The top five ‘missing mega-trends’ shaping Catholicism
Print Friendly Version| All Things Catholic by John L. Allen, Jr. | |
| Friday, Dec. 29, 2006 - Vol. 6, No. 17 | |
Last week, I presented a draft list of ten “mega-trends” which I believe are shaping the future of the Catholic church, and asked for reader reaction. I was stunned by the response. In addition to the public comments on the NCR site, I received scores of personal messages, most of them deeply thoughtful and well-informed. Though I can’t respond personally, please know that I am grateful, and I hope my forthcoming book is equal to the quality of your contributions.
(This is not to say, of course, that everyone was thrilled by the exercise. One disgruntled reader weighed in with a complaint that I seemed to be "abandoning" my role as a Vatican correspondent for "the meaningless career of a futurist. What a shame! What a loss!")
One point I probably could have made more clear is that I intend this as a descriptive exercise. What I’m after are not ideas or movements that should shape the future of Catholicism, but those that, based on the available evidence, actually are doing so. Many readers wrote to make impassioned arguments for a cause, and if I don’t include it, it’s not a judgment on its merits. It’s rather that I don’t see evidence the church is moving in that direction, or that it represents one of the most consequential currents in Catholic life.
Many readers wrote to tweak the way I presented one or more of the mega-trends. (Several made the argument, for example, that the sex abuse crisis by itself does not constitute a mega-trend; as one reader put it, it’s more akin to an earthquake than a shifting plate. The deeper trend, some suggested, is a press toward new systems of accountability and governance in the church, linked to the question of lay participation.)
Others wrote to propose additional trends. Sorting through the responses, I compiled a list of 48 such suggestions, ranging from the status of divorced and remarried Catholics, to 20th century Marian apparitions. A few of these ideas appeared with such regularity, and with such solid arguments, that they probably represent additional mega-trends that, one way or the other, deserve to make the final list.
Herewith, based on your input, are the top five “missing mega-trends,” based on the frequency with which they came up in your reactions. Whether these five, or for that matter any of the original 10, make the cut, or whether they’re re-framed or folded into something else, remains to be seen -- that’s the work of coming months.
One: Women in the church
By a wide margin, this was the most commonly cited omission from my list. Inevitably, the theme carries different connotations for different readers. Some see it in terms of debates over women’s ordination to the diaconate and/or priesthood. For others, it’s about a clash between a secular culture in the West ever more sensitive to issues of gender equality, and a church that still seems, at least to critics, to maintain a system of male privilege. Some readers point out that the Catholic church is increasingly dependent upon women to carry out its basic ministries; if one were to add up all the female DREs, liturgists, pastoral associates, and so on, it would be crystal clear that Catholicism could not function without them, a reality that is transforming the sociology of the church. For others, the theme of “women in the church” refers to efforts to articulate a “new feminism,” inspired by John Paul II’s teaching on “complementarity” between the sexes. This Christian feminism aims at a revitalization of women’s traditional roles as wives and mothers, without sacrificing their desire for personal and professional accomplishment. Still others see the question in terms of realizing possibilities for leadership in the church that do not require sacramental ordination, along the lines recently suggested at a Rome conference by Lucetta Scaraffia, a professor at Rome’s Sapienza University, and Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard law professor and President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. As Glendon observed, the church’s defense of the all-male priesthood, which pivots in part on the claim that priesthood is about service rather than power, will ring hollow until people see women exercising real authority at senior levels, including in the Vatican. (Glendon herself is evidence that things seem to be moving slowly in that direction). In any event, such ferment makes it clear that struggles over the role of women, both in the church and in the broader culture, will undoubtedly be an important force in the near-term future of Catholicism.
