Dogma and Freedom
Mendelsohn, Jack
Dogma and Freedom American Freedom and Catholic Power, by Paul Blanshard. Beacon Press. 402 pp. $3.95. The Emergence of Liberal Catholicism in America, by Robert D. Cross. Harvard University...
...There is the area of platitude and piety, which is generally pleasing to the homogeniz-ers of American society...
...It is his contention that the Catholic clerical plan for America, if successful, would destroy democracy and install an authoritarian society...
...Few people will be satisfied with Shields' thin treatment of Catholic doctrine, but most will agree with his contention that America's more than 30 million Catholics are loyal to the political system under which they live—otherwise democracy in America would not be functioning at all...
...328 pp...
...The 1958 edition has been thoroughly rewritten and conscientiously provides the citation of recent happenings and statements...
...McGraw-Hill...
...What is important about Shields' book is not that he "answers" Blanshard, but that he tries to establish a new framework of definitions in which discussion can be carried on...
...Cross admits that the program of liberal Catholicism has not yet proved especially successful, but with the steady growth of the church and the diminution of bigotry, he looks for an increase of "kindred spirit" attitudes and a slackening of Catholic separatism...
...Currin Shields is an articulate, young professor-politician from UCLA, who has taken on the specific task of answering Paul Blanshard...
...Ten years ago publication of Paul Blanshard's American Freedom and Catholic Power was a literary bombshell...
...Harvard University Press...
...Indeed yes, says Shields...
...Liberalism, like Catholicism, offers answers to the meaning of life, he says...
...Nothing illustrates this more forcefully than the three books under consideration in this review...
...Unfortunately, Shields at no time comes to grips with Blanshard's concrete contentions about Catholic clerical power and propaganda...
...As in the initial edition there is heavy dependence on supporting quotations from Catholic sources...
...I would like to think it represents, in even greater measure, a triumph for reasonable discussion of religious conflicts and tensions...
...When put on the market it was greeted with stony silence by the press...
...Nevertheless, the book became a best seller (more than 200,-000 copies), though it appeared on no best seller lists...
...This movement to modify the folkways and prejudices of Catholics at home and abroad has met with vigorous resistance in the church, but the promises within American life have kept the movement alive...
...Reviewed by Jack Mendelsohn Discussion of religious conflicts occurs in three ways...
...Shields surveys "the Catholic Tradition" and finds no necessary conflict with the group decision-making process called democracy...
...There is the back-alley of bigotry...
...Under its roof both Catholic and liberal can pursue happiness, but only if neither insists on imposing his beliefs as dogmas for all...
...That there is an obvious omission in Blanshard's work is underlined by the appearance of The Emergence of Liberal Catholicism in America by Robert D. Cross, a Swarthmore historian...
...In fact, he brushes Blanshard off as one who understands neither Catholicism nor democracy...
...He defines Catholic liberals as those prelates and laymen who resist Catholic separatism and foster mediation and adjustment between Catholicism and American political culture...
...With few exceptions, newspapers refused to accept the publisher's advertisements...
...Can a good Catholic be a good democrat...
...Now, a decade later, a revised and updated edition is moving freely through the book world, receiving professional reviews and being prominently advertised...
...Democracy, to Shields, is a process of reaching decisions on the exercise of authority...
...Democracy and Catholicism in America, by Currin Shields...
...He addresses his arguments to Catholics as fully as to non-Catholics on the grounds that American freedom is their freedom as much as anyone else's...
...Though he believes that the conflict between Catholic hierarchical power and American institutions has never been more obvious, Blanchard is satisfied that opposition to Catholic objectives is now thoroughly and healthily aroused...
...He sees no danger that such opposition will be dominated by fanaticism and "know-nothing" prejudices...
...He believes that in the realms of education, medicine, marriage, divorce, science, censorship, and religious liberty, the Roman Catholic hierarchy is attempting to capture, control, and reshape the mind of America...
...Blanshard would undoubtedly agree that a Catholic could and should be a good democrat, but he would insist that it must be at the expense of dominant Catholic clerical teaching...
...One of the most interesting additions is a "Calendar of Significant Events, 1947-1957," beginning with the McCol-lum decision of the Illinois Supreme Court and ending with the encyclical of Pius XII establishing a world-wide censorship organization to supervise movies, radio, and television...
...310 pp...
...Finally there is the forum of responsible debate...
...Recognizing the often unhappy relations between Catholics and American culture, Cross thoughtfully examines the specific efforts of Catholic liberals to bring their religion inr to the main stream of American secular democracy...
...There were few reviews...
...In Democracy and Catholicism in America he speaks as a non-Catholic who sees no incompatibility between Catholic teachings and democratic principles...
...The main outline of Blanshard's thesis is unchanged...
...Liberal Catholic enthusiasms have produced resentments in some church quarters and have even called forth pointed censures from Roman authorities, yet the determination persists and grows to demonstrate that Catholicism can live happily and fruitfully within the democratic structure...
...Catholics, he believes, will always have a non-secular conception of democracy, but he sees creative participation in the democratic process as a distinct and unique challenge to American Catholics to which they can respond confidently, charitably, and liberally...
...In part this represents a triumph of Catholic good sense...
...Oscar Handlin in Al Smith and His America reminds us that just 30 years ago we miserably flunked the test of dealing with religious tensions at the national political level...
...The grass roots campaign against Smith was an ugly model of fanaticism...
...It is a way of getting things done under the aegis of popular sovereignty, political equality, and majority rule...
...He sees, for example, a wide distinction between liberalism and democracy...
...It identifies itself with democracy, tries to turn democracy into a rival religion, when in reality democracy is a political system with no "answers whatever to any question about 'supernatural' or 'natural' truth...
...In fact, "Catholic religious teachings . . . neither conflict with nor apply to beliefs about [democracy] .. . they are simply irrelevant...
...That we have traveled far since 1928 is undeniable...
...Every conceivable pressure was brought to bear on Beacon Press to drop it...
...5.50...
Vol. 22 • June 1958 • No. 6
