Customer Reviews

Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I was riveted by this book. I am a practicing Catholic struggling to make peace with some of the Church's teaching. Kennedy presents her own journey, as well as those of other Catholics - practicing, non-practicing & somewhere in between.

The book's contributors vary widely in their experiences, as we all do. This book is for all Catholics - and those interested in Catholicism. It is a great way to begin to understand how & why Catholics believe what they do & act as they do.

Don't dismiss this book as anti-Catholic or pro-Catholic. Nothing could be further from the truth. The author presents many views, many journeys; and, the book challenges each of us to look at the Church and determine if it is truly following the teachings of Christ.

If you're a devout, practicing Catholic, don't be afraid to try reading this book. If you have left the Church, don't be afraid to try reading this book. It may open your mind to a better understanding of others (and isn't that one of the basic teachings of Christ?).

I read the book. It is especially insulting to read a review from someone who hasn't even read the book. This is a terrific and timely book.

The people who gave this bad reviews were obviously looking for something different. This is not a book for those who blindly love everything about the Roman Catholic Church. I am a practicing Catholic and I love the church most of the time. However, there are times that I struggle with church teaching on social issues and also times that I am deeply ashamed and embarrassed by decisions made by the higher-ups in the church that have resulted in abuse of children. This book is a collection of interviews with people who describe their personal experiences with the church--both good and beautiful experiences, as well as dark and evil ones. Some of the folks interviewed were inspirational to me because of their deep convictions and because of the fullness in which they practice their faith. I saw myself in many of the people who stay Catholic because they can't bear to leave the rich and beautiful faith, but struggle with much of the dogma. I also could understand the reasons some of the interviewed gave for leaving the church. If anything, the book made me feel much less alone in my journey as a practicing Catholic and I think I am less likely to think about leaving the church after reading it. My struggles are not unique and there is much good in the church. The accounts of people who share my political and social justice beliefs and also remain deeply rooted in their faith, made me realize that I can reconcile my faith and political beliefs. Great reading--entertaining and funny. I loved this book and after racking up library fines so that my husband could also enjoy it, I'll be purchasing it today.

Anyone who loves the Catholic Church will be distressed by this book.

Kerry Kennedy, who collected these essays, writes she has a friend who endured "a sermon that amounted to a frontal assault on gay men's and women's rights"(p xxix). While she says she continues to love the Church, she wonders if it hasn't gone over to "the dark side" (p xxxi).

Then her book goes on to feature people who loathe the church, like Bill Maher, whose film "Religulous" is a long scream of hatred at God. Or those whose information about the church is embarrassingly ignorant, like Anna Quindlen, who believes the old, wholly discredited story of a woman pope.

One striking essay is by Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives. She snips, "I've always been pro-choice. To me, it's like saying, `Should we surrender our brains?'" (p 79). How many bishops have rebuked her advocacy of abortion recently? Is it 14, 20? I've lost count.

Over 40 million babies have been killed in the United States since abortion was legalized. That's a continent of human beings lost forever. Not to mention the lives of the mothers and fathers who so often experience emotional turmoil for decades after. Why is Pelosi so uncaring, so sure her way is right?

Archbishop Raymond Burke, the US Vatican prelate, has said the Democratic party is at risk of becoming the "party of death" for its strident advocacy for abortion and euthanasia. Why won't Pelosi listen to the Church? Or read about the beliefs of the Church, or pray, or consult her bishop? Catholic belief about abortion and birth control has been constant, ever since the first years of Christianity.

Pelosi also writes of being hopeful about "Humanae Vitae" until she read it and realized "It was a missed opportunity for the Church" (p 79). As if the 2000 year old Catholic Church, founded by Jesus himself and guided at every moment by the Holy Spirit, was in the business of car loans instead of salvation.

About the time Pelosi was bemoaning "Humanae Vitae" Father Stephen Kurti was being shot and killed in a communist camp in Yugoslavia because he had baptized a baby. At about the same time, also, Viet Minh communists shoved chopsticks into children's ears for listening to Catholic school lessons. This took place in the village of Haiduong.

The 20th century had more Catholics killed for their faith than all the other centuries combined; some estimates put the figure as high as forty million (The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century, by Royal).

