Bright Promise, Failed Community: Catholics and the American Public Order

In Bright Promise, Failed Community, respected Catholic sociologist Joseph Varacalli describes how and why Catholic America has essentially failed to shape the American Republic in any significant way. American society has never experienced a 'Catholic moment' --the closest it came was during the immediate post-World War II era--nor is it now close to approximating one. Varacalli identifies as the cause of the current situation the 'failed community' of Catholic America: an ineffective and dissent-ridden set of organizational arrangements that has not succeeded in adequately communicating the social doctrine of the Church to Catholic Americans or to the key idea-generating sectors of American life. The 'bright promise' of Catholic America lies in the long and still developing tradition of social Catholicism. With a revitalized, orthodox, sophisticated community to serve as the carrier of Catholic social doctrine, Varacalli sees trends of thought that would propose viable alternatives to philosophies and ideologies that currently dominate the American public sphere-ones that would thus have a formidable impact on American society.

About the Author :
Joseph A. Varacalli is Professor of Sociology and director for the Center of Catholic Studies at Nassau Community College-SUNY. He is the Cofounder of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists and was formerly Editor-in-Chief of the Catholic Social Science Review.

Review :
[A] sobering book. . . balanced by a look at the ways in which restorationism is already leading us toward a genuine 'catholic moment' in America..... I am genuinely impressed with the important matters [Varacalli] consider[s], critically important, I would say, for the Church and the American polity.....--Walter Nicgorski, University of Notre Dame In this lucidly written, physically attractive, intellectually lively, and politically provocative volume, author Joseph A. Varacalli offers his explanation as to why the 'bright promise' of Catholic social teaching hasn't been widely accepted and received favorably in the American Republic....Whether or not one agrees with Varacalli's analysis, he has put forth a serious intellectual, moral, and religious challenge to those who defend the present situation in the Catholic Church of the United States.''''--Anthony Haynor, Seton Hall University No one has defined as clearly as Varacalli, precisely why the American Church has been relatively ineffective in shaping American public life. The bright promise of Catholic America lies in the long and still developing tradition of social Catholicism.This book is a remarkable contribution....--The Catholic Educator's Resource Center One will look in vain for a more trenchant analysis of why Catholic America, often ridden with dissent, has until now failed, in Professor Varacalli's words, to 'shape the American Republic in any significant way.' . . . Bright Promise, Failed Community: Catholics and the American Public Order is sociology at its best!!!!--Donald J. D'Elia