In his book, An American Requiem, James Carroll highlights the ecclesiastical revolution affecting the Catholic Church in America, by describing his own life and his stormy relationship with his father.  Pope John XXIII had called the council in order to reform the Church and update it, thus helping to revitalize Catholic life in the modern age.  Thus the revolution began with Pope John’s call for an ecumenical council in order to “usher in aggiornamento,” that is, “He was going to open the Church’s windows  . . .  to let fresh air in” [Carroll, 74].  This is precisely the change from the top of the ecclesiastical hierarchy down to the laity that Marsden mentions.

          During the last half of the twentieth century Catholics in America experienced a major cultural shock, a spiritual earthquake of massive proportions, that was centered on three things: (1) the growing cultural assimilation of Catholics into the mainstream of American life, (2) the celebration of the Second Vatican Council, which was intended to reform and modernize the Church, and (3) the political movements that arose in opposition to the Vietnam War.  The interplay of these three elements, each one in its own way, caused a major crisis within the Catholic Church in America.  The Church seemed to be drifting away from certain devotional traditions that had up until that time been viewed as fundamental to being Catholic, and this abandonment of traditional practices was centered in both the movement of Catholics to the suburbs, and by the directions of the Vatican itself as it implemented the reforms of the council.  While the changes brought on by assimilation and liturgical reform were progressing, a simultaneously political factionalism was entering the Church.  The antiwar movement caused divisions in the Church that tended to separate older people from younger people, the hierarchy from the laity, and traditionalists from those desiring change, and these divisions to a greater or lesser degree are still affecting the Church today.

          It was the confluence of all of these things in such a brief period of time that caused this crisis of faith, a crisis reflected in Carroll’s own life by the uncertainties he expressed about his vocation to the priesthood and his relationship with his father.  The hierarchy, which had initially begun the reform movement, began to reassert traditional teaching during the pontificate of Pope Paul VI.  It would be proper to say that the more conservative elements within the Church thought that the council had gone too far in allowing changes in Catholic practice, while the more liberal elements felt that it had not gone far enough.  Those with a more liberal viewpoint, represented by people like James Carroll, eventually idolized Pope John XXIII, while lamenting what they thought of as the conservatism of his successor Pope Paul VI. 

          Carroll’s view of Pope John XXIII, in which he seems to categorize him as a theological liberal, does not really fit with the encyclicals written by that pontiff.  Although Pope John XXIII does emphasize different ideas than his predecessor  Pope Pius XII, it is clear from reading the document he issued that he continued to assert traditional Catholic philosophical and theological concepts.  Thus, James Carroll’s view of Pope John is more of a myth, than a reality.  In his encyclical letter Aeterna Dei Sapientia, Pope John XXIII clearly reaffirmed the teaching of the First Vatican Council, when he wrote, “There is moreover, another essential safeguard of the Church’s visible unity . . . [and it is] that supreme authority to teach infallibly, which Christ gave to Peter, the prince of the apostles, and to his successors” [Papal Encyclicals, 5:96].  Pope John XXIII had no intention of reforming the dogmatic teachings of the Church, but was instead interested in a reform of the structure of the Church and in enabling the Church to express her doctrine in a way that was more accessible to modern man, but without altering the substance of the Church’s message.

          Carroll rightly points out that both Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI were more forceful in their endorsement of peace and in their opposition to the arms race, but it would be false to say that in their commitment to peace they were not still opposed to totalitarian forms of government, like those in Eastern Europe.  When Paul VI spoke before the United Nations and emphasized justice, Carroll sees this as a break with past papal teaching, but this is not an accurate portrayal of the Social Magisterium of the Popes.  Carroll says that, “The pope was not sounding like a pope.  Where was his emphasis on order?  On tradition?  On proper respect for authority?” [Carroll, 158].  Implied in Carroll’s rhetorical questions, is the idea that justice can be separated from order, tradition, and respect for authority, but of course justice requires these things.  There can be no justice without law. 

          He has a valid point when he critiques what was going on in the Church at that time, because to some people it appeared as if everything was open to change.  He sees that the revolution occurring in the Church, a revolution that was in a sense begun by the hierarchy, had gotten out of the control of the hierarchy.  Once that happened, the leaders of the Church, the Pope in particular, put the brakes on and began to reassert the traditional theology.  Pope Paul VI did this when he issued his encyclicals Mysterium Fidei and Humanae Vitae; in the former he reasserted the traditional doctrine of the Holy Eucharist, and in the latter he reasserted the Church’s traditional ban on artificial birth control.  In the case of Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI was simply reiterating the teaching of Pius XI from Casti Connubii, which held that the procreative and the unitive principles inherent in the conjugal act were inseparable by nature, and that the couple must be open to new life.  But while Paul VI was what might be called a moral conservative, he was less conservative in social doctrine, and this is clearly evident when one reads his letter Populorum Progressio, a document on the human and economic development of nations.  In that letter he expressed views that could be seen by some as an attack on pure capitalism, although once again it should be noted that he was merely building on the foundations of Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum and on Pius XI’s encyclical Quadragesimo Anno.

          In a sense, one could say that the Catholic Church is liberal on matters that relate to the rights of man; the Church remains conservative on moral matters.  The former position can clearly be seen in the philosophical and theological writings of Pope John Paul II, but even though he has embraced what could be called an Enlightenment view of man as it concerns human rights, a viewpoint which many people would see as rather liberal; as far as the latter point is concerned the present Pope remains conservative on issues of morality, and strongly defends a traditional view of the nature of the family.  Carroll with his own personal crisis of faith would no doubt see this as an expression of faith in a God “. . . more Roman than Catholic, a God of orthodoxy, conformity, sexlessness, and patriarchy” [Carroll, 222].  But in fact the traditional viewpoint has become the counter-cultural position, and so it has become the radical perspective, and this in itself could be seen as ironic. 

          The Catholic Church in America was dramatically affected by the events of the 1960s and early 70s, but at this point it is still too soon to fully assess the nature of the changes in American Catholic life.  Much of what had made Catholics different from their neighbors, things like not eating meat on Fridays, and the use of Latin in worship, are no longer done.  Catholics have become full members of American society, and this has meant that the things that differentiated them from other Americans have tended to fade in importance, while conversely those things that unite them to the greater society have been emphasized.

          I feel it necessary to make a final critical comment about Carroll’s book; although it is very well written and entertaining, the glaring omission of end notes and a bibliography is problematic.  The fact that he attributes statements to people without providing any references to support them, makes it nearly impossible to verify his assertions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

James Carroll.  An American Requiem.  (Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996). 

Claudia Carlen, IHM.  The Papal Encyclicals 1740-1981.  (Ann Arbor, MI:  The Pierian Press, 1990).  5 Volumes.

Catholicism in America:  Assimilation and the Crisis of Faith

by Steven Todd Kaster

San Francisco State University

History 482:  Religion in America

Dr. William Issel

10 May 2002

Copyright © 2002-2025 Steven Todd Kaster