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Anybody who has wanted to know what is behind the recent awful scandals in the American Catholic Church will find here a short, masterful, information-packed examination, a book that is thoroughly trustworthy, and spot-on.
What I hadn't expected here was the amount of new reporting — on the events that changed the mind of the Vatican about what was going on, near the beginning of April, for one instance, and on the events of 1968 that generated the cultural tide of dissent among American theological and clerical elites, to mention just one other. Also, the clear line of argument, which created its own suspense. How, exactly, was Weigel going to end his sustained assault upon the American Catholic "progressive" elite and especially of the failure of bishops to be bishops? Weigel begins by clarifying what the scandal is and is not. As readers of the print media know, but consumers of TV news do not, it was not a "pedophilia" scandal. There were some awful perpetrators of pedophilia, but the vast majority of victims were teenage males being sexually molested or abused. Readers of NRO don't have to be told much on this front — the NRO archives hold a lot by Rod Dreher and others, including me, and hyperlinks to Mary Eberstadt and others who pioneered in concentrating on the facts. But Weigel was in Rome for crucial long periods as this scandal broke and gives a marvelous clarifying account of the realities on the ground there. The fabled Vatican Curia numbers some 1,800 persons, a lot fewer to serve a universal Church of one billion souls than the US Government needs in Washington (even in any one department) to govern 280 million citizens. Very few of those live on the "information highway." Most are not of that generation, and even those who are lack the time and habit of living online. To an extraordinary degree, the Vatican Secretariat of State depends on information from its nuncios (ambassadors) around the world. On this matter, apparently, there was a lot of information — and, more important, commentary on it — that the Vatican was not receiving. Weigel recounts how this lamentable information lag was abruptly overcome. On his secret trip to the Vatican in early April, Cardinal Law over three days played a key role in bringing significant officials to face realities they had not been aware of. What Weigel is particularly good at is making real theology accessible to the jargonless lay person. He sets forth the theology of the priesthood in a way simultaneously inspiring, on the one hand, and on the other hand eviscerating to those who have committed treason against it. Weigel does an especially helpful job in setting forth what theology expects from a Catholic bishop, and measuring the American bishops against this standard. Especially in their role as teachers, the growing ignorance of the American Catholic people under the regime of "catechetics" since about 1968 condemn the bishops of the 1970s-1980s severely. Their carelessness in supervising seminaries condemn them even more. The sermons Catholics suffer through weekly are so empty of theological content, Weigel surmises, because priests educated in the 1970s and 1980s learned very little theology, and a lot of that was bad theology. They talk about movies and musical comedies and television shows because their minds are empty. Their lack of spiritual discipline and ascetical knowledge is palpable. A deep life of prayer? Communion with God? Few hints of those in their words. Weigel is unusually hopeful about the new breed of priests — the John Paul II breed, he calls them — serious, orthodox, and able to explain their faith, in love with their vocations and with the Catholic people. The scandals of the last decades were not caused by priests faithful to Catholic sexual teaching and to their priestly vows, but by infidelity — infidelity in thought, word, and deed. Catholic sexual teaching had not been taught in most American churches since Vatican II, especially after 1968. The theology of the priesthood had been scandalously neglected, despite John Paul II's enormous efforts to bring it into daily reflection. Meanwhile, the American bishops, tutored by the swollen and bureaucratic, consensus-governed U.S. Catholic Conference, were transforming themselves from conscientious shepherds, teachers and guides of the Catholic people into managers of their own bureaucracies. With the people they conducted themselves like leaders of discussion groups, taking care to keep everyone "in" the dialogue, and keeping everyone happy, particularly those in the progressive wing of the Church, with all their friends in the media. The one thing many Catholic bishops have feared more than anything else during the last 40 years is to be called "conservative." Many have even been embarrassed by that charge because of their association with (few can be called leaders in) the pro-life movement. Weigel's discussion of this conservatiphobia, like his many other shrewd observations, cuts through the fat and hits the bone. As it happens, one of the lines I most enjoy hearing from bishops, even those who extend to me friendship and warmth, is the inevitable aside, just after they have agreed with me on something: "Of course, Michael, I'm not as conservative as you are..." "Of course not, bishop," I reassure them. But why this compulsion not to be thought conservative? Weigel explains it quite persuasively. Weigel not only describes clearly what is wrong. He develops the criteria for any successful reform. They are pretty demanding. Meeting them will take courage. But Catholic faith always has. It has often in recent decades been tested by martyrdom. We are lucky to have in our time a fairly young man with such a grasp of the faith and such a commitment to it, combined with a superbly hewn intellect well-stocked with knowledge and analytical skills. A young fella (to use a Lyndon Johnson expression) who can write with discipline, quickly, clearly, and at times lyrically. You can get six of these little books for a few dimes over 90 bucks, discounted (Amazon is taking pre-orders, it comes out later this month). So, buy this book in quantity (I have), and pass it out to family and friends. Not to mention to those who ask when they meet you these days — doesn't it seem to be everybody you know? — What in heck is happening to the Catholic Church? Send one to Bill O'Reilly, too. There's a guy in real need of information about his own Church. A great guy, but hey! on this point... O'Reilly needs exactly what Weigel offers. A book that is short, clear, and reliable. Buy it, O'Reilly! You can afford it. You need it.
— Michael
Novak, the George F. Jewett scholar at the American
Enterprise Institute. Mr. Novak is the author, most recently, of On
Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding. |
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went to bed the other night with George Weigel's new book, 
