Global Catholicism: Diversity and Change since Vatican II (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Global Catholicism: Diversity and Change since Vatican II Darrell Jodock Global Catholicism: Diversity and Change since Vatican II. By Ian Linden. (New York: Columbia University Press. 2009. Pp. viii, 337. $27.50. ISBN 978-0-231-15416-1.) This book tells the fascinating and important story of Roman Catholicism’s shift from a relatively Eurocentric to a more global Church. During the 1950s the policies of the Holy See were largely devised with European problems in view (pp. 30–33). By 2000, with only a shrinking 40 percent of the world’s Catholic community to be found in North America and Europe (p. 240), things had changed. Ian Linden is a professorial research associate in the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and former director of the Catholic Institute for International Relations. In this book Linden has assembled [End Page 561] a large amount of information about complex developments in Latin America, Africa, and Asia and presented it in a readable fashion. He begins by sketching the background of the Second Vatican Council, starting with the modernist controversy of the early-twentieth century. The book explores how the decision-making during the Council only slowly began to reflect a more international perspective. Each region is analyzed vis-à-vis the initial steps toward inculturation taken in the 1950s, but developments after the Council receive the most attention. Global Catholicism treats different parts of the world separately, giving considerable attention to Catholicism in Latin America, the Philippines, South Africa, Rwanda, Rhodesia/Zaire, Malawi, and Asia outside of the Philippines. Then, since “a fully global and pluralist Church is by nature collegiate, a community of communities, rather than a rigid hierarchical structure with its satellites controlled and ruled from a dominant centre” (p. 156), it explores the degree to which ideas traveled from one region to another. The answer to this question is not uniform. The indigenous “kairos theology” that developed in South Africa, for example, employed a methodology similar to that of Latin American liberation theology but was largely homegrown (p. 197). Amid the differences around the world, the dynamics were similar. Inspired by the documents of the Second Vatican Council, some activists identified with the needs of the poor or the disenfranchised, resulting in disagreements among the local bishops. Depending on the current priorities of the pope, the Holy See was more or less cautious in its response. The outcome was mixed, but as a whole the Church moved in the direction of including indigenous leaders and standing up for justice and human rights. Linden ends his book with some attention to ongoing problems associated with globalization. One is the role of popular Catholicism. Since the 1970s the official Vatican policy has been “inculturation,” defined as “the insertion of Christianity in the various human cultures” and “the intimate transformation of authentic cultural values through their integration in Christianity” (p. 239). But what sorts of popular piety are to be honored? A second problem is the role of interreligious dialogue. Dialogue has clearly been endorsed as “an integral part of the mission of the Church” (p. 254). But to what extent can inculturation include appropriating elements from the dominant local religion and regarding “a more hybrid religious consciousness as a channel for Grace” (p. 255)? “It has been in the domain of inculturation and relations with other faiths that the post-conciliar Church looks and feels, from top to bottom, significantly different from its pre-conciliar past” (p. 260). Yet, on the problems associated with these two issues the papacy has yet to find a consistent and coherent stance. Linden also applauds the Church’s witness for nonviolence. He worries about the Church becoming an “interest group” in secular societies rather than working for the common good and especially about sexual misconduct [End Page 562] eroding respect for the priesthood in Africa and elsewhere (p. 268). Despite the excellent work done by women’s religious orders, women “do not occupy top Curial positions or exert power in Vatican consistories” (p. 274), and “Rome has still to show a comprehensive understanding of the issue of gender relations” (p. 275). Finally, in Linden’s eyes, despite the...