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Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

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Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way MP3 CD – MP3 Audio, March 15, 2007

by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (Author), Renee Raudman (Narrator)

3.7 40 ratings

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For too long the subject of religion has been politicized by the Right and largely ignored by the Left, as American churches have become increasingly more concerned with what people do with their bodies than with their souls. Now Kathleen Kennedy Townsend issues a spiritual call to arms to all those who feel that churches in America today-Catholic and Protestant alike-are FAILING AMERICA'S FAITHFUL Kennedy Townsend recalls what it was like to grow up as a member of a prominent Catholic family at a time when both America and the Church were undergoing a revolutionary transformation. She shows how today's churches, allied with the political right, have created a new social agenda and have become obsessed with fighting legislative battles about personal and private issues, while the neediest of our country are forgotten. But opposition to this distortion of Christian traditions has been growing. Powerful and provocative, this book demonstrates how Americans can reclaim their religious traditions and transform their churches, their lives, and this very nation. "Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is a woman of passion, integrity, and faith. Her Christian witness requires her to remember and act on Jesus' repeated instructions to love our neighbors, care for the poor, and repair the breaches among us. She makes a compelling case for those who share her faith to do the same." -President William Jefferson Clinton

Language

English
Publisher

Tantor Audio
Publication date

March 15, 2007
Dimensions

5.3 x 0.6 x 7.4 inches
ISBN-10

1400154103
ISBN-13

978-1400154104
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Renée Raudman interprets in an easy-to-listen-to voice." ---AudioFile

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tantor Audio; MP3 - Unabridged CD edition (March 15, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1400154103
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1400154104
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.21 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.3 x 0.6 x 7.4 inches

Customer Reviews:
3.7 40 ratings

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3.7 out of 5

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Mary Naughton

Great Book!

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2007

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I loved this book so much, I gave copies to as many people as I could, especially the young adults in my family. Kathleen Townsend is clearly a committed believer, whose values have been formed by her Catholic faith, yet she has wonderful, clear insight into the failings, timidity, and missed opportunities of all the Churches and Church leaders in recent years. I wish I could give copies to every Catholic Bishop and Protestant Church leader in the country. Buy it, read it, and then give it to your Pastor!

16 people found this helpful

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George Fulmore

Good Insights from a Catholic Insider

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2008

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I think that this is a really good book; although, I think it fails to reach much in the way of a convincing conclusion.

What makes the book a good read, I think, is in the insight of the author from her personal experience of being raised within a very Catholic and very political family. Her thesis seems to be that prominent positions taken by Catholic and Protestant churches today are primarily in line with "wedge" issues of modern American politics, when they could/should "be the place to encourage, nurture and promote...moral action."

O.K., I think that most of us can agree with that. The problem is that the book is never convincing as to how to get Churches in that direction. At the end of this review, I'll give you what I think is the answer that she should have reached. Having been raised in a family of politicians, it would have been an obvious conclusion. But back to the book.

Townsend's journey in the Catholic Church is personal, of course, but it can also be seen as historic and significant. As the oldest child of Bobby Kennedy, she grew up in a world that was fully integrated with the Catholic Church. This perspective is what she says gives her ability to tell us that the Church of her childhood has moved away from classic social justice goals to those that reflect more immediate political goals, like on abortion and gay marriage. (And, in case we think that Catholic politicians who are taking heat for a pro-choice stance are a recent phenomenon, she tells us of her personal experience when her pastor "criticized me from the pulpit for my opinion on abortion when I was running for Congress in 1986." 1986! How's that for some historical insight! That was 22 years ago, and this stuff is still going on!)

She also grew up in a world of politics, liberal politics. And, in today's world, she says that the secular political world of social conservatives "has been a disaster for the poor, the immigrant, and other disempowered groups, abandoned by the very government that should be protecting them." Under this conservative political leadership, she says, "Living the moral life has come to mean something like: `Don't have too much sex, gay sex, extramarital sex, premarital sex; don't have abortions; don't look at porn; don't demean marriage."

And back to the Church, she adds, "My own Catholic Church has allowed its social agenda to be trumped by an all-consuming focus on contraception, abortion, same-sex marriage, and embryonic stem-cell research - none of which are mentioned in the Gospels." And in a later section, she says, "My Church is building walls to keep the evil world out."

In between, she attempts to make the case that the Catholic Church of her childhood was better: "(It) dealt with issues at the core of the Gospel - suffering, injustice, sickness and poverty." But was it really? Or was that more of an internal perspective of a child growing up in an atmosphere that was also very political in the secular world?

In fact, she admits that most of the values that she learned from the Church she did not get from the Church, itself, but via the nuns at her schools and from her extremely devoted Catholic mother and grandmother. She tells us that the faith she learned taught her not to give comfort to the comfortable, but to make the world a better place.

But, as she grew older, more complex positions emerged, such as "that there were terrible people who did terrible things." And that "evil had been our enemy in World War II." And, later on, that, "Godless Communism" became an enemy. Then, in 1968, the Pope formalized the Church's position condemning birth control, with the implication that a host of enemies attacked the Church because of this doctrine. Citing her personal disagreement with the position, she concludes that her Church "cared more about its tradition than its flock."

But has the Catholic Church really ever been any better? Could it be that Townsend's views are based on naïve childhood perceptions? Because, in its defense, in the Catholic Church today, the Gospels are read to parishioners from the Ambo, week after week. These are the very words attributed to Jesus, such as in the Beatitudes, which are about as passionate for the poor and disempowered as it can get. In contrast, in the Catholic Church that Townsend grew up in, before Vatican II, the Mass was all in Latin, and Catholics, in general, did not read the Bible.