Two: The crisis of secularism
In describing the rise of Islam, especially its more radical currents, I wrote last week that in some ways it represents the “chief ideological rival” of the Catholic church. Several readers took issue with that formula, some out of sensitivity to Muslims, but others because they believe there’s a greater ideological foe: Western secularism, especially in Europe. Many pointed to the “ecclesiastical winter” of contemporary Europe as a mega-trend. While sociologist Fr. Andrew Greeley has documented that “de-Christianization” has not gripped Europe uniformly, nevertheless the indicators in many places are striking. In France, only around eight percent of Catholics attend Mass at least once a week, and more than 50 percent say they never go to church at all. In the Netherlands, the proportion of the population with no religious affiliation has gone from 23 percent to 59 percent in a single generation, prompting Greeley to observe that “the Dutch may have become a pagan people almost overnight.” In a similar vein, vocations to the priesthood and religious life have plummeted. Fertility rates have also declined, with the lowest rates in human history currently being recorded in the traditional Catholic strongholds of Italy and Spain. Moreover, the church has scant influence in public life, as symbolized by the unwillingness of the European Union so much as to mention God in the preamble to its draft constitutional document. There’s also the rise of an increasingly pugnacious form of atheism, evidenced most recently by Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion, often premised on appeals to science. (Such formulae form part of the subtext for Cardinal Christoph Schönborn’s challenge in July 2005 to the theory of evolution). All this represents a serious challenge to the church in the West, and perceptions of such a crisis were at least partly responsible for the election of Joseph Ratzinger to the papacy. Diagnosis, however, is easier than cure. There will continue to be strong debate as to whether the solution is to “modernize” the church, bringing it more into line with contemporary secular expectations -- or to reinforce its traditional identity, on the grounds that secularism poses a crisis not of structures or teachings, but of nerve.
Three: China
Many readers observed that China’s emergence as the next great global power carries enormous potential significance for the Catholic church. This is so for at least three interlocking reasons. First, in the 21st century China is poised not merely to act as a regional power in Asia, but to take its place alongside the traditional European “superpowers” in terms of setting the global agenda. For a church concerned with forging a culture of solidarity and peace in the era of globalization, therefore, establishing a good working relationship with China is essential. This is part of the reason that establishing full diplomatic relations with China is at the very top of the Vatican’s international “to-do” list. In addition, there’s the vexed question of religious freedom in China, which is of immediate importance for the estimated 13 million Catholics in China, divided between an official church sanctioned by the government and an underground church ferociously loyal to Rome. In the short term, indications are that hardliners in the Communist regime have little interest in showing deference to Rome on matters such as the nomination of bishops. Even more consequentially, however, China is widely regarded as the last great missionary frontier on earth. It’s a nation of more than a billion people, with an obvious spiritual hunger left by the ideological implosion of Communism, and no strong national religious tradition. If China can be gradually cajoled into loosening the reins on religious liberty, many experts anticipate a wide-open “free market” of missionary activity, with Christians and Muslims likely in the forefront. The future religious composition of Chinese society could have enormously important consequences for its cultural and political attitudes. There’s little question, therefore, that the complex yet tantalizing back-and-forth between China and Catholicism will occupy an increasing share of the church’s time and energy.
Four: The ‘greening’ of Christianity
Several readers found it odd that I omitted environmental concerns from the list of mega-trends, given that just the week before I wrote my column on precisely this subject, noting a growing convergence between Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople on ecological issues. In fact, I intended to include the environment under the broad heading of “globalization,” since growing awareness of the interdependence of planetary systems is one of the factors driving a greater environmental sensitivity. Perhaps, however, the press for Christian ecology deserves to be a stand-alone mega-trend, based on two considerations. First is the obvious point that environmental neglect is no longer merely an aesthetic or moral concern, but one with important consequences for global stability. Benedict XVI, in his recent message for the World Day of Peace, warned of an “unprecedented race for available resources,” especially with regard to energy supplies, stating that “the violent hoarding of the earth’s resources causes grievances, conflicts and wars, precisely because they are the consequences of an inhumane concept of development.” This reality will demand increasing levels of attention from the church, especially as leaders from the global South rise through the system. Second, the articulation of a specifically Christian theology of the environment is a special challenge given that some currents in secular environmentalism lean towards deification of nature and relativization of the uniqueness of the human person. The challenge for Roman Catholicism is thus to develop an “environmentalism with teeth,” but one which does not further muddy already difficult questions about human nature and destiny.