Priests like Father Pro were hunted down and killed in Mexico, communists in Spain shot, crucified, and slaughtered nuns and priests and lay Catholics by the thousands. Nearly every priest in Poland was killed under Hitler. Of more than 900 Catholic priests in 1920 in Russia, only 300 were left in 1930. And then there are the nameless hundreds of thousands of people who were shipped to the gulag to endure unimaginable suffering. Some still linger in Chinese and Korean prisons.

And the death and persecution continues today. In September, 2008 Archbishop Cheenath reported that in India, from August 24th to 31st, some 25 Catholics were killed by radical Hindus, six priests were hospitalized , one woman was burned to death, two priests were kidnapped, and 4,300 houses were demolished in 160 villages. This is a report that the western news, by and large, ignored.

People have been willing to suffer and die for the Church since its inception. In the secular, spoiled west, few seen capable of even making it to Mass every Sunday.

Cokie Roberts, delighting in her cute irreverence, writes, "The notion of leaving the church would just be to give them a victory, and I'm not about to do that. They aren't winning" (p 29).

What a tragedy for her that she has to follow in conformist lockstep to the current fads of today. What a tragedy she thinks in terms of "they".

But then there's just the silliness of the remark. Because of course the Church will win. It's always been on the brink of falling off the cliff. And yet, after 2000 years of constant assault, it's still here. And I believe someone once said that even the gates of hell could not prevail against her.

Ms. Kennedy is perhaps the poorest Catholic representative willing to commit such simplistic logical fallacies to print. She is a spectacle in that she shamelessly flaunts her ignorance of Catholicism and her obvious inability to understand and differentiate scientific, epistemic, philosophical, logical, rational and revelatory thought systems. She typifies Chesterton's comment about materialists who have "a superiority complex coupled with arrested development." She says at church "I was confronted with words and symbols that were anathema
to my values." A truthful examination of the roots of her assumptions would be very painful and would require an honesty that she has not yet cultivated. It would reveal a set of assumptions rooted in the new values of egalitarianism, feminism, multiculturalism, inclusivism, individualism and relativism. These new values are anathema to and mutually exclusive from our traditional values of wisdom, courage, justice, moderation, Faith, Hope, and Love. I would guess that Ms. Kennedy and her ilk would argue that they have the monumental intellectual capacity to reconcile this mass of cognitive dissonance into a coherent world view, but such ignorant arrogance is why we are in the mess we are in now.

Many of her stories speak of the victimization of people at the hands of the institute of Catholicism. While some are truly sad and unjust, more are just inane narcissism and childish self-centeredness, promoted in large part by our secular society. In an interview with the Boston Globe one of her glaring hyperboles is "I am a Catholic.' And what I found is that absolutely everybody disagrees with the church. The cardinals disagree with the church, and the nuns and the priests......... It's just not a monolith at all." This is absurd. She uses quite a broad and bold stroke that belies an unparalleled arrogance with ghastly lack of insight, an atrophied intellect and a defunct self criticism mechanism. There are countless great souls that agree implicitly with the Church and her teachings.

She goes on to say, with apparently no remorse or embarrassment, the Catholic Church is "an enormous organism with a lot of moving parts and people with strong opinions and I think that that's good." She has a scientific and material approach that is not only anathema to sense, but of the sophisticated and intricate relationship between faith and reason. Pope John Paul II addresses Ms. Kennedy's ignorance in his wonderful encyclical Fides et Ratio. There is little doubt that Ms. Kennedy would be uninterested if not incapable of integrating the great Pope's philosophical explications.

She also confidently states "I also think that Catholicism is inherently about contradiction. So much of the New Testament is about Christ arguing with the Pharisees and with the scribes and with the Jewish leaders of the day...." It seems terrifying that her family and friends would allow her to embarrass herself with a comment so disconnected from reality. It is as if Ms. Kennedy
exits a public restroom with a string of toilet paper streaming behind her stuck to her skirt and no one says anything to her. There should be laws about this type of familial neglect. The contradictions she is so seemingly perceptive in noticing are probably closer to noticing the paradoxes that arise and can only be understood in the context of Plato's three dimensions of being human, the belly, head and heart. In her current state of intellectual bankruptcy coupled with the false assurance of "correct thinking" even a close reading of Plato would be unlikely to penetrate the postmodern relativistic victimized shell she has so painstakingly constructed around her ideology.

