Catholic Identity: Balancing Reason, Faith, and Power - Hardcover

Dillon, Michele

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521630444 ISBN 13: 9780521630443

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1999

Synopsis

It has been well documented that American Catholics tend to be Catholics on their own terms, or choose to remain Catholic while selectively embracing official Church doctrine. But why do Catholics who disagree with official Church teachings on major issues such as homosexuality, women's ordination, or abortion, and are thus institutionally marginalized, choose to remain Catholic? Why do they stay, when the cost of staying and being stigmatized would seem to be greater than the benefits they might gain from switching to religious groups whose doctrines would validate their beliefs on these issues? Michele Dillon, drawing upon in-depth interviews with Catholics who are openly gay or lesbian, advocates of women's ordination, and pro-choice, investigates why and how pro-change Catholics continue to remain actively involved with the Church, despite their rejection of the Vatican's teaching on sexuality and gender.

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Reviews

Focusing on the issue of Catholic identity and contemporary social questions about emancipation from undemocratic structures and tradition, Dillon (sociology, Yale Univ.) studies Catholics who propose radical changes in the church's position on homosexuality, women priests, and abortion. Why do pro-change activists remain Catholics instead of seeking membership in religious communities more favorable to their views?, she wonders. The answer, she argues, is their belief that the fundamental differences between pro-change Catholics and official Church positions could lead not to fragmentation and anomie but to a redefinition of the larger church. Dillon studies her subject in a variety of contexts and includes 15 pages of excellent references. But her writing is unnecessarily repetitiveAand she fails to set forth the basis of the Catholic Church's claim for authoritative interpretation by Pope and bishops (as might be found, e.g., in Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium, 22-25). Recommended for academic libraries.ADavid I. Fulton, Coll. of St. Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521630444
• ISBN 13: 9780521630443
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 300