Bible-Belt Catholics

Roman Catholicism is experiencing a resurgence in the American South. There the numbers of Catholics is growing, but so is the number of ordained priests. At the same time, the Catholicism being practiced is far more orthodox and traditionalist than the Catholicism seen elsewhere in America, possibly portending a dramatic shift in religious and political attitudes.

Time reports:

That more orthodox approach is proving as popular as a revival meeting. Priests and lay people in traditional Catholic strongholds in the Northeast and Midwest are distressed by a plunge in regular Mass attendance to just 30% of the registered congregation in many parishes, by a chronic shortage of priests and by the financial burden of paying off settlements for sexual-abuse cases. But Catholics in places like Charlotte say the church is being born again in the cradle of born-again Christianity--the South.

The success of the church in the South could be influential beyond the Mason-Dixon Line. Southern Catholicism "is changing the nature of the church in America," says Patrick McHenry, 29, a Republican who last month became Charlotte's first Catholic Congressman. "We adhere to a truer and purer view of Catholicism." Roman Catholics, still the largest religious denomination in the U.S., at 65 million strong, will debate what "truer and purer" means. But one thing seems certain: Southern Catholics, influenced in no small degree by their morally hard-line Protestant neighbors, as well as the strong piety of Latin America, are decidedly more orthodox in their faith. Their explosive growth could eventually reverse national polls in which a majority of Catholics say they can disagree with church teachings, even on abortion, and remain good Catholics. Indeed, many Sunbelt Catholics say their mission is to rescue the church from what they consider to be the murky faith of liberal Catholic figures like former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Says the Rev. Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church, less than two hours south in Greenville, S.C.: "Here you're not Catholic because your parents came from Italy or Slovakia. It's because you believe what the church teaches you is absolutely true." ... Some church observers say this trend, while ecumenical, could undermine the "intellectual heritage" of the faith, says the Rev. Kevin Wildes, president of Loyola University New Orleans, which in 2002 opened the Center for the Study of Catholics in the South. "The question is whether Catholicism in the South simply becomes another form of evangelical Fundamentalism with incense."

The possible conflicts within the Catholic Church could prove interesting. Catholics in the South regard themselves as more orthodox and "pure" than Catholics elsewhere, but if it is true that they are importing traditions and ideas that are more evangelical than Catholic, they may eventually find themselves at odds with the defenders of orthodoxy in the Vatican. Then we'll see quite a battle between groups vying to be "holier" than the other.

The long-term consequences for Catholicism in America will also be interesting. Will Southern Catholics have more influence on the North or vice-versa? Will Catholicism become more conservative, orthodox, and traditionalist overall? It's possible, and if that is the case than both religion and politics generally could experience another shift to the right.

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