Five: The Pentecostal Explosion
As several readers pointed out, any list of Catholic mega-trends that overlooks the astonishing growth of Pentecostal and Evangelical forms of Christianity worldwide cannot be complete. A recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life offers a comprehensive run-down of the numbers. According to the Pew research, today there are an estimated 500 million “revivalists” in the world, including members of stand-alone Pentecostal and Evangelical denominations as well as charismatics within established denominations. Revivalists now represent one-quarter of the total Christian population of two billion, compared with just 6 percent of the Christian total 30 years ago. The “Pentecostal wave” is the world’s fastest-growing religious movement, making especially strong inroads in the global South. At one level, this mega-trend means that Catholicism will be increasingly pushed in a charismatic direction, towards greater openness to the miraculous, the experience of healings and exorcisms, a more literal reading of Scripture, and more spontaneous styles of liturgical expression. In Brazil alone, the world’s largest Catholic country, almost half of the population describes itself as “charismatic,” with profound consequences for how the faith is taught, preached, and lived. At another level, the “Pentecostal wave” also creates new competition for Catholicism, given that a hefty percentage of the revivalists are defectors from the Catholic church. To take one example, a study commissioned in the late 1990s by CELAM, the Latin American Catholic bishops’ conference, found that 8,000 Latin Americans were deserting the Catholic church for Evangelical Protestantism every day. Among other things, this competition for souls promises to reshape the ecumenical conversation; in 1992, John Paul II used the phrase “ravenous wolves” to refer to Pentecostal and Evangelical “sects” in Latin America, a more aggressive language that hints at a shift from détente to apologetics in inter-Christian relations. In whatever fashion Catholicism chooses to approach the revivalists, including the growing number within its own fold, they are an unavoidable feature of the religious landscape.
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A Catholic Christian woman
A Catholic Christian woman is by definition more Christian than a man because she has to turn the other cheek so many more times just to get to the altar...silence is not acceptance...it is Christian patience.
Very interesting exchange. I
Very interesting exchange. I wish in no way to challenge or raise a doubt but would offer a personal clarification that may or may not aid the conversation.
VOTFCLEV suggests that "another mega-trend is that religion is changing its expression into spirituality, i.e., very personal forms of religion" and that the religious right is attracted to "personal religious experience" and further "...leaving religion to find their own spirituality".
I would offer this: You use the terms virtually synonymously, they are not. While close, religion and spirituality should not be equated too quickly. It is the old "differentiate" and then "reintegrate" suggestion.
I see "spirituality" as my conscious reflection on, acknowledgement of and exercise of the intangible element of self. It is the "I think therefore I am (conscious of being human)" dimension that makes man capable of,inclined to and in need of finding an appropriate corelative beyond self and with but beyond other similar selves, i.e., god or God.
There is, I think, a process for and discipline of enhancing, extending and exploring one's spirituality that makes one more fully human and, as with the athletes training, more open to and having a greater capacity for the encounter with the "Other" writ large. Since the "spirit" in human terms operates within and through "body" it is its immediate source of contact (even with itself)and enjoys a symbiosis that is both fruitful and deleterious even pleasurable. (I seem to recall a long ago read treatise by T.Aquinas who reasoned that after the resurrection from the dead man would experience pleasure, but pleasure redounding from the spiritual immediacy with the Beatific Vision.) It is therefore my contention that most so-called religious experience is spiritual pleasure.
This would be no less a "gift of God" but a gift through creation not through direct contact with the spiritual "Other" or with a saint or Mary or whomever. Therefore not religion.
When I direct my spirituality towards God in acknowledgement, awe, love and act, that is in my mind, religion. "Religions" are those bundles of godly items, enshrined in codes, buildings, beliefs, icons, authorities and practices that dictate the terms of that personal relationship.
Our Roman Catholic Church teaches and we are bound by the expectation that God, in and through Christ, is actually enshirined, incarnate within the specific religion and accessible only through its essential practices. This, I think, is an important consideration, because in practice, over the centuries, the Church has in reality coopted our understanding of spirituality and identified it with the religion itself.
