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 There certainly seems to be a lot of polarization in the readers' responses. I cannot believe the vitriol some folks lob at the author. Serious lack of charity involved, it seems to me. I found the book to be interesting and definitely a worthwhile examination of why, with all its faults, the Catholic Church still provides a spiritual home for the author. I trust folks who believe it is possible to question and doubt and still affirm faith. For those who are afraid ever to examine or doubt, one wonders what it is they fear. . . perhaps their faith isn't as strong as they believe. But this author is not afraid. And he is a good catholic.
Wills' book goes through the centuries of the Bishop of Rome, as it moved from the Apostle all the way to the current pope, and it can seem a bit long-winded. It did, I must say, spur me on to learn a lot more about the early Christian church, and I have gone on to learn a great deal more about how the early church decisions lead to important historical events like the great Schism of the 11th century. I am happy that Wills took the time to lay out the evolution of the Pope's position because it took me in places that I had never known about (like Pope Honorius who was declared a heretic by subsequent popes for naming someone else as a heretic earlier). It is through learning about the Church leaders, whether they be the popes or other leaders within the Church (and Wills loves Augustine!), that Wills accepts the divine inspiration of the Church (the entirety of the Church, not just the leadership) through the centuries. He then goes to the core prayers of inspiration--the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer--and explains how they have moved him to be a better man. A very good book.
I first became aware of Garry Wills when I read BARE RUINED CHOIRS back in the early 1970s. I read (and write) mostly fiction, and I admit I was drawn to that title because I'm a certifiable Gothic nut. But no matter what attracted me, I stayed with the book and have always been glad I did. A couple of years ago I read PAPAL SIN, which, as Wills says in his introduction, directly inspired the writing of WHY I AM A CATHOLIC. The present book stands very well on its own, and you don't have to be a practicing Catholic to appreciate it. The book gives to its reader on a lot of different levels, depending on what experience you bring to your reading, and what you want to get back. In a first and perhaps too brief section, Mr. Wills gives a barefaced, affecting account of growing up Catholic in a working-class family, going to Catholic schools and being taught by nuns and priests, of what happens and doesn't happen when you're a really smart kid who thinks maybe too much. His memories are sharp, poignant, and evocative of a time not long ago, yet now gone forever. (Confession: I'm about a decade behind him in age, and my eyes were moist more than once with remembering things like how we girls in the choir used to play canasta behind the organ during certain long sections of the solemn high masses of Holy Week.) Given that he skipped a grade of elementary school, Garry Wills couldn't have been much more than 17 when, in the early 1950s, he graduated high school and went immediately into the novitiate at a Jesuit Seminary. There he had difficulties, which he tells with courage and candor. He lets us see how the problems of his early years gave rise to the man he became. Certain themes, and the admiration of certain men and their minds (Chesterton, Augustine, Aquinas), began then and have been worked, reworked, refined into the vision he presents later in this book --- and in fact, in all his books. The middle section of WHY I AM A CATHOLIC is the book's longest and most scholarly. The material is essentially the same as in PAPAL SIN, yet it is presented differently. As fascinating as it is to have read the earlier book too, I think the presentation here is more meaningful in some ways. Wills spells out the history of the errors of the papacy --- including the whole "I say to thee thou art Peter and upon this rock" thing. Wills wants us to understand that the papacy is not the Church. Popes do make mistakes (gross understatement). You can be a good Catholic and disagree with what's coming out of Rome; in fact, you might be a better Catholic for having reasoned out for yourself, and for having expressed your disagreement, in whatever way you chose. You could even write a couple of books about how you disagree, yet still go to Mass every week and say the rosary every day --- as Wills himself does. The concluding section, an analysis and defense of The Credo, AKA the Creed, AKA the Apostles' Creed, I thought was something of a letdown. I believe my reaction was a personal one --- even though when I'm reviewing a book, I try to read more objectively than I otherwise might. But WHY I AM A CATHOLIC had become personal to me by that point, I can't deny it. I cared, I was examining myself and my own vacillations and permutations of faith, I was taking it all to heart. Other readers may find this third section to be, as Wills appears to have intended, a natural, moving, affirming outgrowth of the previous two. Originally scheduled for publication about now, WHY I AM A CATHOLIC was moved up to mid-July 2002 because of the conference of Catholic bishops called in the United States for that same time --- the conference that developed groundbreaking policy for dealing with priests accused of sex abuse of minors. In October, the Vatican (i.e., the papacy) refused to accept the recommendations of the United States bishops. That news was pretty much obscured by The Sniper and Bush vs. Saddam, but I'm sure Garry Wills noticed. I'm equally sure he was not surprised that the Vatican refused to accept the decision of the US bishops. He's disappointed, maybe, but he will still be a Catholic. His passion for his faith is a bright light, one that illuminates and does not blind. --- Reviewed by Ava Dianne Day
It is true that we manage to learn a few things that were not discussed in the book "Papal Sin", but they are facts that are not by any means novel to students of the papacy. Even the serious and sensible doubts about Leo XIII's papacy I have heard before, and the only thing remotely interesting - for the future at least - is his quote of Joseph Raztzinger about how the existence of priestesses in pre-Christian religions precludes the question of female ordination in the Catholic Church. However, his description of how lacking in holiness and ethics most Popes have been is so much of a rehash nothing need be said. After Wills moves beond the Modernist crisis, he looks at the current Church in the typical "progressive" manner, thinking in a stupid way that there will be further liberal reforms after John Paul II. However, it is clear that liberal reforms have caused irrepairable declines in mainline Protestant churches because these churches have become clearly too worldly and secular - the papacy is right on this count. The way John Paul has used his power to prevent any discussion of female ordination is quite unlike anything seen before, and those won over to Christianity today are those who want a solid tradition and something antithetical to the "free sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" culture that developed in the 1960s. Some young people feel that only highly orthodox faith can give an abundant and meaningful life, whilst most others are recognising the shallowness of trying to adapt secular conventions to Christianity and the consequences. Wills argues that theologians censured by the CDF since 1979 might become thinkers for a new revolution. Given that John Paul II, unlike Saint Pius X before him, has been able to nominate almost the entire electorate for the next conclave so that, clearly, only a conservative can win this conclave, Wills' idea is fantasy, especially given trends since "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis". The many theologians censured by the Wojtyla papacy will be forgotten and forever relegated to the realm of secular academia and specialised historical scholarship. Wills' arguments about what Catholicism is really do not make sense in the light of the attitude of Cardinals like Ratzinger and Schınborn who wish for a Church with a smaller and more committed membership - firmly loyal to everything taught by John Paul and his successors. What one might say is that, given that mainline Protestantism clearly is dying, Wills wants a Church that has a viable future, and at the same time to be able to think freely. Whether this is possible is a worthwhile question, but its occurrence is the utterest impossibility. The difficulty of moving back to the ideals that Wills develops is patent and makes this book almost worthless given that he cannot offer any suggestions. Stick with "Papal Sin". |
Upon reading the book it is hard to figure out why Wills is a "Catholic" because he doesn't profess the Catholic Faith. There are many Protestant faiths to choose from - it seems like he could find on which agrees with him, or invent one!?!
The essence of Gary Wills' book is that the Catholic Church is imperfect lead by imperfect people in an imperfect world . . . and yet, in spite of all the stupid and bad things the institution has done (the crusades, for example), the causes the leaders have lead (for centuries maintaining the sovereign nation of the Papal States), and the horrors the world has experienced that could have destroyed other churches, the Catholic Church with its pontiff has remained constant and worthy of the name of the Chair of Peter.
