The Faithful Departed
Amy Welborn has written the best review of Philip Lawler’s book, The Faithful Departed that I have read so far. She really is a good writer - here are a couple of things she wrote in her review:
But the other side of the coin is that the bishops do, indeed, act in concert, as a conference. They may object to being characterized as speaking in one voice, but the fact is, they do. It doesn’t matter if Bishop A or Bishop X believes that stronger, more vigorous action should be taken in a certain area or if Bishops M, N and O are disgusted with the behavior of Bishop R. Good for them, but if they allow the cautious majority to set the direction and speak for all, either to the Vatican or to the rest of us, the complaints that we shouldn’t characterize “the bishops” as a monolith doesn’t hold much water.
The story Lawler tells is of an episcopacy weakened by accomodation and fear of disapproval by political and social elites (and perhaps with secrets to hide as well). The trickle-down effect of the accomodationist gestalt is that what is ultimately communicated to the rest of us is that none of this really matters. It’s changeable. It’s not worth sacrificing for. - Charlotte was both blog.
Good catch!
May 5th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Perhaps I need to educate myself more on the conditions and historicity of the Catholic culture in Boston, and this book might be the way to do it. I will tell you that as it stands right now, I’m absolutely disgusted with Boston’s Catholic culture . It seems to exanimate, so murky, and so self-antithetic that if I never hear the word “Catholic” and “Boston” in the same sentence, it would bring me great joy.
Catholics (CRADLE Catholics!) involved in politics that directly oppose Church teaching on paramount issues such as abortion. Catholics who were the unfortunate victims of pedophile priests suing the Church for millions and millions of dollars; bankrupting their diocese, BUT staying Catholic!!?? Yes, I am aware that this practice is not limited to city of Boston.
And no matter what is said, I can state with some degree of certainty that the apathetic conditions there will NEVER change.