Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk about Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning

For Kerry Kennedy, who grew up in a devoutly Catholic household coping with great loss, her family’s faith was a constant source of strength and solace. As an adult, she came to question some of the attitudes and teachings of the Catholic Church while remaining an impassioned believer in its role as a defender of the poor and oppressed.

“Generations ago,” says Kennedy, “the search for spirituality came predefined and prepackaged. [The Church] not only gave us all the answers, it even gave us the questions to ask.” Now many of the old certainties are being reexamined. In an attempt to convey this sea change, Kennedy asked thirty-seven American Catholics to speak candidly about their own faith—whether lost, recovered, or deepened—and about their feelings regarding the way the Church hierarchy is moving forward.

The voices included here range from respectful to reproachful and from appreciative to angry. Speaking their minds are businesspeople, actors and entertainers, educators, journalists, politicians, union leaders, nuns, priests—even a cardinal. Some love the Church; some feel intensely that the Church wronged them. All have an illuminating insight or perspective.

Kerry Kennedy herself speaks of the joy of growing up as one of Robert and Ethel Kennedy’s eleven children, of the tragedies that eventually befell her family, and of how religion was deeply woven through good times and bad. Journalist Andrew Sullivan talks about reconciling his devout Catholicism with the Church’s condemnation of his identity as a gay man. TV newswoman Cokie Roberts recalls the nuns who taught her and “took girls seriously when nobody else did.” Comedian Bill Maher declares, “I hate religion. It’s the worst thing in the world”—and goes on to defend his bold assertion. Writer Anna Quindlen depicts a common parental challenge: passing along traditions and values to a younger generation sometimes deaf to spiritual messages.

Through these and many other voices that speak not only to Catholics but to all of us, Being Catholic Now redefines an ancient institution in the most contemporary of terms.

From Being Catholic Now

“When my mom asked if I wanted to be a nun, I said I’d rather be a priest. . . . The nuns were always wonderful, but the power was with the priest.” —Nancy Pelosi

“There are aspects of studying the saints, with the candles, incense, and Latin Masses and some of the pageantry of the Church that, as an American historian, make me feel part of a larger wave of history. That it’s not a newfangled religion, which some people get great solace from. I feel that I’m connected to places.”

—Douglas Brinkley

“Faith isn’t like picking courses off a menu. It’s a journey, and it’s a path. If your path and journey have been within one structure your entire life, then simply leaving isn’t an option.” —Andrew Sullivan

“Why stay Catholic? Because the hierarchy is not the Church. . . .We [the people of God] are the Church. They can’t take that away from us.” —Cokie Roberts

“I was told very early on by the nuns that I had an ‘overabundance of original sin.’ I was a quiet kid, but I was curious. I asked the wrong questions.” —Susan Sarandon

“I don’t believe you can be authentically Catholic without being committed to the social doctrine of the Church. When I was in grammar school, we had these little boxes to help the poor. That was good, but that is half of it. The other half is to find out why there are so many poor people and how we can do something to help them.” —Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick

“I am reconciled to the oblivion that is coming. I see no proof of anything else, if it is a matter of faith. I admire people who have faith in God. It must be a great comfort to them, but I had to get out from under the fear and the guilt.” —Frank McCourt

“I went to church and the door was locked. I was knocking and ringing the bell. I waited and waited and nobody came. [The priest thought] there was an emergency, because of all the banging and ringing. He looked down at me and said, ‘What is it?’ I said, ‘I’m sorry to bother you, Father, but I’ve been away from the Church many, many years and I’d like to come back. I’d like to go to confession.’ He looked at me and something behind his eyes said, ‘You came to the right place.’ He knew that it was an important moment for me; he got it instantly.” —Martin Sheen

In "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce refers (cryptically, of course) to Catholicism as "Here Comes Everybody," but since the 1960s it's been more like, "Where'd They Go?" Kerry Kennedy's collection of 37 interviews, "Being Catholic Now," is one answer: They're still here, more or less. And it is often less rather than more, as Kennedy includes the likes of best-selling author Frank McCourt and religion-razing... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) Bill Maher, who ruefully, or gleefully, would qualify as ex-Catholics or even anti-Catholics, if only Holy Mother Church could let them go, or vice-versa. "Maybe I was damaged by it for a long time — we all were," McCourt says of Catholicism, "but I can make use of it and that's the gift."

Balancing such diffidence are other Catholics, from the pious to the powerful, who raise objections even as they pledge fealty to the church. This critical stance, especially from lay people, is a hallmark of Catholicism since the Second Vatican Council. Bill O'Reilly donates "a lot of money" to the church but blasts bishops who "screwed it up." Former pizza magnate and Catholic traditionalist Tom Monaghan loves the church but regrets sending his kids to parochial schools "because they tend to undermine the faith." Celebrities offer more heft than expected (though some ordinary souls, especially sexual abuse survivor Dan McNevin, provide the real ballast), with actors Susan Sarandon and Martin Sheen leading the pack. Dan Aykroyd is nearly off the Catholic reservation (and never mind that he is Canadian), but without his Catholic boyhood "The Blues Brothers" movie wouldn't exist.

The unifying theme of all the interviews is a once-formidable Catholic culture that left a mark as indelible as any sacrament, pushing Catholics to contend with a church that has betrayed or consoled them, or both. The contributors who firmly believe and deeply question give the book its poignancy, with the most affecting essay coming from Kennedy herself; she is one of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's 11 children and a prayerful believer who struggles with the faith but refuses to abandon ship. (Andrew Sullivan, Peggy Noonan, Donna Brazile and E.J. Dionne Jr. also have noteworthy entries.)

In the 4th century, Saint Ambrose spoke of the church as a "casta meretrix," a chaste prostitute, for her indiscriminate welcome. A few decades ago, the Catholic convert Dorothy Day added, "She's a whore, but she's my mother." The challenge today is that the Catholic culture that gave birth to Ambrose, Day and the folks in Kennedy's book is threadbare to the point that it's hard to imagine rounding up a similar cast for a sequel. Catholics today are more likely to see the church as a sainted virgin or duplicitous harlot rather than to contend with the paradoxes that are inherent in any major religion and vital to the creative tension at the heart of any culture worthy of the name.

David Gibson is the author of "The Rule of Benedict" and "The Coming Catholic Church."

Reviewed by David Gibson, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
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In this collection, Kennedy asks 37 prominent American Catholics to speak candidly about their own faith--whether lost, recovered, or deepened--and about their feelings regarding the way the Church hierarchy is moving forward.

KERRY KENNEDY established the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights in l988 and, while leading more than forty human-rights delegations to more than thirty countries, has worked on diverse human-rights issues such as child labor, disappearances, ethnic violence, and environmental protection. Kennedy is the author of Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World, which birthed an internationally show­cased play, a stirring photographic exhibition, and a PBS documentary film. Kennedy is a graduate of Brown University and Boston College Law School. She is also the mother of three daughters: Cara, Mariah, and Michaela.