We not only are led to believe that we find Christ through obeisance but we find our spirituality: "Abnegation", "mortification" and "self-denial", the emptying of self. The emptied vessel now to be filled with divine grace and godliness as incarnate in the teaching, the rites, the sensual surround effects of liturgy, building, gilding, colour, pagentry and smell, mitre, crozier, candle and uniform. We are made to believe that we can give up our spirituality and then have it returned not as our own, but hidden within the bundle, as "religion".
My personal faith (or blasphemy if you will) is that Church, what I call the "medieval model" is no longer viable. If RC'ism is to re-morph it must "give back", we must "take back" our spirituality, recognize it for what it is and isn't and find a way to re-connect with Christ's presence and Church's tradition around the Sermon on the Mount rather than the "rock" of institution and give it, ourselves and creation all back to the Father with love.
Sorry, this has been too long. I got carried away.
Dennis, this is a subject
Dennis, this is a subject you can get carried away with. I can remember a theology class in which the priest who taught it spent two days emphasizing the difference between faith, theology, and religion. I've never forgotten these lectures. The reason he did it was because he felt in the long history of Catholicism the three had morphed into the one--religion, and that in that morphing it became more and more difficult to find a personal spirituality that was uplifting and spurred personal maturation. He would have agreed whole heartedly with this statement:
"Religions" are those bundles of godly items, enshrined in codes, buildings, beliefs, icons, authorities and practices that dictate the terms of that personal relationship."
Religion at it's best helps GUIDE and enhance that personal relationship. It doesn't dictate it. Thanks for the post.
Dear John Allen~ You
Dear John Allen~ You conclude your "women in the Church" mega-issue with the quote: "...the Church's defense of the all-male priesthood which pivots in part on the claim that priesthood is about service rather than power, will ring hollow until people see women exercising real authority at senior levels including the Vatican".
In my mind this misrepresents and diminishes the core issue of the exclusion of women from the clergy. While there are undoubtedly some women who feel this way and likely many more males and significantly more clergy, this is simply not so.
The real and fundamental issue is the exclusion of women from full inclusion and equallity. Women, both in stereotype and in reality represent the quintessence of "service". To use that bigoted male, abuse of fact and abuse of reason rationale, (even with qualification of "in part" and attribution to a women in a senior Vatican position)is ethically questionable in a true journalist.
Real priesthood is the epitome of service, to suggest that women do not fully understand this is also an insult to women. The only references to priesthood as power in this issue that I have been aware of comes from male hierarchy.
Respectfully and at the risk
Respectfully and at the risk of entering unwelcome into a denominational discussion; attracting the attention of whistle-blowers (or at least, episcopal-blowers); and seeming (but NOT intending) to be rabble-rousing, I want to offer what I hope will be some helpful comparative/ecumenical information regarding the full inclusion of women in the church, from the standpoint of my own priesthood, understanding that there will be denominational differences in experience and perception.
Two things strike me in the fascinating discourse around the vexed question of women’s ordination in the Roman Catholic Church. One is the status of the justice claim for “equality”. The other is the appeal to “tradition”.
Currently, after the thirty years of examination of the question of women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church that led ultimately to a canonical revision in 1977 and in the thirty years since those first ordinations, we continue to seek Christ in our decisions regarding inclusion and ecclesial authority. Personally, as I re-examine my own ordination vows and look at the litany for ordinations, I see very little of either a justice entitlement or an appeal to tradition in these vows. Moreover, in my life as a priest I do experience neither the heat of anger nor the feelings of righteousness that exclusion/inclusion might be expected to produce, although I do know how it feels to be excluded in other arenas. So with this in mind I offer, respectfully, these thoughts for my sisters-in-Christ who experience a call to ordained priesthood and to those for whom this represents such a dire threat.