Today, in Catholic Churches everywhere, the message that she calls for - "service to others can be the path to satisfaction and salvation" - can be heard with regularity. But is it really promoted, or is it just given lip service within an organization that is really a business more than not? Can THAT be the issue?

Back to the book, she has several chapters on Protestant churches, telling us that these churches began to "retreat from their progressive traditions" after the divisive battles of the 1960's with civil rights and the women's movement. Later, she tells us that Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. President who spoke of his open relationship with Jesus. But she does not tell us much more about his Presidency.

To wrap this up, there is a wealth of information to be gained by reading the book for anyone interested in perceptions of and opinions on the American Catholic Church from a real insider. And how she gets to her negative positions on the current status of the Catholic Church are of note, for sure. But now what? What can she or anyone else really do about it? As she says, "In a lot of ways, the Church is no different from any other large institution. It can be slow to adapt to change. It's reluctant to admit its own errors. And the people within the hierarchy jealously guard their own power."

That is where she takes us, as we enter the last chapter that talks about hope and love and "a spiritual rebirth in America." In it, she says, "the power is in the hands of individual worshipers - who can and should try to reform their congregations and the larger institutions." But she tells us of earlier Catholic internal reform movements - Call to Action and the Voice of the Faithful - that we know have not made much of any impact on the direction of the Church. But she warns, "The stakes are high if the Church refuses to reform...." And ends with the plea, "We can join with others to reinvigorate our commitment to the common good....Such a new Great Awakening would require us to change the way we lead our private and public lives."

But this is where I beg to differ. What has the Catholic Church to lose by staying pat? As long as it has money and power what is at stake? And how in the world does one change an institution from the outside if it does not want to be reformed? It would be like telling the Ford Motor Company what kind of car we want them to build in an era when the company was making money and feeling like it was doing just fine.

No, this wise lady who comes from a political family and upbringing does not see the light within the tunnel: The only way that the Catholic Church is going to reform is to reform itself! And this simply needs to come from the inside. It simply needs to come from heroic Priests and Bishops who build political alliances that change the Church despite its resistance to do so. This can be done, and it can be done in our lifetimes.

But this is all for another book. The last page of "Failing America's Faithful" has been closed.

Again, I really like the book. I find it full of valuable insight from a real insider of the Catholic Church and the Kennedy family. I highly recommend it.

5 people found this helpful

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JB

Anti Protestant - Anti Republican - Predictable

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2007

Sadly the title and subtitle are misleading. She should have titled it: Non-Catholics failing Non-Catholic churches: How Today's Non-Catholics and Republicans, and conservatives are failing everyone, while Catholics, liberals and the Kennedy's are not failing anyone.

How sadly predictable of a Kennedy to present a viable, valid and reasonable title, but then allow the obvious Kennedy resentment of anyone who does not idolize them - their politics and religion and "dynasty", spill over and reduce the book to a diatribe of pro-Kennedy, pro-liberal, pro-catholic mush.

Townsend would have better served the public as a whole if she would have been more objective and balanced.

If you love the Kennedy's and liberalism and catholics - you'll love this book. Otherwise - if you think that the solutions to the country's problems can be found elsewhere than the tired Kennedy self-grandizing politics of the past fifty years, then you might want to read something informed, intellectual, scholastic and true - like a study of South Park.

6 people found this helpful

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Evelyn H. Vondran

Failing America's Faithful by Katheen Kennedy Townsend

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2011

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Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has produced an enlightening and empowerig book for women who are eager for proper recognition of their role in the church. The Catholic Church has been male dominated for too long and unfortunately present policies are reverting back to pre-Vatican days

The author is to be commended for her forthright stand in interpreting problems in the 21st century that involve religious convictions particularly with women's concerns.

3 people found this helpful

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Athanasius

Remarkably Pointless

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2007

True enough, I didn't expect much from Mrs. Townsend (whom no one considers an intellectual heavyweight). But even with that proviso in mind, I was disappointed. Mrs. Townsend sees herself, with an extraordinary lack of clarity and perception, as an acute political scientist, philosopher, and theologian. She is none of these things. Rather, she comes across as rather dull, and thoroughly unjustified in her egotistical self-appraisal. In particular, she knows absolutely nothing about religion, certainly not about the Faith she claims as her own -- Catholicism. Yeah, she's Catholic all right -- about as Catholic as my kitchen floor. Her diluted, Protestantized, post-Vatican II view of the one true Church can be described with a variety of pejoratives, but "boring" is the one that comes most immediately to mind. Oh, these pro-priestess, pro-abortion "Catholics" are delusional and tedious beyond description! Heretics are a threat, to be sure, but that doesn't mean that they're not silly. They most certainly are, and Mrs. Townsend is anything but an exception to that rule.

Perhaps, however misguided, Mrs. Townsend's heart is in the right place -- I can't judge that. All I can do is advise you to keep your money in its right place -- your pocket.

36 people found this helpful

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Wayne

A Powerful Piece of Soul-Searching!

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2015

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I am not a Catholic but I found this book to be a powerful piece of soul-searching! I think the book helped to distill the fundamental beliefs of, what I feel to be, any concept of true religion and the positive messages offered within. The book is thought-provoking and honest in its intent. A great read!

One person found this helpful

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