The last post in the series on Catholic Modern by James Chappel. The turbulent 1960’s included the sexual revolution, feminism, the civil rights movement, worker uprisings, and the identification and rejection of Western Imperialism. These secular movements did not leave the Church untouched. In fact, the Second Vatican Council tried to respond to Pope John XXIII’s call to “open the windows” of the Church to the world. In this last chapter of Catholic Modern, James Chappel identifies a part of the... Read more

Despite the Catholic Church’s long rejection of materialism, it was a consumer society that brought opposing elements of the Church into a consensus in the “long 1950’s.” James Chappel, in Chapter 5 of Catholic Modern, dates this period from 1949 to 1964.  Chappel’s theme concerns the two different ways Catholics pursued being modern since the 1930’s. In his terminology, “paternal modernists” were the majority, but “fraternal modernists” made up a significant minority. In previous chapters Chappel explores their differences on three intertwining issues – family, the economy,... Read more

Individual Catholics came through the Second World War in powerful positions in political parties that were, in name or in spirit, Christian Democrats. They argued opposite sides of major political issues. Some pushed strongly for federalism and world government that would include Communist countries. Others took up the anti-Communist banner and argued for strong nation-states and military preparedness. The shape of the world since then shows which side one out in the end.  Jacques Maritain – his influence and ultimate failure – occupies the center... Read more

In the period between the two world wars, the Catholic Church was becoming modern, accepting its place in a secular state, learning to cooperate with different groups against common enemies. But all that was compatible with a deep strain of anti-Semitism. How then did some Jews find themselves attracted to the Catholic Church, working closely with Catholics, and even becoming Catholic? Under the large tent that is the Church, a majority were staunchly anti-communist and associated Jews with communism. But anti-fascism was another strong movement. It promoted pluralism, a... Read more

The years from 1929 to the end of the Second World War were disastrous ones for Europe. The Great Depression, the rise of dictators in several European countries, extreme nationalism and worship of blood and soil, six million Jews slaughtered in concentration camps—if this is any indication, then the modern Western world is both chaotic and demonic. Yet it was during these years and through movements of anti-Communism and anti-Fascism that the Catholic Church learned how to be modern.   Catholic... Read more

Part 3 in the series on Catholic Modern by James Chappel –Chapter One, Catholic Anti-modernism, 1920-1929 In the 1920’s Church was intellectually anti-modern in just about all its respects of that worldview. It rejected the separation of church and state, the capitalist economies, liberal democracy, the value of other religious confessions, and even the modern idea of the nation-state. Practically, many in the Church got along with all of these, even in multi-religious settings. But there was no “coherent and widely espoused language... Read more

A modern Church emerged in the 1930’s, earlier, James Chappel holds, than often thought. Disagreements about over the form Catholic modernism should take marked the Church’s engagement with the world then and probably always will. Part 2 in the series on Catholic Modern: The Challenge of Totalitarianism and the Remaking of the Church by James Chappel – the Introduction  The Catholic Church “has embraced modernism.” (p. 1) And she embraced it for good in the period between the two world wars. That doesn’t mean that... Read more

A First Look at Catholic Modern by James Chappel  I have been reading and writing about the Catholic Church during the years Augosto Pinochet was dictatorial ruler of Chile. The reading was from William T. Cavanaugh’s 1998 book Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ. That has led me to further exploration of church-state relations for two reasons. I wanted another take that was not tied into a specific country and such an extreme situation as Pinochet’s Chile. And I wanted to get another look at the... Read more