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In Focus: Catholicism and Civic Renewal
(from Woodstock Report No. 77, March 2004)
In the United States, there is emerging what some describe as a "civic renewal movement." Scholars speak of civic renewal as a process of "building community around public symbols of place, people, and ideas," explains John Farina, a Woodstock senior fellow. Key to this process is participation in public life by institutions as well as individuals.
What role can religious communities play in civic renewal? Could the Catholic Church in the United States, despite its well‑publicized trials and divisions, bring its intellectual and institutional assets to bear on this movement?
These are two of the basic questions being pursued by Farina through Woodstock's new project, Catholicism and Civic Renewal, which he directs. The project is already drawing interest among those concerned with the state of America's public life.
In February, Woodstock announced that it had received a $225,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to fund Catholicism and Civic Renewal. The funding will support studies of such questions as school vouchers and funding of faith‑based organizations. "Studying these and other issues will help us better understand Catholicism's place in America's civic, political, and cultural forums," said Farina.
A theologian, religious historian, and attorney, Farina notes that vigorous discussion of these questions is underway in the disciplines of sociology, law, and politics, but that these fields have yet to enter into a dialogue that includes theological and historical reflection.
The project will help facilitate such dialogues, through a series of seminars, one public conference, a three‑volume book series, a parish discussion program, and other research. All of these discussions will "employ historical, jurisprudential, and theological analyses in an effort to examine how faith shapes participation in efforts to renew society," says Farina.
In addition, the project will undertake an empirical study of young adult Catholics – the so‑called "millennial generation." The research will center on their attitudes toward religion and public life.
Basically, the aim of civic renewal is to promote participation in the workings of government as well as private and non‑profit institutions, and to forge collaboration among institutions including government and civil society. What part religion will play in this process is left to be seen, "in an age when clear lines between church and society have been replaced with indistinct, often shifting markers," Farina points out.
"We want to examine the role that religions are playing in the renewal of society," as well as in the shaping of public policy and priorities, he says. For example, "How should religion interact with the state? Are there limits to that? What are the models? What are the implications for our understanding of church and state, church and the world?"
The first seminars will begin this year, focusing on the three components of analysis undertaken by Catholicism and Civic Renewal – history, theology, and law. There will also be seminars for practicing lawyers, dealing with the legal component and specifically the religion clauses of the First Amendment.
Farina says he hopes these and other programs will contribute to Catholicism's understanding of how it may continue to "play an important part in shaping the culture of the United States."