Catholic Culture in the USA: In and Out of the Church (review)

The question of Catholic identity is a complicated one. As author John Portmann wonders, what do Chief Justice John Roberts, Mel Gibson, and Domino's Pizza mogul Tom Monahan have in common? Portmann pushes the question even further by considering the Catholic identity of what others have called lapsed Catholics, lazy Catholics, fake Catholics, pissed off Catholics, and cafeteria Catholics. He uses the term "cultural Catholics" to describe those who do not fully embrace a long list of "traditional Catholic" beliefs and rituals that range from accepting the reality of Satan to attending Mass. The goal of the book is to provide an "open-ended exploration" of this "inchoate community" as well as to "celebrate [their] faithfulness" (xviii). Chapters then examine the European origins of cultural Catholicism and its expression in rites of passage. A chapter on Catholic dissent is followed by one on Pope John Paul II's formal apology in 2000 for transgressions committed by Catholics. The final two chapters deal, respectively, with devotion to the Virgin Mary and Freud's theory of family romance. Staying a Catholic, Portmann argues in this final chapter, may "come down to viewing the Church as a family and, that said, to desires, conflicts, and repression of and in the family" (151).

Catholic identity certainly deserves a sustained analysis, but Catholic Culture in the USA is a jumble of disconnected snippets of history, literature, popular culture, and theology. One minute Portmann is describing medieval Eucharistic devotion in Orvieto and the next he is citing a 2006 Washington Post poll that revealed that a majority of Roman Catholics in Virginia favored gay marriage. While wide-ranging sources can strengthen an argument, Portmann makes no clear argument. He never slows down long enough to unwind what he actually thinks about the incredibly rich array of Catholic devotions, behaviors, and beliefs. Instead, in his postscript he asserts that cultural Catholics (who still seem to be a slippery bunch to this reviewer), "stand as the vanguard of the institutional church by pressing for broadening of opportunities to plug oneself into a sacred community" (162). Surprisingly, Portmann arrives at this conclusion without ever interviewing a single cultural Catholic. What criteria do real people use to call themselves a good Catholic or a bad Catholic or a pissed off Catholic? This is a frustrating book that sheds little light on the construction of Catholic identities.