Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the oldest daughter of Robert Kennedy and the niece of John F. Kennedy, was born and raised a devout Catholic, who has come to feel that her church, and much of contemporary American Christianity, is failing its members. This book is a spiritual call to arms, an assault on the way American churches today involve themselves more in prescribing personal behavior, rather than working for the greater good of the community. The author recounts her own traditional Catholic upbringing, and the role of faith in the lives of her father and uncle, who were inspired by their religious beliefs to help build a just society. She gives examples of inspiring figures of the present and past, like Martin Luther King, Jr., her father, Robert Kennedy, and Rick Warren among others, whose spiritual values led them to devote themselves to helping others. She tells of her own spiritual crisis, as she witnessed the nurturing Catholic church of her childhood become increasingly alienated from the real concerns of its congregants.And finally, she offers a message of hope, showing how Americans today can reclaim their religious traditions and use them to transform their lives and our churches

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two-term Maryland lieutenant governor Townsend makes a valid point: in America, faith is no longer about community. She longs for the Catholic Church of her youth, that "dealt with issues at the core of the Gospel—suffering, injustice, sickness, and poverty" rather than a Christianity influenced by a crop of preachers who seem to believe that "Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry and cared for the poor just so we don't have to." Addressing a broad range of issues including women, the religious right (and left), the GOP and her own political party, the Democrats, Townsend hopes to appeal to a wide audience, not just a Christian one. Personal anecdotes, including the text of a note from her father, Robert Kennedy, written to her on the morning of her uncle John F. Kennedy's funeral, make this a very personal discussion of faith, religious history and politics. Unfortunately, this doesn't always translate into a cohesive discussion, and the workmanlike style coupled with an doe-eyed earnestness leave the reader wanting. Townsend's call for the disillusioned to stay in church, meet with the priest or minister and help the community comes off more as a catechism than a battle cry. (Mar.)
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Review

Instead of emphasizing the fact that we are all children of God, faith in America now divides communities." So charges Townsend, daughter of Robert Kennedy, who offers a faith-based platform for liberals.The right gets religion wrong, and the left doesn't get it at all, theologian Jim Wallis has observed. Townsend is proof to the contrary, a committed Catholic who despairs of the Church's political leanings and who counters with an ethic of service to the poor and powerless. In a neat but too-brief analysis, she contrasts her father's vision with that of Ronald Reagan, and by extension the liberal and conservative views of human nature. Asked by David Frost what people are put on earth for, RFK replied, "If you've made some contribution to someone else, to improve their life, and make their life a little more livable, a little more happy, I think that's what you should be doing." Reagan, by contrast, argued, "Each man must find his own salvation . . . every man to be what God intended him to be." Townsend dismisses the latter view as justification for "an entire multimillion-dollar industry that treats God as little more than a self-help guru who helps you be all you can be," and the notion of compassionate conservatism as "just another way to put the wolf in sheep's clothing." There is an appropriate role for religion and the religious in politics, Townsend argues, one that reconciles the liberating vision of the Founding Fathers with values born of faith, such as those contained in Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum; the public, she reckons, is ready for just such a hybrid, even as rightist clergy and politicians have insisted that it's a war of each against all out there, undermining "the sense of national unity and collective responsibility that has mattered so much throughout American history."Watch for elements of Townsend's well-framed argument at the 2008 Democratic Convention. (Kirkus Reviews)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 1, 2007)
• ISBN-10: 0446577154
• ASIN: B001JJBOHO
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #614,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Afraid to Think, March 6, 2007

By 

Terry Rob (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way (Hardcover)

This thoughtful, deeply personal book is a reminder that true faith is not blind, nor deaf, nor dumb. Townsend is clearly a person of deep faith. She passionately conveys the essential role religious beliefs have played throughout her life. Yet she seems never to have shyed away from questioning the authority figures who lay claim to defining those beliefs. She thinks, she questions, she challenges. From a child in the classroom to a college student grappling with a friend's abortion to an elected official ridiculed from the pulpit of her own parish church, Townsend makes clear that she respects and values religious institutions but she has never been a passive participant. As a Catholic woman myself, this book resonates with my own experiences and feelings. I think it will do the same for many Christians. We just have to be willing to think, to question and to be challenged to act.

43 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mirror, Mirror -- the Christian Right, March 3, 2007

By 

Arthur Jones - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way (Hardcover)

As Kathleen Kennedy Townsend holds up the mirror with this book, many American Christian denominations won't like what they see. These Christians denominations, the Catholic Church included, are retreating deeper into a quasi-fundamentalism that negates their ability to discourse openly. She regrets that her own Roman Catholic Church has retreated from the openness its 2,400 bishops heralded four decades ago. She is right to do so. The price that church has paid is a vanishing clergy, declining numbers and rising mistrust. Ms. Townsend laments that many Christian denominations today seems less concerned with Good News for the poor than acquiring power to impose their views on one and all.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, May 12, 2007

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Mary Naughton "Spenser Fan" (City Island, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way (Hardcover)

I loved this book so much, I gave copies to as many people as I could, especially the young adults in my family. Kathleen Townsend is clearly a committed believer, whose values have been formed by her Catholic faith, yet she has wonderful, clear insight into the failings, timidity, and missed opportunities of all the Churches and Church leaders in recent years. I wish I could give copies to every Catholic Bishop and Protestant Church leader in the country. Buy it, read it, and then give it to your Pastor!