Catholic journalist speaks on trends in the 21st-century Church

Editor's note: John Allen's talk on Nov. 9 drew a captive audience of students, staff and faculty, as well as the general public, to The O'Shaughnessy. You can watch his presentation on Podcast U.

John L. Allen, Jr., who will appear at St. Kate's on Tuesday, Nov. 9, in a visit sponsored jointly by St. Catherine University and the University of St. Thomas, is quick to note that his new book, The Future Church, is “descriptive, not prescriptive.” In other words, his objective is to document what he’s observed of the Catholic Church, not tell readers what to think. “I’m a journalist,” he says in his introduction, “not a priest, theologian, or academic.”

Yet Allen’s extensive work as a journalist — as a senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and the Vatican analyst for CNN — has allowed him to converse not only with priests and theologians, but also with countless Catholic laity around the world. Allen is known nationally as a prolific author on Church issues, and in The Future Church he focuses that knowledge on 10 trends he sees developing in the 21st-century Church.

What it Means
Allen’s perspective may be unique. Over the last decade, he has made reporting trips to 40 countries on every continent, occupying what he calls “a front row seat for many of the [Catholic world’s] recent dramas in a way that few other people have had the opportunity to do.” His research is truly egalitarian, pulling from interviews with the Vatican and noted Catholic scholars, in addition to reactions from thousands of readers of his online column “All Things Catholic.”

As a result, The Future Church reflects, in Allen’s words, a “wide cross-section of Catholic instincts and experiences.” The breadth of topics and information in The Future Church is enormous, addressing hot-button issues, such as abortion and end-of-life care, as well as new technology, the environment and the media, all as they relate to the Catholic Church in the coming years.

In order to make his book accessible to readers, Allen narrows his focus to 10 topics, which include “A World Church,” “The Biotech Revolution,” “Expanding Lay Roles,” “The New Demography,” “Pentecostalism” and “Islam,” among others. Hundreds of topics may inform these 10 trends, but Allen’s organization of the book makes it manageable for readers.

Individual chapters are broken down into summaries of what is happening currently in regards to a particular trend, followed by an analysis, “What it Means.” In the latter, Allen divides the section into a series of consequences, ranging from the near certain, the probable, the possible and, finally, the long shots.

For instance, in his chapter “Islam,” under near-certain consequences, Allen says it’s very likely that there will be an expansion of Islamic studies among Catholics, in response to the rapid worldwide growth of Islam. Allen also posits that long-shot consequence in the relationship between the two religions could be an Islamic-inspired terrorist attack on St. Peter’s, followed by radicalization of Christian opinion. Although sometimes terrifying, or even fantastic, the long-shot consequences are nevertheless fascinating, as one follows Allen’s conjectures to the brink of possibility.

A Human Touch
Throughout the book, Allen relies on dozens of short narratives about Catholics around the globe. Frequently chapters begin with an engaging anecdote, setting the stage for examination of the complex issues to follow.

In the chapter “Expanding Lay Roles,” Allen starts with a story about Maria Luisa Chumpitaz, a Catholic mother of nine in an impoverished region of Peru, who became a local legend by establishing a women’s clinic. The clinic was seen as a “regional model for female empowerment,” and the story provides a very human example of how lay roles in the Catholic Church may evolve over the course of the 21st century.

In another chapter, titled “Globalization,” Allen dichotomizes the lives of Mansi Arya and Asma Bando, two Indian teenagers from the burgeoning middle class and poverty-stricken lower class, respectively, in order to illustrate the disparity of resources in a rapidly changing country. Mansi, having access to education and modern technology, struggles with a problem until recently associated with Western teens — obesity, which is indicative of many Indians’ prosperity. Asma, her counterpart, like many others in her country, still struggles to feed her children. Allen uses both examples to establish a framework in which to discuss how the Catholic Church will engage in the social and political debates surrounding globalization.

It’s in the Numbers
Allen supplements examples such as these throughout with a wealth of data and historical context to inform his conclusions. Although he jokes that “one of the best arguments for being a journalist rather than an academic is that [he’s] not required to use footnotes,” The Future Church is exhaustively researched, with statistics supporting Allen’s observations every step of the way.

The final few pages comprise an extensive “Suggestions for Further Reading” list, where one sees immediately the scope of knowledge that went into Allen’s work.

The Future Church is simultaneously comprehensible and edifying. Allen considers the large, overlapping themes – such as the differences between Catholicism in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and United States’ role in global Catholic issues — and interweaves them with compelling accounts of those affected by these trends on an individual level.

In addition to his journalism, Allen also has written several books on Catholicism, including All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks (2004) and a biography of Pope Benedict XVI.

By Tom Vogel
Oct. 20, 2010

Contact Tom Vogel, (651) 690-6181

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