Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

I suppose that most of us do not need demographic analyses to tell us that Catholics have been, by and large, assimilated into the American culture. Nevertheless, the Ventura, California based Barna Group has completed a study that seems to verify exactly that. The California Catholic Daily concludes:

In sum, according to the Barna report, Catholics have assimilated to the American mainstream; they are “more influenced by the social mainstream than by the core principles of the Christian faith,” it said. George Barna, director of the Barna Group, said in the report, “the trail of Catholicism in America is a clear example of culture influencing faith more often than faith influencing culture.” Catholic leaders “must address this spiritual drift within the body,” said Barna. “If they fail to do so, in the next quarter century American Catholicism could well lose its ability to shape people’s minds and hearts in ways that conform to the historic teachings and purposes of Christianity.”

Americanism is a term that was coined by Pope Leo XIII in 1899 in his personal letter to Cardinal Gibbons entitled Testem Benevolentiae. In the letter Leo condemned what he called “religious Americanism,” which he distinguished from political Americanism–praising the latter. Leo recognized that the problem of religious Americanism might have been primarily one of a mistranslation of Isaac Hecker’s biography into French.

Nevertheless, he thought that he still must address the erroneous positions found in the French translation. These problems include the claim about a malleability of Church teaching as if it were simply philosophical propositions that could and should be modified in order to fit better with modern circumstances and the claim that natural virtues are higher than the theological virtues… i.e., personal action is more efficacious than grace. Cardinal Gibbons responded that these views are not those of American Catholics and also he condemned this type of thought.

However, Cardinal Gibbons was one who supported a view of Catholic engagement with American culture that some refer to as Americanism. Gibbons was one of several prelates who espoused the view that American culture was so amenable to Catholicism that what was needed was the integration of Catholics into the culture so that they could let Americans see how Catholic they really were. Others who shared this view with Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore included Bishop John Ireland of St. Paul, Bishop John Keane of Dubuque, Bishop John Lancaster Spaulding of Peoria, and Bishop Dennis O’Connell of Richmond.

These so-called “Americanist” bishops had no explicit program but held a general agreement in some areas that could foster the acceptance of Catholics and Catholicism by Americans. These ideas include, for example, that immigrants ought to be integrated as quickly as possible into American culture and that preaching and teaching should be done only in English. Bishop Ireland is even accused by some of thinking American 1^st and Catholic 2^nd. Whether this is a fair assessment or not, it is clear that these prelates were thoroughly orthodox and they sincerely thought that the future of the Catholic Church lay in America. They believed that there was a general movement toward the Catholic Church by Americans and so the faith should be presented in such a way as to be attractive to them.

Not every Bishop thought this way. There were those who some term “Conservatives” or “Traditionalists” such as Archbishop Michael Corrigan of NY, Bishop Bernard McQuaid of Rochester, and Bishop Henni of Milwaukee. These bishops were concerned over certain issues that went against the American grain, such as labor’s association with socialism and free masonry and so, unlike some of the Americanist bishops, they did not support these unions. They were also concerned that Catholics would lose their faith by being absorbed into Protestant America and so integration of Catholics was to be avoided. Henni especially believed that the immigrants’ European culture was important for maintaining their Catholic faith. Many of these conservatives therefore, supported teaching and preaching in the immigrants’ native tongue. You can see here how terms like “liberal” and “conservative” have more ability to confuse than enlighten.

Many issues conspired to make the Americanist dream of Catholic integration into American society a reality.  It has been more successful than could have been imagined by the Americanists.  If one were to follow the historical reading of events that says there was a conflict between the Americanists and the “Conservatives,” then one would have to say that today, the Americanist goal won the day. It also seems that the Conservative reservations with this goal also proved correct.

Catholic Americans are, by and large, first Americans and if Catholic in their thinking at all, Catholics, at best, second . They have been absorbed into American society but into a culture that is now post-Protestant. The suburbanization of the cities and the coincident departure of Catholics from Catholic ghettos in the post-WWII US, the traditional ties of Catholics to the Democratic party, the confusion of Catholics about the faith in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, the crowding out of religion from public life, etc. are all elements of the perfect storm that has almost annihilated the average Catholic’s sense of the importance of his faith. Where we are today is a state that both the “Americanists” and the “Conservatives” of the 19th century would have agreed upon: they would both react in horror.

The issue today with the faith of Catholic politicians is emblematic of this.  Up until JFK, the questions leveled against Catholic politicians had to do with concerns that they would allow the Pope to dictate U.S. policy.  Today, Catholics have followed the JFK approach and enshrined in the infamous Mario Cuomo Notre Dame speech . . . “my faith has absolutely nothing to do with my actions.”  This seems to confirm the average US Catholic in his “thinking” that his religion means whatever he wants it to mean. The individualism of Catholics today is in perfect accord with the individualism of Americans.  In other words, even before this poll was taken, I could have told you that this would be the result.