The Catholic Labyrinth: Power, Apathy, and a Passion for Reform in the American Church. By Peter McDonough. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. xv + 387 pp. $29.95 cloth.

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)The Catholic Labyrinth: Power, Apathy, and Passion for Reform in the American Church . By Peter McDonough . New York : Oxford University Press , 2013. xv + 387 pp. $29.95 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesThe prominent political scientist, author, and professor emeritus , Peter McDonough, in The Catholic Labyrinth: Power, Apathy, and Passion for Reform in the American Church , has produced an informative and intellectually challenging monograph that engages the topic of reform in the American Catholic Church. Exhaustively researched through primary records of many organizations, as well as relevant secondary texts, and highly creative in its approach, this book investigates how and in what direction the church has changed in the United States in the post-Vatican II era. Balanced in his approach, yet presenting clear message for the necessity of change for the church to remain viable in American society today, Professor McDonough has made an insightful addition to the literature exploring American Catholic life.McDonough's monograph, divided into six sections and thirteen chapters plus conclusion and conjecture addendums, argues that cultural, political, and economic changes are in process in American Catholicism with varying degrees of success depending on the general approach and the efforts of specific groups and individuals. He speaks of performance (efficiency), fairness (equity), and identity as the pillars of change in the church. These general principles of change are manifested in ideas, organizations, and personalities. McDonough proposes that labyrinth of thought as opposed to any single strand has been created in American Catholicism as result of conservative and progressive approaches to the church and how, with varying degrees of success, manifestations of these positions, seen in numerous issues, but centered in sexuality, have been and continue to be played out in the church today.In highly systematic way, The Catholic Labyrinth approaches the theme of how and in what direction change is operative in American Catholicism. Part I sets the stage for the remainder of the monograph by explaining the author's basic premise that change was initiated as result of Vatican II, but this general movement was compromised by conservative reactions to the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision concerning legalized abortion. Still, he sees American Catholicism in general moving from an old-fashioned pyramid model to better-engineered if not more accommodating hierarchy. Part II, chapters 3 and 4, describe the neo-conservative movement of the post-Vatican II era and its many successes. He suggests this success was achieved in large measure from the ability of Catholic conservatives to link with like groups outside the Church. Still, McDonough suggests the movement has reached a point of diminishing returns as the twenty-first century unfolds (98).Parts III, IV, and V address the progressive movement of change in American Catholicism, describing some successes, yet acknowledging that divisions within the varied approaches adds to the labyrinth. In Part III, chapters 6 and 7, the reader learns that outside the neo-conservative ranks there are few vestiges of common ground due to multiple strands of the Catholic tradition and the organizational structure of various advocacy groups. …