In the past couple of weeks I have read the two novel series Conclave & Council by Greg Tobin (Forge Books). The novels follow the exploits of an American Roman Catholic bishop as he first gets elected pope, and second, calls for another church coucil (i.e. Vatican III.) The books are kind of like a Tom Clancy novel interbred with a church hymnal. Instead of Clancy's longwinded digressions into the technology of spycraft we are given equally longwinded digressions on various aspects of Catholicism. Otherwise they are very similar. We are even given flashback sequences where the bishop-to-be kicks some ass in Vietnam, although he is always thoughtful about the people he kills. The books themselves are not bad reads. All the flashbacks seem to indicate that Tobin didn't have confidence in the strength of his main story line, but this is a minor criticism.
As pop culture documents of American Catholicism this former seminary student finds them a little more troubling. For starters there are the villians of the piece, the leaders of the Conservative (i.e. reactionary) Evangelium Christi movement, obvious stand-ins for the real life Opus Dei. This gay bashing, woman hating group stoops at nothing in these books. They stage a "terrorist" attack to murder a pope, and engage in all other forms of intimidation and character assasination when they are not busy mudering people. As if Tobin hasn't made his feelings about the Evangelium Christi clear enough by their actions, he also feels the need to link them to honest to God Nazis. Ok, we get it!! They are the bad guys!!
The payoff for all the bloodshed is of course that the liberal American pope is the very vessel of the Holy Spirit who will lead the church to institute holy orders for women, and to allow priests to marry as well. That the two are basically equated in the book is not uncommon in American Catholic thinking. There seems to be a general ignorance of Catholic teachings on these matters by those American writers who tackle the subject. Gary Wills' piece of drivel (screed?) Papal Sins was much the same way. The truth is that the ecclesiastical rule that keeps priests from marrying is just that, a rule. It can be changed by the church without altering the faith in any way. This explains why there are already married Catholic priests, such as converts from other denominations and members of churches in union with Rome that traditionaly have allowed clergy to marry. Only the idea of allowing women to become priests involves changing the dogma of the church.
The object of this kind of writing, from Tobin, Wills and other liberal Catholics like them, seems to be a Catholic church that will be safe for the party platform of the Democratic party. Indeed, it is hard to distinguish where the one ends and the other begins. This need to "update" the Catholic church so that it is nearly identical with this or that contemporary political ideology troubles me. I feel the church plays a much more important role as a counter-cultural force. The church is supposed to represent eternal truths, not this decades fashions. Historically the church has gotten itself into trouble by being too of its time, not too little. The sad history of popes as petty tyrants playing out their games of political power is not a pretty one. But it is a history that will be repeated if the church gets involved in remaking itself in the image of our contemporary political institutions. However, the drive that impels the Tobin's and Wills' of this world is strong. Anyone who opposes their vision is for them, well, a Nazi.
And, in the short run, I think Tobin and company will win. That is why I consider myself a "partial Catholic." The wind has been blowing cold for some time. The church will be fundamentally altered in my lifetime, and the post Vatican II church in all its successes and failings, will cease to exist. So I keep my distance. It would be too painful for me to be a full blown Catholic.
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