Religion and Politics in Spain: The Spanish Church in Transition, 1962-96 by Audrey Brassloff (review)

book reviews317 orthodox, Neo-Scholastic theologians and Hessen struck this reader as oriented too much to politics and too little to theoretical issues. Indeed, there seems to be a basic inconsistency between the author's claim that his study does not pretend to offer a philosophical investigation of Hessen's work and his conclusion that "ultimately all decisions for and against Hessen are to be explained on the basis of partisanship" (p. 205). There are also a number of typographical errors. Daniel O. Dahlstrom Boston University Religion and Politics in Spain: The Spanish Church in Transition, 1962-96. By Audrey Brassloff. (NewYork: St. Martin's Press, Inc. 1998. Pp. xvii, 183. $65.00.) This brief but intense book examines one of the most crucial periods in the history of the Spanish Church in its relations with the Spanish state: the transition from nearly total union to near-independence. The interplay among the different factions in both church and state provides the dramatic tension that makes this a fascinating story. The author commands a wide use of sources which include the press, diocesan bulletins, speeches, and memoirs to form an analytical narrative that flows smoothly and holds the reader's interest. There is no other work in Spanish or English that covers this period so well, with the possible exception of William Callahan's forthcoming magisterial study of the Spanish Church in the last century. Brassloff's narrative begins in 1962 with the opening of the Second Vatican Council and its appeal for religious freedom and toleration so at variance with the Spanish Church's dominant position in the Franco regime. While the older clergy retained their memories of the persecutions of the Civil War of the 1930's and promoted the triumphalist vision of the Church, the younger clergy wanted to break away from the restraints of the 1953 concordat and were already showing their sympathy with the working-class movements. This became and remained one point of tension throughout the entire period, particularly the younger clergy's desire to reconcile the Church to a collectivist economic approach at variance with the capitalism of the older clergy and the Opus Dei technocrats. The new pope, Paul VI, supported the progressive faction and had a number of run-ins with the Franco regime, which by this time was arresting obstreperous clergy and imprisoning them in a special prison. Most important was the Pope's support of Cardinal Enrique y Tarancón, who became the proponent of "the extreme center" in bringing the factions of the Church together. The concordat was reviewed: the bishops wanted to maintain their privileges in education and clerical salaries while at the same time attempting to sever relations 318BOOK REVIEWS with a dying regime. But the tensions of the growing secularization of society that the universal church was facing showed up in Spain as well, along with disputes over the Church's approach to economic problems. By the early 1970's the clergy began to prepare for the change of regime as Franco weakened, and in fact the Church became one of the most important protagonists in bringing about democracy when the dictator died. But with the new democratic regime, the Church faced more difficult problems: it had taken a positive stand on human rights and freedom, but was now met with the pluralism of the new Spanish society. Furthermore, the new pope,John Paul II, became unhappy with the liberal stance of the Spanish clergy, and conservative churchmen in Spain came into leadership positions. The concordat of 1953 was replaced in 1979 with the "Partial Agreements," which retained some concessions for the Church, but the clergy had to face the secularistic reforms of the socialist government which dominated the 1980's and early 1990's. By the mid-1990's, Brassloff points out perceptively, the Church found itself caught in the problem of the Church everywhere, that of "the enemy without —postmodern secularisation—and the enemy within—an increasingly disaffected and pluralised membership." And with only thirty percent of the people practicing Catholics, she hopes that the solution will be "less institution and more community of believers." José M. Sanchez Saint Louis University American and Canadian...