| | |  Entertainment | Books | November 2009 
The Neo-Catholics: Implementing Christian Nationalism in America
 Clarity Press
November 19, 2009
This book examines how hawks and neo-conservatives in the Republican Party forged a nexus with powerful right wing Catholics that would change the face of American Catholicism, the structuring of social policy in the United States, and the American agenda in the world.
At the start of the 1980s, the Church’s social justice agenda had been committed to alleviating poverty, to demilitarization, to affirmative action, and to ending capital punishment—an agenda antipathetic to the Republican platform. By the end of the nineties, its justice agenda was marginalized, and political action was mobilized around concern for the dying and the unborn.
It would change not just the face of American Catholicism, but the face of social policy in the United States as it exists to this day.
Clermont's rigorous and extensively documented research examines how and why it was done.
POINTS OF INTEREST
• Catholics are 24% of the American population, almost three times the number of the second largest religious group, Southern Baptists. They are a significant force in the US educational system, with 150,000 Catholic school teachers teaching 2.7 million students. (A third of the US population was raised Catholic. Only a fourth will still self-identify themselves as such.)
• There is no other book which traces the history of the alliance between the GOP and the Holy See and weaves their mutual ambitions for power and money into the narrative.
• While much has been written about the neo-conservatives and the Christian fundamentalists, there is little material on the pivotal role played by individual powerful Catholics and American Catholicism in establishing this alliance
• This book addresses the profound shift in Catholic social concerns which the neo-Catholics were able to establish, and as such should be of great interest to socially concerned Catholics and their numerous organizations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: 1968 - “NEOCONSERVATISM” BEGINS
CHAPTER TWO: CATHOLICISM: THE NEOCONSERVATIVE RELIGION OF CHOICE
The Knights of Malta
Opus Dei
Opus Dei in America
The Vatican Bank
The Papacy: “A Perfect Vehicle”
CHAPTER THREE: HAWKS AND NEOCONS ALIGN
Ronald Reagan Materialized Out of Nowhere
The Nixon/Ford Administration
The Heritage Foundation
CHAPTER FOUR: FORMATION OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT
The Moral Majority
The National Conservative Political Action Committee
The Conservative Caucus
Building an American Nationalist Christian Theology
Abortion
Support for Israel
CHAPTER FIVE: TWO POPES NAMED JOHN PAUL
John Paul I And the Winner Is…Woytyla!
CHAPTER SIX: JOHN PAUL II AND LATIN AMERICA
Liberation Theology
Right-wing Retrenchment Under John Paul II
The Neoconservatives Confront Liberation Theology
John Paul II Tours Latin America
CHAPTER SEVEN: MAKING MOVIE ACTOR REAGAN “GOD’S MAN”
The 1980 Presidential Campaign
Foreign Backers
The Iran Hostage Crisis
Infesting the Reagan Administration
Deploying the Papacy Against the USSR
The US and the Holy See: Government to Government
Finding “Parallelism” on Abortion, Star Wars and Latin America
CHAPTER EIGHT: POPE JOHN PAUL II AND THE MEDIA
The Pope John Paul II Cultural Center
Fatima
Joaquin Navarro-Valls
CHAPTER NINE: THE NEOCON CHURCH
“Reform” of the Episcopate
The Last Hurrah for Progressive Prelates
The Neocon Pope
Obedience
Homosexuality
Education
The Neo-Catholic Episcopate
The 1996 Presidential Campaign
CHAPTER TEN: NEO-CATHOLIC PROTAGONISTS
Michael Novak
George Weigel
Rev. Richard John Neuhaus
Rev. C. John McCloskey III
Rev. Frank Pavone
Rick Santorum
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
The Catholic Task Force
The Neo-Catholic Campaign
Looking Ahead to 2004: Goodbye Evangelicals, Hello Catholics
CHAPTER TWELVE: POLITICAL PATRONAGE IN THE GUISE OF CHARITY
Charitable Choice
The Faith-Based and Community Initiative
Faith-based Legislation
Faith-based Discrimination in Hiring
Primary Purposes and End Goals
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE SEX ABUSE SCANDAL
The Philadelphia Grand Jury Report
History of the scandal
Republican and Vatican Responses
Neo-Catholic Responses
Targeting Boston’s Liberal Catholics
The John Jay Report
Anything But Mea Culpa
Blaming Predation on Homosexuality
An American (or Boston) “Problem”
Abuse Caused by “Culture of Dissent”
Clerical Sexual Abuse is “History”
Victims Are In This For The Money
And Besides, Social Programs Will Suffer
Targeting Priests But Not Other Professions
But NOT Celibacy
Officially, Homosexuals Are the Scapegoats
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
The War in Iraq
The US Neo-Catholics Tout “Just War” Doctrine The Pope Strives Tirelessly for Peace
The Neo-Catholics: War Is Beyond the Competence of Religious Authority
Purging the Vatican Doves
The Neo-Catholic 2004 Campaign
The Attack on John Kerry
The Vatican intervenes for Bush
Republican Catholic Outreach Deal Hudson: The “Most Influential” Catholic in Washington
Vatican Grants Knighthood to Pro-choice Official
Countdown to Election Day
Kerry Wins …
Bush Wins the Catholic Vote
Neo-Catholics on Torture
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: POPE BENEDICT XVI
From “God’s Rottweiler” to Opus Dei’s Pope
The Heart of the Matter: Money
Relations With Other Religions
Jews
Muslims
Europe as Christendom, and Vice Versa
A Singular Status at the UN
Vatican Overtures to Russia and China
The Church’s Relation With Italy
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: BENEDICT XVI VISITS THE US
US Donations to the Vatican
Navigating the Diplomatic Thicket
Hosting the Vicar of Christ
Addressing Sex Abuse and Immigration
Assessments of Benedict’s Visit
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Summation of the Bush Presidency
Iraq
Torture and Deaths of Detainees
Deaths on the Border
The New Poverty
Abortions
The Campaign Begins
Bush Visits Benedict—Again
Communion Denial Strikes Again
Putting Abortion Back On Center Stage
The National Conventions
Sarah Palin
Christian National Initiatives
The Post-Convention Campaign
The Catholic Vote Proves To Be Elusive
EPILOGUE
Mission Accomplished
Christian National Failures
A New US/Vatican Relationship
The Poisoning of US Religion
The Future
Betty Clermont is holder of a certificate in theological studies. As a former employee of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, she has had an opportunity to view the institution from the inside out. She has previously reported for Atlanta Progressive News, contributed editorials to Atlanta Latino and written for Voice of the Faithful
concerning the sex-abuse scandal.
Clarity Press, Inc. is an independent publisher on global issues and alternatives. To view Clarity Press, Inc. current titles click here. |
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