Catholicism and Modernity: Confrontation or Capitulation ?
Longford, Frank
If only the standard doses of school reminiscence had been eliminated, bits of juvenilia about "Moose" the teacher who would rather talk baseball than history and "Big Ed" the authoritarian...
...Hitchcock stems from his seeming to have had a much less fortunate Catholic experience than I. Given the differences between Britain and America, this is understandable...
...Declaimers and firebrands, kindred souls to the talented Ross, will flock about him...
...10001 James Hitchcock is presented to us here as "the leading spokesman for traditional moderates within Roman Catholicism...
...Here is a fair sampling: " I n the popular mind virtually all the teachings of the Church are now in doubt...
...Let me make myselfa little plainer...
...There are other differences between the two Churches...
...But taking his picture as correct, for the sake of argument, can there really be so much contrast between the Catholicism of the two main English-speaking nations...
...But then I suppose I shall just have to wait for Mr...
...But while they can be detected in Britain, they in no way dominate the Church as they do in America...
...Like my g r e a t non-Catholic friend, Malcolm Muggeridge, whose views at many points resemble those of Mr...
...Hitchcock's...
...We should simply relax and enjoy the development of this fierce original, r Leading subsidy book publisher seeks manuscripts of all types : fi ~'ion, non-fiction, poetry, scholarly and juvenile wt k s , etc...
...As an Irishman active for many years first in the academic and then the public life of England, and as a Protestant for 34 years and a Catholic for 40, I am as ready to hold forth as he is about the Catholic Church in 1980...
...But in any worldly sense his opinion of the future of Catholicism is depressing...
...Hitchcock would, for the most part, frighten me...
...England is a much less church-going country than America: The typical non-Catholic Christian in Britain seldom goes to church...
...The revolution in brief [since the Second Vatican Council, whose teachings he considers to have been much distorted] was an emanation from an elite center--the use of authority to undermine authority...
...The liberal tendencies which horrify Mr...
...Hitchcock thinks the effect of Pope John Paul II on American Catholicism will be...
...There are recent signs, however, that this may be changing...
...Hitchcock gives a scathing account of the American failure...
...Abortion stands out as the one great social cause+ apart from religious education, on which it might be thought that Catholics would have no option but to stand firm...
...Despite the willingness of bishops and priests to visit individual prisoners the Church as a whole has done little to press for a more Christian system...
...Hitchcock's view of the Church may be summed up in six monosyllables: It is in a bad way...
...Bloomington, Indiana simply not been numerous enough to function collectively in politics, except on two issues: Catholic schools and abortion...
...As indeed, for example, would the section called "The National Landscape," were it not for similar errors...
...B a n a l , " "Miss Ernestina Crud," and "Mrs...
...In England, Catholics have There is opportun, ity in America...
...The Church he writes about is primarily American...
...As for now, we must not be excessively boorish about method and style...
...The importance of Catholics politically in America has no counterpart in Britain...
...English Catholics constitute only about 10 percent of the population, American Catholics almost 25 percent...
...Says our guide, "I am a city man by temperament...
...I suppose, then, my only real disagreement with Mr...
...Hitchcock, he possesses an unshakeable belief in the mercy of God...
...My own judgments of the Church are of course affected by my experience of it, which is d i f f e r e n t , although nor distinct, from Mr...
...Hitchcock talks a good deal about the tendency of American Catholics to substitute social concern for piety...
...The Church I know is British and Irish...
...New authors welcomed...
...42 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR AUGUST 1980...
...I contemplate three hours in the companionship of a fishing pole with horror...
...But again, one wishes the blue pencil had removed an embarrassing reflection about suburban shopping malls peopled by the likes of"Farmer Boob," "Mr...
...It is sometimes difficult to reconcile the two...
...The mean-spiritedness aside, such passages suggest that Ross has not yet decided who his audience truly is...
...Hitchcock's next book to find out...
...For years many people (myself included) have been urging the Catholic Church to take a much more active interest in, for example, penal reform...
...Send for free, illustrated 40-page brochure H-80 Vantage Press, 516 W. 84 St., New York, N.Y...
...indeed is, universal...
...Their statistical position has affected their religious life very little, except in one r e s p e c t , which is worth mentioning...
...Undoubtedly, he is a powerful writer whose pronouncements in Catholicism and Modernity lack nothing in clarity or boldness...
...I must leave it to American Catholics to dispute with him the accuracy of his diagnosis...
...But his Church is geographically and, it would seem, spiritually remote from mine...
...The Church we both belong to is supposed to be, and Frank Long ford, the Ear/of Long ford, has served in many distinguished posts in Britain's government...
...But no one could say that of Catholics in England...
...The social p r e s s u r e on Catholics to do likewise is responsible for a large measure of lapsing, which is bound to have an e f f e c t on the vitality of the Church, including its doctrinal debates...
...If only the standard doses of school reminiscence had been eliminated, bits of juvenilia about "Moose" the teacher who would rather talk baseball than history and "Big Ed" the authoritarian athletic director, the section on public education would be a small masterpiece...
...When the great surge of enthusiasm for abortion law reform swept over Britain in 1967, the Catholic Church was caught napping...
...In England the story is more complex...
...I should be fascinated to know what Mr...
...Well, perhaps there is...
...Later he publicly acknowledged the mistake and began to work d e s p e r a t e l y to undo the mischief...
...But I do think we can join in expressing unqualified admiration for the new Pope, who is able to communicate a loving heart vividly to the world while at the same time proclaiming traditional moral principles with inflexible logic...
...The audience for Ross's f u t u r e , undoubtedly more mature, books will be those who a p p r e c i a t e , indeed require, unclich~d anti-receivedwisdom essays on American life...
...I f the modern church is to have anything to say which is worth listening to, it must be willing at least to risk offending nonbelievers...
...This opening chapter is a witty intellectual Baedeker to the four regions of the United States incapsulated by New York, San Francisco, Detroit, and the South in general...
...Nellie Fishface...
...Cardinal Heenan, a real hero of mine but not beloved of all Catholic intellectuals, was persuaded that it would be unwise for Catholics to lead a strong opposition...
...Hitchcock does not despair, of course...
...Since his d e a t h Catholics have adopted a much more militant anti-abortion line...
...E3 Sarkes Tarzian Inc...
Vol. 13 • August 1980 • No. 8
