The Workings of the Church: Vatican & Episcopal Politics vs. Catholic Ideals

Dear CIOT Participants,

How the Church “works” and functions politically must be measured according to what may be called “Catholic ideals.” But what are these? Here is where opinions differ, for the church has its structures and operates as it will in the world, but we might not agree that it always does so according to what each of us would define, differently, as Catholic ideals.

For those of you who were here in March 2006, some of the readings will be familiar, but that is necessary given the overlap in the topic then and our topic for 5 November. Since it has been rare indeed that anyone has read everything (or even most of everything), the majority of what follows will be new to many.

Looking forward to seeing you all on November 5!

Yours in Christ,
John

A useful start (from Catholic Update 1082; revised 1989) is a short pamphlet, The Roman Curia: How the Church is Run .

An incredibly detailed and up-to-date resource for the organization and hierarchy of the Church is available online at: http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/. It has sections on pope, curia, cardinals, bishops, etc., including every single diocese in the world.

There is a fairly recent (1996) book-length study by Thomas J. Reese, SJ, Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church. Fortunately, Father Reese participated in a forum on this topic at Georgetown University, and the presentations have been transcribed and posted on the web: http://woodstock.georgetown.edu/publications/report/r-fea48.htm.

Commonweal also published an interview with Father Reese (6 Dec. 1996) about the book and the workings of the Vatican.

More recently, John Allen has published All the Pope’s Men, a book less concerned with the structures and functioning of the Vatican than with how the Vatican thinks, i.e. it’s institutional mentality. A description and excerpt may be found at: http://www.enotalone.com/article/5152.html.

Allen was interviewed by NPR regarding this book and others in 2004: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s1234675.htm.

Useful reviews include:

• Andrew Greely (National Catholic Reporter, 15 Oct. 2004)
• John Hughes (America Magazine, Oct. 2004)

In 1989, the same Thomas J. Reese, S.J., published Archbishop: Inside the Power Structure of the American Catholic Church. This book does for American ecclesiastical organization, finances, and politics what his book on Vatican accomplished for Rome. The entire book is available online.

For reviews, see: May 28, 1989 New York Times by Peter F. Drucker.

What about Church finances? Although the following article by Gabriel Kahn (Wall Street Journal, 7 April 2005) begins with a discussion of retail shopping in Vatican City, it goes on to discuss some of the general conditions of Vatican finances: http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/micro/2005/0407vatican.htm.