Catholics are becoming more and more “Protestant” in their religious and social outlook, with less and less differentiating them from the rest of society. They are also seeing morality in terms of the consequence of their actions rather than in terms of absolute prescriptions dictated by Church leadership and Church tradition:
- “core young adult Catholics” ...continue to subscribe to the “more open” definition of Catholicity while confirming that allegiance to moral teaching based on external authority has virtually disappeared. ...values and moral choices tend to be individual and personal. ...nowadays the faithful see moral questions in terms of a totality of consequences.
Even more serious, perhaps, are the disagreements over the nature of the Church itself. Here Cornwell’s discussion is more difficult, because this is a theological matter which has been debated for centuries. Over the centuries, a wide variety of metaphors have been used in an attempt to describe what the “Church” really is — things from a mother to a ship to an empire and even “the Body of Christ.”
Today, however, progressives see the Church as something which is defined and developed “from below.” It is the individual members as a corporate body which constitutes the living presence of Christ. Conservatives, however, believe in a Church which is defined “from above” — and centrally, from the Vatican:
- ...Catholicism should and can be preserved from this kind of taint through stricter centralized control — conformity to Rome’s orthodoxy. But is it that simple to foster an authentic, unpromiscuous, popular Catholicism by control from the top downward? From the center outward?
Why have these divisions developed? Cornwell places a lot of the blame at the feet of Pope John Paul II, whom he describes as a “master of spin.” According to Cornwell, John Paul has effectively demoralized and alienated millions of Catholics by condemning them for things (particularly in matters of sexuality, like the use of contraceptives) which they honestly regard as morally justified.
Cornwell’s book is also autobiographical. He was raised as a Catholic and even entered a seminary in preparation for the priesthood. But he lost his faith not only in the Church, but also in Christianity generally. Later in life he returned to Catholicism, but his sympathies obviously lie within the “liberal” camp of progressives and reformers.
Nevertheless, he also shows sympathies for the conservatives. He understands many of their fears and concerns — sometimes he also shares them:
- Great world religions do not survive when they begin to yield to sectarianism. The unifying power of the papacy still holds the warring factions together in a semblance of cohesion. But can that unifying authority be purchased by mere lip service to papal allegiance?
- The conservatives are right. The answer is a resounding no! Hence they stay close to papal thinking, statements and documents, believing that this enables them to think with the Church, sentire cum ecclesia, even though some conservatives find difficulty with the Pope’s more ecumenical and pluralist initiatives.
He seems to agree that, with some issues, going too far away from tradition is dangerous to the long-term future of the church. Cornwell is convinced that the Roman Catholic Church can do a lot to make the world a better place, but not unless it is able to move forward and honestly enact the sorts of reforms originally proposed in Vatican II.
Cornwell is concerned for the future of the Catholic Church, because he is concerned about what the divisions between progressives and conservatives will produce. Some conservatives have even indicated that they would welcome a schism between the two, a prospect which horrifies Cornwell. He values diversity in the Church, but also hopes for a future in which the Church will be able to adapt to changing circumstances without being pulled apart by those same forces.
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