Most of the opinions stated by the largely egoistic, narcissistic, self interested self promoting, self righteous celebrities are nonsensical material statements of ignorance not just about Catholicism but most significantly about reality itself. Susan Sarandon gives us an excellent example with the idiotic: "I'd sell off most of that stuff that's in the Vatican and eradicate poverty and disease." Those who would agree with such a ludicrous statement would not be able to grasp that economics is not as much science as it is philosophy. The backwardness of the idea that if the Vatican were to materially impoverish itself it would "eradicate poverty" is an insult to anyone with the cognitive ability beyond jr. high. There is not shortage of material wealth in our world. It is a material/socialistic world view and a misunderstanding of wealth and health that leads to such a preposterous and uneducated conclusion. If you would like an educated and intelligent explanation of Catholic Social Teaching look into the work of Oxford's Jesuit Father Rodger Charles.

A few other insane remarks: Anna Quindlen: "Then I would lift the ban on artificial birth control..." Andrew Sullivan: "...I'm openly gay because I'm Catholic, because I was taught not to lie..." Cokie Roberts: "The first thing I would do if I were pope is ordain women and then married men." Donna Brazile: "As far as the pro-life/pro-choice issue...I believe it's essential for women to have a choice." Nancy Pelosi: "I've always been pro-choice." You don't need to be a church doctor to see these asinine statements as heretical, but if you agree with them you must admit that you are informed by post modern, liberal, socialistic, progressive world view that can be best understood by Plato's allegory of the cave. These statements are statements of shadows on the back of the cave wall, not about reality.


Poor Ms Kennedy gives her critics a cornucopia of ammunition against her with other ridiculous statements like: "Pope Benedict said, it's a quest for the truth. And so if you're going to have a quest for the truth, you're going to have a lot of questioning of authority." She is helplessly trapped by a severely stunted intellect if she can't differentiate her way out of this one. It is a terrible misuse of the Holy Father's words. This illogical leap from going on a quest for truth to questioning the authority of the Church is infantile. Father James V. Schall wrote The Order of Things, if she were able to read and understand, she would learn about some of the errors of her thinking. Pope John Paul II states in Fides et Ratio "The truth is not consensus, but the convergence of the mind and reality."

The bottom line is that Ms. Kennedy represents a growing number of Catholics who have been encouraged to adopt a moral relativism and consider that their opinion is more important than the truth or the honest quest towards the truth. She evidences a radical individualism that has its roots in narcissism and pride.
The truths of the church are timeless and unchanging and not subject to our approval or disapproval. Any evidence to the contrary is contextualized in a materialistic/scientific worldview that has corrupted so many intellects. This is not to say that we are not to ask questions, it is our sacred duty to ask the right questions and to arrive at conclusions using our reason and our faith as our guides, but to do so with humility and the requisite wonder and awe that accompany these questions. The quest is a glorious one that is full of danger and excitement, but to attack your own pillars as Kennedy does is as foolish as destroying your own fortress. We do not argue for these Catholic truths, we argue from them.

Worse still was that fact that she gathered a group of celebrities and "successful" people who like herself are inclined to narcissism and self interest instead of clear thinking. How many warnings have we been given? Be in the world and not of the world. All the opinions expressed in this ridiculous collection of muddleheaded and unimportant conjectures is not a flea bite on the bottom of the shoe of the truth that IS the Roman Catholic Church. No ranting or raving will change that, but we would be wise to not endorse this kind of detritus, there are children present that need our good sense and guidance.

This is a book which is not only intellectually dishonest, it is the trite, boring recitations of shallow people who can't see beyond their own celebrity status. If it were a little bit better written (OK, a WHOLE LOT better written) it could have been a hilarious take-off on self-importance. Really, Susan SARANDON and Cokie ROBERTS as THEOLOGIANS??? But, unfortunately, it wasn't able to pull itself up to the level of spoof and instead drowns in its own banality.

Why do FORMER Catholics who just can't BE Catholic and want to justify their own personal agendas at the expense of everyone else who DOES want to be Catholic? If they don't want to follow the Church - fine! No one is forcing them, but for heaven's sake, have the intellectual and intestinal honesty to admit that they are NO LONGER CATHOLIC. People like Kennedy, Pelosi and company are selling themselves as a something they simply are not and haven't been for some time. If they were honest, they'd admit that what they want is to destroy the Church and rebuild it in their own images.

