Pour une histoire du monde catholique au 20e siècle, Wallonie-Bruxelles: Guide du chercheur (review)

In some respects the contributors to this book are like a who's who of Catholic history at the time and since the split of the ancient university into two universities in the 1960's, the Dutch-language Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the French-language Université Catholique de Louvain. That indeed is the uniqueness of this book and also part of its problem.

What emeritus Louvain professor Edouard Boné has called a "monumental book" has six major parts that deal with: (1) Religious Life, (2) Catholics and Political Life, (3) Societal Problems, (4) Cultural Life, (5) Wars and Peace, and (6) World Missionary Activity. The twenty-six contributors to this book have amassed a phenomenal amount of information and facts, and their documentation is precise and impeccable. The book's subtitle, "guide du chercheur," is apt. Anyone researching twentieth-century Belgian history and the recent history of the Catholic Church in Belgium cannot ignore this book.

Throughout the twentieth century the Roman Catholic Church was by far the dominant religious group in Belgium; and to understand its impact on political, social, and cultural life the concept of "pillarization" is a useful tool. A network of affiliated organizations was created and based around the Church. This process began in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and it acquired a new impetus after World War I, as a consequence of the democratization of politics and society. A separate "Catholic world" was created with schools, youth movements, a trade union, employers' organization, cultural organizations, etc., etc. Each group (farmers, workers, self-employed) had its specific set of organizations and political representation within the Catholic Party. The cement that held all of these organizations together was the Catholic religion. The Church was the central focus of this Catholic pillar. The network of organizations was considered to be an essential part of the Church and its infrastructure. And historians must study and research this major element of Belgian history.

The current book constructed under the direction of Jean Pirotte (historian and professor at UCL- Université Catholique de Louvain) and Guy Zelis (director of ARCA: Archives du Monde Catholique) falls far short of what it could have been—an excellently researched and documented study of Catholicism in Belgium—because its goals are impossible to achieve. By focusing only on Wallonia (French-speaking Belgium) and Brussels they have fallen into an ideological hole that blinds them to a number of Belgian realities. By focusing only on Wallonia they have disengaged Catholic history from its Belgian context. Although there is today a State of Wallonia with its own president and its own parliament, just as there is a State of Flanders with its own president and its own parliament, the fact remains that it is impossible to make an objective and accurate historical assessment of the Catholic Church in the French-speaking part of Belgium without simultaneously considering Catholicism in the Flemish- speaking part of the country. The states of Wallonia and Flanders are recent political constructions created at the end of the twentieth century. A further difficulty I have with this unfortunate book is that the authors have tried to link Brussels with Wallonia. Although French is still heard more often than Dutch in Brussels, the city of Brussels is officially bi-lingual. To focus only on the French-speaking element of Brussels is terribly short-sighted. And finally Brussels is geographically located in the heart of the State of Flanders and the Flemish Parliament is located in Brussels.

With all due respect to the eminent historians who have contributed to this book, it...