Bible Belt Catholicism
By Dwight Longenecker
In the popular imagination the American deep South is the land of rednecks, Scarlett O’Hara and the Ku Klux Klan. The religion has always been a heady mixture of confederate pride, bigotry and hell fire fundamentalism. But it’s worth another look. In the southern United States, the Catholic Church is growing, and taking on a particularly Southern complexion.
The Catholic population in the Southern states is only about 12%, but journalist Tim Padgett reports that in the booming cities like Atlanta, Greenville, and Charlotte, Catholics can number up to 20%, and the numbers are on the increase. In the 1990’s Catholics in the south enjoyed growth of nearly 30% compared with a less than 10% growth amongst Baptists. The Southern Baptists still dominate the religious scene, but the steady growth of the Catholic population is making an impact.
The numbers of Catholics are growing because Catholic families are moving South from Northern cities to take up jobs in the technological industries. In addition to this, Hispanics are moving north from the Caribbean and Latin America. In the diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, Hispanics make up nearly half of the Catholic population. The southern dioceses also have priestly vocations. The ratio of newly ordained priests in the Diocese of Charlotte is 1/7,000 parishioners, more than seven times higher than Chicago.
What is emerging is a ‘New Catholicism’ that will influence the whole American Church. This new breed of younger Catholics tend to be faithful to the Church’s teachings while being bright, educated and media savvy. One of the ‘hot spots’ in the south is the Alabama-based Eternal Word Television Network. Started by an indomitable nun called Mother Angelica, EWTN broadcasts radio and television programmes worldwide. Now available on SKY TV, the Catholicism on EWTN is traditional, but accessible. EWTN makes no compromise for being Catholic. As one of their leading lights, Fr Mitch Pacwa said, ‘There’s lots of religious TV out there. When channel hoppers hop over to EWTN we want them to know exactly what they’re getting.’
Students at the new Ave Maria University in Naples Florida know exactly what they’re getting too. Started by Tom Monaghan, who made a fortune starting a chain of pizza restaurants, Ave Maria has ambitious plans to build a totally new campus and town in central Florida where the Catholic faith will be taught without compromise, and where every subject will be taught from a Catholic philosophical foundation. The college already has over 500 students and building has started. The college has had several visits from top level Vatican cardinals, (Schonborn of Austria and Arinze of Nigeria) and the university chancellor, Fr Joseph Fessio, is not only a friend and former student of the new pope, but also the publisher of all his works through his own Ignatius Press.
This ‘New Catholicism’ in the American South is alive, young and optimistic, but far less likely to tolerate the open dissent that went with the 1970’s and the ‘cultural Catholicism’ of generations past. That form of Catholicism is dying, and its death is symbolised by the Northern parishes that are experiencing plummeting mass numbers, a shortage of priests and huge debts to pay off the child abuse scandals that rocked the church a few years ago. It seems that in the parishes where ‘anything goes’-- everybody went.
Time magazine reported Fr Timothy Reid, 34—one of the new priests who has moved south from Indiana. Fr Reid says he came to Charlotte because, ‘it’s more vibrant here because we’re creating a Catholic Culture almost from scratch.’ Fr Jay Scott Newman, the pastor of St Mary’s in Greenville, South Carolina has said, "Here you're not Catholic because your parents came from Italy or Slovakia. It's because you believe what the church teaches you is absolutely true." Patrick McHenry, 29, a Republican congressman from Charlotte, North Carolina said to Time, “Southern Catholicism is changing the nature of the church in America. We adhere to a truer and purer view of Catholicism." The subtext of McHenry’s comment is that these are Catholics who sign up to the full Catholic menu, including papal infallibility, rejection of contraception, abortion, homosexuality and female ordination.
Not everybody’s convinced. Rev. Kevin Wildes, president of Loyola University New Orleans, wonders whether "Catholicism in the South is simply another form of evangelical Fundamentalism with incense." Old school liberal Catholics are not the only ones who are worried. While there is a new understanding and spirit of co-operation between mainstream Evangelicals and Catholics in America, the old fashioned fundamentalists are also concerned about the new breed of Catholics. Bob Jones III, chancellor of Bob Jones University in Greenville has recently been as outspoken in his anti-Catholic comments as the hottest of the old time Southern preachers.
In the South the clash between the “New Catholicism” and Evangelical fundamentalism is almost tangible. Evangelicals are still suspicious of the Catholic Church and they bristle at the encroachment of Catholics into their heartland. Baptist churches in the region are likely to host conferences helping their people ‘share the gospel with Catholics’, while for his part, Fr Newman at St Mary’s Greenville has started a new ‘Centre for Evangelical Catholicism’ which is dedicated to helping all the people of the parish ‘live out their baptismal vocation.’
However, the tension between Evangelicalism and Catholicism in America is waning. As the mainline Protestant churches continue to haemorrhage members, money and influence, the two main religious forces in America are Catholicism and Evangelicalism. Despite the historical tensions, these two religious forces are amazingly convergent. Mark Noll’s book Is the Reformation Over? chronicles the steady rapprochement between the two forces as well as their shared conservative agenda. Many ascribe George Bush’s overwhelming victory to the fact that he appealed not only to the right wing Evangelical vote, but also the ‘New Catholic’ vote.
The economic vitality of the New South and its increasing political clout (Three out of the five last presidents were from the South) means that the future of the whole USA will probably be determined there. As the twenty first century becomes increasingly driven by religious agendas, a shared moral and social agenda will bring Catholics and Evangelicals in the influential Southern states to find themselves fighting on the same side on both the national and international stage.
The old confederate soldiers used to say, ‘the South will rise again’. The prophecy seems to be coming true. It’s just that it is ‘rising again’ in ways the old soldiers could never have foreseen.
Dwight Longenecker is the author of More Christianity—an introduction to Catholicism for Evangelicals. Contact him at www.dwightlongenecker.com
|