It sort of reminds me of Kerry's Uncle Ted who wants the rest of us to pay for and endure the blight of "alternative energy" sources. But when a wind-farm was proposed for the Cape where it would have ruined his view, he immediately stepped in to prevent it from being built. These are the elites, remember. Rules are for other people.

One reviewer, possibly trying to justify his own desire to create his "own" church, says "once a Catholic, always a Catholic". Sorry, no. That's like saying I can go another country and take up citizenship and still expect to be able to vote in US elections. Unfortunately, while they no longer are Catholic, we can't stop them from "trade-mark infringement" by continuing to call themselves Catholic.

I have to admit that I couldn't finish the book, although I did skim the remainder to see if by some chance it would improve. It didn't.

If you'd like to spend hours reading about self-absorbed people minutely explaining and attempting to justify their own immaturity, have at it! This is the book for you!

BORING and shallow.

In "Being Catholic Now", Kerry Kennedy presents a collection of essays written by various celebrities in an attempt to find support for her campaign to change the Catholic Church to better suit her own political views.

In the preface, Kerry Kennedy describes in great detail the very Catholic life of her celebrated family when she was growing up. She then launches into a series of complaints about the Church -- some general policy disagreements, some anecdotes about particular incidents with priests and bishops.

Kennedy mentions several issues in which she feels the Church does not reflect the love of Christ. Too often, though, she fails to explain the Church's views adequately. For example, she mentions that a friend heard a sermon from a bishop which amounted to a "frontal assault on gay men's and women's rights." She does not explain what was said, but merely offers up this bit of hearsay as evidence.

Other issues are more fully described, but still show an unwillingness to see any side of the issue besides her own. For example, Kennedy relates how she met with the pope to ask him to support the use of contraceptives to fight AIDS in Africa. Of course Benedict XVI wants to fight the spread of this disease as well, but since Catholic dogma does not allow contraception, he traveled to Africa and preached that abstaining from sexual relations outside of marriage will stop the spread of AIDS. He's right, of course, but this is not the solution that everyone wants to hear.

Kennedy needs to understand that the Church will not support a solution unless it passes certain moral tests. The Church is not a democracy; its job is to apply scripture to contemporary issues. Where the scriptures can be interpreted and applied to a problem, the Church is bound to follow them, regardless of the "complexities of the situation."

Liberals like Kennedy must appreciate that conservatives and Catholics want to fix social problems also, but they may have a different way of going about it. Also, as moral leaders, they Church must occasionally say "No" to someone who wants solve their problems in an immoral way. It may seem cold at times, but it's what the Church must do. To me, conflicts like this between Americans and the Church show that our society lacks the sort of mature leadership that makes difficult decisions.

Sadly, Kennedy states that the moment she decided that the Church needs change was when her sister was not permitted to get married on a beach. (Catholic marriages always take place inside a church building.) This is simply immature.

After suffering a list of minor disappointments with Catholicism, Kennedy has built up a desire to challenge the Church on its views and change it. Unfortunately for her, she lacks the theological sophistication to do so. So rather than debate the bishops directly, Kennedy enlists the aid of a number of "prominent Americans" to share their gripes about the Church and hopefully add weight to her arguments, by virtue of their number and celebrity.

However, things do not go as she planned.

The remainder of the book is a collection of essays from various Americans describing their own journeys in the faith. Many of the writers describe issues on which they disagree with the Church. Someone struggling with their faith may be encouraged to see that others have traveled the same road, but otherwise, the spiritual value of these essays is limited.

It's obvious that the respondents were all given a list of questions to frame their essays. At least two of these questions were "How do you handle Catholic guilt," and, "What would you do if you were pope?" Kennedy crafted these loaded questions to get the writers moving in the direction she wanted, but not all of them took the bait.

Bill O'Reilly offers constructive criticism, saying the bishops should be more visible to the laity. Donna Brazile offers a moving, mature description of her journey in faith. Gabriel Byrne tells how he was abused by an Irish priest, and describes his amazing struggle to forgive him. Father J. Bryan Hehir serves up some great spiritual lessons. Dan Aykroyd's piece is amusing, but is otherwise spiritually void.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick defends the dignity of the human person and the social doctrine of the Church. His article stands out in this book. Betsy Pawlicki, a Dominican sister, grapples with the fact that she can't serve at the altar, but she accepts it with humility.

