Although I mainly quoted Allen yesterday about what is seen as a Catholic-Calvinist America divide, I would suggest far more is at issue here. And again, that Allen’s very fine effort can help to stimulate our cultural imagination in many unexpected ways – especially for those of us in the Anglophone world, who have little or no experience of cultures not of Protestant and secular heritage.
To illustrate, I note what Allen writes of Italian society:
“Despite proud assertions of its identity as uno loco laico, a lay republic [Italy] has never really separated Church and State …
The Church remains in a position to move votes … There isn’t a candidate in Italy who would say no to a picture with the Pope … For every issue that comes up in Italian national life, one of the first thing journalists will do is seek out the opinion of a member of the College of Cardinals …
Italian culture gives clerics every reason to conclude that nothing is outside their purview … Their opinions on every conceivable issue, from cloning to tomorrow’s soccer matches are solicited and weighed with great seriousness …
On the cultural front, Italy is many ways still an intact Catholic society in which the Church’s liturgical seasons still shape the annual calendar and in which Catholic custom’s and vocabulary are part of the ordinary public consciousness.
People in Italy know when it’s Lent, they know when it’s Advent … Cab drivers can explain the difference between Franciscans and Dominicans … Catholicism is in the marrow of the place.”
Certainly my own experience of Catholic Ireland, mirrors Allen’s picture of Italy. Although Ireland rapidly secularises, and there is bitter opposition to Catholicism in certain quarters – this bitter opposition exists in large part **because** Catholicism still counts as a major cultural force.
People can get very worked up about the Church here – precisely because this is still a culture in which the Church can mount an effective critique of the secularist and materialist capitalist shadow.
It may boggle many a secular mind to realise this is a country in which, just over ten years ago, Playboy magazine and divorce were still illegal. (Divorce was legalized by referendum in 1995 – but 49.7% voted against it. Before that the legalisation of divorce would have clearly been contrary to the will of the people.)
Now in speaking of ‘effective critique of the secularist and materialist capitalist shadow’ – I do not wish anyone to suppose I endorse every single aspect of Catholic culture. Nor that I think that Catholicism is without considerable shadow.
In a fallen world, any institution with a two thousand year embracing 1.1 billion people – nearly one sixth of humanity – will clearly cast a considerable shadow. It is my contention however that this Catholic Church is also casting far, far more light and hope, than many people will be able to credit.
And the incapacity to credit this, will be particularly true in countries where there is little Catholic tradition – and I fear often almost no sense of **any cultural alternative whatsoever** to constructing a society around an increasingly shallow media world – rooted less and less in tradition and thinking and more and more on a corporate agenda of keeping us all ‘entertained’.
I know that the picture here of highly Catholicised societies sends chills down many a spine. But I wish that the power and manipulation wielded by the Corporate Priesthood sent far, far more of a shudder - a cold shudder - down our collective spine.
Now, in 1920 Rudolf Steiner once read out a sentence which illustrated, he said, the consequences of materialistic education and suggested that if we were really, truly awake, we would hear these kinds of things – and feel as though a viper has stung us! If this webblog should lead any of us to **feel** more acutely the viper’s sting of secularist materialism, it will not have been in vain …
Be that as it may, I hold Allen’s effort in the highest regard. For raising awareness of cultural alternatives and stimulating imagination – Allen’s is a book that deserves to be deeply listened to. It is also a very worthy effort on other fronts, as well. As I will indicate in hopefully concluding this extended review tomorrow.
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