In the Book of Common Prayer, priestly vows obtain in the following ways: we promise first to commit ourselves to trust and responsibility in priesthood; we promise to respect and be guided by Episcopal leadership; we promise diligence in the study of Holy Scripture and in seeking knowledge to make us able ministers; we seek to minister to the Word of God and the “sacraments of the New Covenant” so “that the reconciling love of Christ may be known and received”; we seek to be faithful pastors and to pattern our lives in accordance with Christ’s teachings; and we promise to persevere in prayer and in to offer all our labors to God “through the mediation of Jesus Christ and in the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.” (BCP 531-532). The Litany for Ordinations echoes these promises: we pray that the Church be filled with truth and love; “for all members of (our) church in their vocation and ministry, that they may serve (God) in a true and godly life”; we pray for all ministers, for duty in faith, for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and for the members of our church family; we pray for the mission of the church and especially that all divisions may cease; and we pray for those who do not yet believe pr who have lost their faith “that they may receive the light of the Gospel.” We pray for peace, and the forgiveness of sin; for the blessing of human labor; and we pray for the dead and for the Communion of Saints, rejoicing in our fellowship with them.
In recalling my vows and in presenting them to you, I notice that NOWHERE is there an appeal or an entitlement for oneself or even for a specific category of persons, EXCEPT for the “POOR.THE PERSECTUTED, THE SICK, AND ALL WHO SUFFER …” that they may be relieved and protected along with refugees and prisoners and all who are in danger. (p.550) Does this mean that I, personally, don’t support equality and justice? Of course, it doesn’t mean that. It does mean, however, that in addressing the discussion of inclusion, I come at it from a way that differs from my social justice work. NO ONE IS ENTITLED IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and especially not priests of the Church, in my view. If there can be said to be something called a ‘Divine Agenda’ I think it must be this: TO REVEAL GOD’S PRESENCE IN/TO THE WORLD BY BUILDING UP THE BODY OF CHRIST. This is neither an entitlement nor a remedy for inequality; neither it is a function of some sort of institutionalized tradition. It is, rather, a sacred duty.
So, with regard to women’s ordination and inclusion, as well as with the inclusion of gay and lesbian children of God and of the Church, what does the call to and conferral of priesthood actually imply? In my mind it is this: 1/ to exclude a child of God and of the Church on the basis of gender and/or sexual expression is to fail in one’s duties to discover and reveal God’s presence in and to the world by limiting the scope of Divine revelation; 2/ to exclude a child of God and of the Church on the pretext of gender “insufficiency” or a doctrinally opportunistic ascription of “sin,” is to fail to build up the Body of Christ and is as serious a refusal of God’s holy command (Mt 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”); 3/ and the question of inclusion/exclusion should be addressed neither as a juridical entitlement nor as a function and appeal to “tradition” but as a sacramental acknowledgement of God’s grace in the progressive inclusion of all God’s children. To my mind, this is the meaning of Salvation.
[As an aside, and regarding the last part of the thirds claim above. I am aware of the division that the question of Apostolic succession has prompted in Christendom. This, however, in my view, is a vital question for sacramental religion for two reasons: First, both ecclesial authority and a genuine theological development of “tradition” in the one Holy Catholic church resides in the notion of succession from apostolic orders instituted by Jesus Christ (the only one of which, in this sense may be considered legitimate is, of course, the order of deacon with the next residing in presbyter [from Acts] , and only lastly in the purely functional order of Bishop). Since we live within institutionally defined ecclesia, both authority and institutional form derive from epsicopal oversight; but this is certainly a developing area of doctrine. Secondly, and much more importantly in my view, the succession of conferred ordained orders MUST ALWAYS BE PUBLIC. Jesus’ own public ministry; the price He paid for this in punishment and death; and the development of a world-wide communion depends on the publicity of belief and action. This is especially important when the church undertakes such exemplary development such as women’s ordination and the struggle for peace and justice in the inclusion of ALL of God’s children.]
So, in a nutshell: gender exclusion is a failure of priestly duty, both for the ordained orders (especially episcopal) and for the (community) priesthood of all believers. This notwithstanding, ordination is never an entitlement but a gift of grace given by God, whose refusal is an offense against God (putting entitlement before inclusion, puts the cart before the ecclesial horse). And, finally, for those who appeal to “tradition” as an exclusion apologia, there is a danger of distorting the holy command of Jesus by supplanting His Priesthood (“We have but One High Priest and His Name is Jesus Christ”) with a flimsy shadow of institutional/ecclesial power.
