By Peter Steinfels
"Gathering Points" Lecture
Series
Delivered at Marquette University
February 4, 2004
"Today the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is on the verge of
either an irreversible decline or a thoroughgoing transformation." That
sentence stands at the beginning of the Introduction to A People Adrift. But
except for using the word "striking" instead of "thoroughgoing" I
wrote that sentence in 1997, five years before revelations of 
sexual abuse
of minors by priests shook the foundations of American Catholicism.
Of course, in 1997, as senior religion correspondent at The New
York Times, I had already covered the earlier wave of Catholic
clergy sex abuse scandals and I planned to write about them in
my book’s treatment of sexual controversies. It seems that
no one can write about the present and future of the Catholic church
without writing about sex.
In 1997, however, I was determined not to write only about sex.
I wanted to give prominence to topics like worship and religious
education and similar subjects that get less attention in the media.
I believed, as I came to write, that it is at the Sunday liturgy, "not
in the bedroom, that the future of Catholicism in the United States
will be determined."
What I was determined to say above everything
else, however, was much simpler. It was that the U.S. church
could not afford business
as usual. There were many plausible courses that American Catholicism
might pursue, many debatable choices the church leaders might
make. But business as usual was the one that would lead to disaster.
In 1997, when I left The New York Times newsroom staff to write
this book, A People Adrift was my working title. For a long time,
my editor, who is a dear friend and a genius, didn’t like
it. By mid-2002, some of my friends who were doing heroic work
in various Catholic organizations, despite the demoralizing effects
of the sex abuse scandals, complained that such a title was too
downbeat. I began to have misgivings myself.
By that time, I’m afraid, events had made my editor a fierce
defender of my title. To be sure, there was a moment when we thought
of calling the book Harry Potter and the Catholic Church. Finally
our only concession to marketing was to substitute the word "crisis" for
the word "future" in my original subtitle. "Crisis" is
an overworked word, but by the end of 2002 no one could deny that
it was applicable.
However, the word "crisis" in the
subtitle encompasses more than some people assume. The Catholic
church here
faced
the stark alternatives of decline or transformation before the
year
2002’s revelations—and would do so if those shocking
sexual crimes had never occurred. The reasons go deeper than
the scandal—though they are not unrelated to it. The reason
have to do with two intersecting internal transitions in American
Catholic
life—and two massive external changes in our world. I believe
that all these changes are irreversible.
The American Catholic Church is a unique institution. Over 67
million Americans, roughly a quarter of the population, name it
as their spiritual home, even when, like many family members, they
are hardly on speaking terms. Its nearly 20,000 parishes, its elementary
and secondary schools, its clinics and social services anchor many
a neighborhood. Its 600 hospitals treat over 90 million patients
a year.
Next
