94% of Catholics live outside the United States, which means...

... well, that people like Robert Blair Kaiser — who insists that “the Catholic Church has to change or it is going to end up as a museum piece" — have a problem. As John L. Allen, Jr., longtime Vatican correspondent, recently pointed out:

“Catholicism in the 21st century will be increasingly ‘upside down,’ driven by the experience and energy of the global South, meaning Africa, Asia and Latin America,” Allen said. “I want to tell the story of how this transition will reconfigure virtually everything inside Catholicism, by spending time in those places, figuring out what makes the churches there tick, and then teasing out how that will influence broader trends.” ...

“When I lecture, I’m fond of reminding American audiences that we represent just 6 percent of the global Catholic population -- 67 million out of 1.1 billion,” said Allen. “Out of both theological and sociological necessity, the future of American Catholicism is tied up with 94 percent of the Catholics in the world who live outside the United States. I want to try to bring that perspective to placing American Catholic stories in their broader context.”

But if Kaiser is to be believed, the Catholic Church should be American first, Kaiser-compatible second, and, if time allows, vaguely Catholic. But since 94% of Catholics aren't American, that sentiment has more than a faint scent of xenophobia and isolationism to it. And, of course, no open-minded, progressive Catholic who doesn't believe in most of what the Catholic Church teaches would ever be a xenophobe or an isolationist. Would they?

Comments

[Cristina A. Montes]

I always tell friends and family that no matter how bad the economy in the Philippines would become, I will never migrate because although things are changing here, you can practice the Catholic faith here like nowhere else in the world.

[Ed Peters]

JA has not missed a point, so much as he has not mentioned one (or several): yes, we have only 6% of the world's Catholics: but we also have 50% of the world Catholic colleges (at least in name), a huge percentage of the world's Catholic publications, virtually all of the world's international Catholic media (broadcast), pay for well over half of the world total missionary efforts, and I'm guessing cover about half of the Vatican's annual budget. We're not your typical 6%, by a LONG shot.

[Carl Olson]

Ed: Which goes a long ways to explain why Allen will be living in NYC and not, say, Central America or the Sahara. Sure, he's American, but I'm guessing that even if he were French he would opt for NYC over those other exotic but not so influential or heavily-networked places...

[Deacon John M. Bresnahan]

Ed is probably right about his statistics. And he is right about the "pull" this can bring. Maybe that is why so many Americans come across as arrogant know-it-alls around the world. It is ironic that so often when I read about how the rest of the world's Catholics had better change and become more like American liberal Catholics I am reminded of the old adage: "He who has the gold makes the rules." But I thought it was liberals who usually condemned the influence of "gold" in human affairs --political or religious. Ed never did say whether he thought this "pull" was good or bad or being used for good or bad.From his dig at so-called Catholic colleges, I presume he is skeptical-as I am-- about whether American Power in world Catholicism is a good thing the way things are going.

[Ed Peters]

Call me, the Master of Inscrutability. (It is better than some other things I've been called.)

[Ed Peters]

Seriously, I'm guessing that Curia, or at least the Italians in the Curia, pretty much see all Americans as the same (rich, mildly liberal, with poor taste in food & fashion, and politically dumb). But remember, this is the same group that thinks there's a single thing called "America" stretches from the Artic Circle to the Antartic. Ha! But just try suggesting to them that, say, Calabrians and Milanese are pretty much alike, and what the fireworks fly.

[A Simple Sinner]

Without wanting to sound bitter or vitriolic, I usually prefer to call most of the "Catholic Colleges" post Catholic" or colleges that have have a Catholic heritage or Catholic roots.

I attended a "Catholic College" for a year and found it to be rather secular.

[Souldrift]

At least Catholics here in the States remember what a "social contract" is, unlike many of their Protestant brethren.