The Rev. Dr. E. McCoy
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near." (Phil 4:4-5)
John Well done. You, unlike
John
Well done. You, unlike some people in the Church, listen well. Your improved list is right on target. While all eyes are on George W. Bush' failed War On Terror, China will certainly be the area of maximum interst in the years to come.
John, An important key to
John,
An important key to evaluating and sorting out your mega-trends list is the World Values Study found at http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/. Click on the Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map of the World. Some of my own interpretation of its relevance to Catholicism is available at http://www.votfcleveland.org/index.htm click on the World Values Study article at that site.
In regard to mega-trends, the World Values Study shows there are major systematic changes as societies go from agrarian (traditional religious values) to industrial economies (increases in secular values) to service economies (increases in self-expressive values). However, the mega-trend toward secular values and the mega-trend toward self expressive values are independent of each other. The USA in the last half of the twentieth century did not become more secular, but it did become more self expressive and increasingly tolerant of diversity even as we kept our traditional values of God, human life, the family and country. Around the world the major world cultural regions such as Protestant Europe, Catholic Europe, the English Speaking countries, Latin America, Former Communist countries, etc. are retaining their historic similarity even as they are being pushed in one or another direction or both by the industrial age forces of secular values and the service economy forces of self-expressive values. The Cultural Map of the World shows this well.
The greatest challenge for Roman Catholicism for a long time will be to face the different situations in these major cultural regions, e.g. North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia. In Europe secularism and self expression have combined to produce a culture of relativism. However in the USA religion is becoming more self expressive, hence the flourishing of spirituality. Policy out of Rome has to be sensitive not only to different cultures but also to the very different problems created by these two forces of value change in very different parts of the world. The “dictatorship of relativism’ is too simplistic; it fits Europe but not much else.
The leadership of women has to be among the mega-trends along with secular and self expressive values. The item on the World Values Study that correlates the most with all the socioeconomic transformations that are taking place around the world is the answer “no” to the statement that “men make better leaders than women.” The leadership of women is central not only to the future of Catholicism and the West but also to the future of Islam. The World Values Study shows that the big difference between Islam and the West is on the issue of gender equality. The generational changes in the West that have produced greater gender equality have not occurred in Islamic countries. They have some of the lowest scores on gender equality. Citizens of Islamic countries are not against democracy. However, if Islamic countries permit religious freedom and become more self expressive, they risk losing women to forms of Christianity that give women greater leadership roles.
Values are determined more by a person’s country than by their religion; Catholics and Protestants in the USA are very similar. Our values are determined more by our shared media and educational structures than by our separate denominational structures. That suggests that The Wojtyla Revolution, i.e. active engagement to change the value transmitting structures of the world is the correct Catholic strategy. Benedict’s mustard seed strategy of sectarian withdrawal, emphasis upon person holiness, and one to one conversion does not face the reality of how societal values are formed and transmitted. It can and has created vibrant religious orders and can do the same with associations, i.e. the “movements.” However, the Benedictines did not change Europe through liturgy and manual labor; not did the Jesuits do the same through the Spiritual Exercises alone. These charisms were necessary but not sufficient. Both orders changed society by creating great educational institutions that served many purposes in their societies.
Another mega-trend is that religion is changing its expression into spirituality, i.e. very personal forms of religion. The USA is very atypical in the World Values Study. We should be very secular like historical Protestant Europe but we are far more religious than historical Catholic Europe, even Poland and Ireland. Why? The answer lies in personal religious experience which is at the center of American religious experience from revivals to Pentecostalism. Current religious commentators miss the point when they claim the vitality of expressions on the religious right stems from their adherence to strict doctrines. Their vitality more likely stems from the greater opportunity for personal emotional religious experience. There are large numbers of people flocking out of churches to find their own spirituality, and large numbers of people moving from denomination to denomination and congregation to congregation in search of spirituality that fits them.