Anne Burke describes her experiences serving on the National Review Board of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops during the clergy abuse scandal. It's an incredible story, and I daresay it's one that every Catholic should read.

Mixed in with these contributions, however, were some dubious selections.

Ingrid Mattson, a Catholic who converted to Islam, accuses the Church of militarism. Gay Talese says he hasn't been to church in fifty years.

Incredibly, Bill Maher is one of Kennedy's "prominent Americans." Perhaps Kennedy thinks that Maher's vitriol supports her claim that the Church needs change. This is naïve at best and malicious at worst. It only shows how much she's willing to smear the Church in order to get what she wants.

None of these last three people should be in a book called "Being Catholic Now."

Anyway, Kerry's subtitle, "Americans Talk About Change in the Church" embodies her hopes for this book, but only a few of the respondents live up to her expectations. Embarrassingly, most of them show much more spiritual maturity than she does.

Some of the essays do have value, but it's unfortunate that they're buried within this mixed bag. Anne Burke said, "People are hungry for the faith stories of others," but you'd be better off finding them in a book that is not trying to exploit them for the sake of a liberal agenda.

For "On Being Catholic," by Kerry Kennedy...
Every person I know - especially women - are conflicted about the Catholic faith. What Kerry Kennedy did in these sensitive probing interviews is show that you can be conflicted but still love your faith. Her interviews give you permission to see how others make peace with some of the sexism and backward policies but simultaneously still care about the traditions and one's deep love of God. And most importantly, her own stories show her deep abiding love of Catholicism which makes her such a credible person to explore the contradictions and joys of the faith.

I don't understand how someone (Bill Maher)who is an atheist and hates all religions is about "Being Catholic Now". Doesn't being Catholic mean that you at least believe certain things, and at most live by them consistently?

I guess Kerry is just interested in stories about people that have had some exposure to Catholicism, regardless of the effects of that exposure.

I would be interested in a book of devout Catholics who fully embrace the teachings of the Catholic Church, and what the fruits of that experience are. Does Catholicism work? What does it mean for Catholicism to work (what is the goal)? What does it look like in this age to be a wholly committed Catholic?

Stories about people who to varying degrees reject Catholicism doesn't tell me a whole lot about the Catholic experience. I guess the point is to make people who don't believe still feel included, for whatever that is worth.

For practicing Catholics ... those in line with the teachings of the Church, this books serves as great information as to whom amongst us wrongly call themselves Catholic. It's really very simple, you either accept ALL the teachings of the 2000 year old Church, or if not in agreement, you are NOT Catholic. One can NOT be prochoice (as is Nancy Pelosi) and be Catholic. They simply don't go together.

If you are an arrogant, spiteful, narcissistic and faithless Catholic this book will either infuriate you or open your eyes to the actual breadth of Catholic virtue. There aren't many front-pew pretenders in this book, but more authentic and honest people frankly discussing their experience of Catholicism. One reason this book is important is that we ordinarily hear an unforgiving narrative from thoughtless politicized extremists claiming that there is only one way to be a "real" Catholic - their way. It's the same ones that ironically complain about "cafeteria" Catholics while avoiding, for one example, Catholic Social Justice teaching or the meaning of sanctified mysteries wherever possible. This book exposes that pretense of a monolithic Catholicism and offers an authentic account of what most American Catholics are really like - they are often complex thoughtful human beings.

For non-Catholics, this book gives a fairly exhaustive account of how Catholics think. Among these various accounts the common virtue seems to be that of piety or reverence - an abiding humble awareness of human frailty or imperfection. Unfortunately, you will not find this virtue among the one-star reviewers. They represent those Catholics that we hear from too much - perverted by extremist politics and narcissism. There aren't that many of them, but they are loud and proud and they do an awful disservice to most Catholics by rebranding them as dimwitted know-it-alls and hate-filled hypocrites. If you hate anyone named Kennedy more than you love the Gospel, it may be time to reconsider you choice of faith. Mistaking Catholicism for a contemporary political ideology or party represents a severe misapprehension of the fundamental nature of the faith and the (charitably tolerant) Church.

For Catholics these accounts give rise to important questions about Catholic life in modern America that are worthy of serious consideration and discussion. This would make an valuable parish book club selection to provoke lively discussions and revisiting other thinking Catholics like Augustine, Aquinas, Anselm, Francis, Theresa and Gary Wills.