Catholic Bishops in the United States: Church Leadership in the Third Millennium by Stephen J. Fichter et al. (review)

"Today's U.S. bishops are an assemblage of paradoxes," write Fichter, Gaunt, Hoegeman, and Perl in their introduction to Catholic Bishops in the United States (3). They work longer hours, sleep less, and pray more than their similarly aged counterparts, while nonetheless reporting a high level of overall satisfaction with their lives. They occupy center stage in teaching the faith, interfacing with broader publics and making administrative decisions that shape the church into the future. And yet, amid this largesse in Catholic life, many bishops see themselves as pastors at heart: most at home administering the sacraments, presiding over the liturgy, and belonging to a community of Christians.

Catholic Bishops in the United States draws upon a mailed survey of all Latin Rite, Eastern Rite, auxiliary, and retired bishops (430 in total). Half of all U.S. bishops participated, including 71 percent of active Latin Rite ordinaries who constitute the book's main focus. One hundred and thirty-five closed-ended questions and two open-ended questions shape what unfolds across seven chapters: who bishops are (Chapter One); their daily lives (Chapter Two); their sources of satisfaction (Chapter Three); their challenges, hopes, and vocations (Chapter Four); their relations with priest and non-priest personnel (Chapter Five); how they govern (Chapter Six); and their engagement with social or political issues (Chapter Seven). A lamentably small subset of bishops (n=13, a 3 percent response rate) provided supplementary explanations through follow-up interviews, adding depth to otherwise two-dimensional survey findings.

Much of what we hear in this book is unsurprising, though that does not make it any less useful. A substantial proportion of bishops (four in ten) are retired. Active Latin Rite bishops average 65 years old. Most are U.S.-born, white, and Catholic educated. They lean "traditional" or "moderate" in their theological orientation. They watch Fox News and read the local paper alongside the National Catholic Register and America. They struggle to manage the needs of their diocese with too few priests and an increasingly diverse lay clientele. They resist closing parishes or relying too heavily upon non-priest models of parish leadership, neither of which square easily with the aforementioned priest shortage. They feel challenged by "secularism" and threats to religious freedom. Youth and the laity—including increasing leadership among women—serve as beacons of hope. Bishops are the frontlines and taglines of imperfect responses to the seemingly endless crisis of clergy sex abuse. The United States' 430 Catholic bishops are, in short, deeply Catholic, and deeply human. Maybe this is a surprising finding, after all.

One of the more intriguing aspects of this book is its willingness to place the above findings into context and conversation. Data are situated alongside studies of priests, parishes, and lay Catholics. And, taking a bold step further, the final section of the book brings "Commentaries" from four lay, religious, and ordained Catholics whose vantage points span academia, journalism, the episcopacy, and canon law. Such an exchange is typically set aside for post-publication reviews or author-meets-critics sessions. These commentaries make evident that the topic of Catholic Bishops in the United States is not benign but irresistibly normative. It is hard to talk about what bishops ARE without talking about what they OUGHT to be. The task of social science, including the social scientists who authored this book, is to gather empirical evidence without compromising scientific rigor. But that evidence is inevitably read through subjective filters, which lend their own conclusions. Such that bishops should more effectively collaborate with women. Or should watch less TV. Or should be more accessible to journalists. Or should engage in more critical self-reflection. And so on. Incorporating this kind of conversation into the book magnifies the challenge of doing good social science that matters in different...