped at an ATM machine, where there was an older man obviously struggling with finding the right buttons, and taking quite a while. Realizing that he had forgotten his glasses and needed help, we were able to create enough trust, even at a NYC ATM machine, to give him a hand. I am normally prone to impatient “sidewalk rage” with anyone slower than the usual NYC pace, but the “Mariapolis” spirit had made a dent on that, enabling us to bring something of the “city of Mary" into the Bronx, too.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
A few thoughts on John Allen’s “gut check for American Catholicism.” I know you will all be shocked to read that I’d agree with his assessment that among the “winners” in the encyclical is Focolare and its Economy of Communion project, as “the lone initiative singled our for praise” in Caritas in Veritate.
I’d see a further connection within Allen’s roundup: I think the Economy of Communion project and the Focolare spirituality generally also hold much promise for the work of healing the tendency that Allen describes for pro-life and peace-and-justice Catholics to move in separate circles, create their own echo chambers, and as Allen puts is, “travel down separate paths, having separate conversations and investing their time and treasure in distinct, sometimes even opposing efforts.”
Last week I was reflecting on the group of people involved with the Economy of Communion project. Some of us have been in conversation almost from its inception in 1991. And as I went through the list of these friends, I realized that for many I could not remember if they were Republicans or Democrats. I am sure the role of the state and political models has come up in our conversations over the years, but the focus – a common commitment to a concrete project in service to the poor, in the conviction that Gospel values can completely permeate an approach to business life - has formed such a deep non-ideological bond that political alliances have been completely relativized and accepted among the normal differences in any group.
Similarly, what draws people to the Focolare spirituality is not a particular political agenda, but the spirituality of unity, which is grounded in the prayer of Jesus, “that all may be one,” and the conviction that this can permeate their everyday lives. Especially during presidential campaign seasons, local Focolare communities have not been immune to the political tensions, and have had to work very hard to keep open the lines communication across political differences. But the common bond in the spirituality lays a foundation for building the kinds of relationships of listening, love and trust that can bridge the political divide.
Before the 2008 election season, in the New York area we did a formation program that we called “Citizens for a United World,” which started, like all Focolare gatherings, with a “pact” of mutual love. Over the course of studying Catholic social teaching, many were able to recognize the ways in which they may have mischaracterized the “other” (political) side, see that our pro-life and peace-and-justice leanings were all integral to the work of building up the body of Christ, and move toward healing the relationships in tension, within the Focolare community, and also within their families, parishes, and other circles.
I agree with Allen that one of our big challenges in the life of the Church here is bring our pro-life and peace-and-justice energies into alignment so as to “breathe with both lungs.” And I have the sense that in addition to Focolare, other ecclesial movements may have had analogous experiences of creating the kind of non-ideological space that can help to heal the divide. These may be rare, but perhaps not as rare as we think.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A reader responds to the posts on the investigation of women religious:
“I have read with interest the posts on MOJ about the Vatican investigation of women's religious orders. I have noticed that some of the nuns who have commented on the issue, as well as R. McBrien, take the position that the Vatican is acting in bad faith and is pursuing these investigations in order to put women back into the role they had in the 1940s, or as a witch hunt, or as a means of diverting attention from the sexual abuse scandal. Of course, they have no evidence to support these claims; they just presume to know the intentions of the Vatican I think, out of charity, we should do better and at least presume that the Vatican officials are acting in good faith until we have demonstrable proof that they are not.”
Thoughts? My own reaction to the New York Times Francis Clines piece is that it might be painting with an overly broad brush to imply that the Vatican is specifically targeting the creative efforts of women religious to meet concrete social needs such as those of mothers in prison. My guess is that there might be widely varying situations in different communities, and even different convents within the same communities, and that we might need finer instruments to get a picture of the complexity.