Catholicism is potentially well placed when it comes to spirituality. We have a greater variety of spirituality in our saints and religious orders than any one else. Unfortunately since Vatican II, liberals and traditionalists have spent too much time trying to impose their spiritualities on everyone or to shrink Catholicism to fit their spirituality. The true greatness of Catholicism is our diversity; we are a spiritual home for everyone. Both Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton mentioned that as being important in their conversions.
While your new book has to continue your fine tradition of showing us how Rome and various other parts of the world are not like the USA, you also have to recognize that the USA is not like the rest of the world in a very positive way. We are the future of religious expression in a postindustrial service economy. Get beyond our being a superpower and our materialism and hedonism, and the relatively small number of Catholics that we have. The Roman Empire had all that too, yet it gave birth to Christendom. Reassess the role of the USA in all the mega-trends.
Think New vs. Old World rather than North vs. South. American Catholicism adapted to meet the challenge of personal religion presented by Protestants. If Latin American Catholicism is similarly creative, the Next Christendom will be in the New World of the Americas. The New World already has more Catholics and more Christians than the rest of the world, and we are the most Christian and most Catholic continents in terms of percentages of population. Don’t get lost in the past of Europe or in the uncertain futures of Africa and Asia. In the next two decades, the New World is where the numbers are. Don’t base a lot on economic or population projections. They can become dramatically outdated in two decades.
When Merton became an American citizen, he wrote in his journal that he wanted to be a citizen of all the Americas, and that the cross fertilization of the cultures of North and South America is highly desirable. We should be welcoming the immigrants from Latin America with enthusiasm rather than building walls. Obviously, this last paragraph is more a hope than a mega-trend. But, figure out what is going on in Latin America; it could be the key world cultural region for the future of Catholicism, especially when Popes begin to come from there.
Jack Rakosky
Jack, this is a thought
Jack, this is a thought provoking post. You state: "Current religious commentators miss the point when they claim the vitality of expressions on the religious right stems from their adherence to strict doctrines. Their vitality more likely stems from the greater opportunity for personal emotional religious experience."
This is an insight which needs very careful thought. Personal emotional religious experience does not lend itself to academic analysis, and for the most part, to doctrinal or dogmatic boxes. To attempt to do so is to put the cart before the horse. I suppose this is why so many of our Catholic mystics found themselves being run over by the cart.
You also wisely bring up the point that vast numbers of believers are on a mission to find a home for their own spiritual experiences. I suspect part of this reason is because these experiences are beyond normal religious framework. Like you, I think the Catholic Church could be a real force in this experiential faith explosion, but the Church will have to emphasize it's spiritual diversity, rather than doctrinal and theological sameness, in order to become 'a spiritual home for everyone.' If it doesn't, it will continue to lose many faithful to the ravenous wolves of the evangelical and pentecostal sects.
A little over sixty percent
A little over sixty percent of Americans report they are religious, and that report correlates highly with going to church, and being a member of a specific congregation. However when people are asked what is their religion or religious preference, almost ninety percent of Americans report one, and it is usually a specific denomination or congregation. So you can have a religion without being religious.
Almost everyone who says they are religious also reports that they are spiritual. However another fifteen or so percent of Americans report they are spiritual but not religious, i.e. they do not go to church regularly, etc.. But many or most of these report that they have a religion or religious preference. The common denominator among people who report they are spiritual is some personal experience of the divine which ranges from very common experiences, e.g. “being born again” to very uncommon experiences.
Andrew Greeley suggests that religion works more like poetry than like prose. Life experiences come together with religious traditions to create “epiphanies” of intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic illumination, or in my terms, personal spirituality.
Spirituality can be used not only for these very personal integrative experience, but also for the aspects of a tradition or sub-traditions that bring about this more personal religious experience for some people, e.g. contemplative spirituality, Benedictine spirituality, meditation, etc..
The bottom line of the more self expressive trend in our society is more attention to being spiritual, i.e. personal religious experiences and a greater search for the more specific religious traditions or spiritualities that tend to foster personal religious experience.
Jack Rakosky