Research On Religion » papacy

Ken Kollman on Church Centralization

tonygill — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 09:00:20 +0000

Why do institutions that begin as federations, with power located in (semi-)autonomous units, have a tendency to concentrate power in a central executive authority over time? Prof. Ken Kollman, professor of political science at the University of Michigan and author of Perils of Centralization, discusses his theory of institutional centralization, which he has applied to such entities as the United States, the European Union, and General Motors. For our purposes, though, we concentrate on his theory’s application to the Roman Catholic Church over the past century and a half.

Our conversation begins with a discussion of how Prof. Kollman became interested in this project and how it came to include the Catholic Church as an important case study. He mentions having examined a number of different cases including the Roman Empire and the Iroquois Nation, but explains how he came to concentrate on the US, EU, GM, and the Catholic Church. Tony praises Ken’s examination of the Catholic Church using the tools of political science given that few scholars apply those theoretical and conceptual tools to one of the world’s oldest governing institution. We ruminate about the comparisons of apples and oranges a bit. Ken also provides a bit of a confessional background regarding his own Catholic faith and his brother’s choice to become a priest.

Ken then lays out his general theory of executive centralization. He starts with federated units and then shows how an overarching governing institution designed to coordinate some of these lower-level and autonomous units begins to build a bureaucracy, absorbs the power to define authoritative relationships and decision-making, and then amasses resources that makes it difficult to wrest authority back from this central executive. Ken leads us through five stages of this process beginning with the assent given by the authorities at lower levels to have more decision-making occur at a higher level. This leads to a situation of representative centralization wherein local level authorities have some say in decisions at the center and the center begins to become the locus of greater decision-making. The third (and critical) phase is that of partisanship. This is not about an ideological partisanship based upon world views, but instead is a sorting out process where subunit representatives who have authority at the federal level develop a set of interests that are apart from the interests of those at the local level. Tony brings up the issue of career trajectories of individuals within organizations. As some lower-level authorities may aspire to higher-level office at some point, they have an incentive to allow greater concentration of power at the upper level. Ken agrees that this is an important part of the dynamic process. This all leads to the fourth and fifth stages of executive centralization and “lock-in,” wherein the central executive gains the ability to define the terms of authoritative relationships and through the agglomeration of resources makes it difficult for the process of centralization to be reversed. While decentralization is not impossible at this time, Ken likens the end process to gravity wherein it does take considerable effort to escape the pull. We also talk about the role that various crises play in catalyzing this process.

We then turn to the case of the Roman Catholic Church. Tony notes how well Ken’s theory fits with the Church during its first four centuries, particularly around the time of the Edict of Milan and the First Council of Nicaea. Ken mentions how Church history also shows these ebbs and flows over the course of the medieval era as well. Nonetheless, Prof. Kollman’s research attention hones in on the latter half of the 19th century forward. Following he Wars of the Italian States and the rapid decrease in secular ruling authority exercised by the Vatican, we follow how ecclesiastical authority is increasingly centralized in the papacy and Curia. Ken points out the critical importance of Vatican Council I and how the need to come to terms with increasing modernization and liberal political tendencies in Europe led to more authority being invested in the Curia. Not surprisingly, this is the era where papal infallibility is promoted as an idea of governance. We move throughout history and examine whether Vatican Council II represented a reversal of papal authority. While in many ways an opening to the modern world, we learn that although John XXIII may have been favorable to decentralization within the Church, Paul VI came under pressure from a series of conservative bishops to preserve the central authority of the papacy. This fits well with the notion of “partisanship” and the career interests of those who have risen in the ranks of the religious hierarchy.

We finish off with some thoughts about whether, and how, decentralization might take place. Tony brings up various movements such as Opus Dei and liberation theology that appear to seek greater autonomy at local levels. He also details the story of Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian theologian who was censured by the Vatican for his radical views on church decentralization. Ken ruminates about the possibility that Pope Francis will change the direction of institutional centralization. While pointing out that Francis has been trying to clean up some problems within the Curia, he does not expect to see much of a decentralization of authority any time soon. Recorded: January 21, 2015.

James Felak on Pope Pius XII, the Wartime Pontiff

tonygill — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:00:24 +0000

Imagine that you were just appointed the head of the Catholic Church at the outset of the most devastating war ever known to mankind. Further imagine that this war was raging on the continent in which you were headquartered and that you were living in the capital city of one of the primary belligerents of this war. How would you respond knowing that millions of innocent civilians — both Catholic and Jewish — were being slaughtered outright? We take up the life and times of Pope Pius XII, who ascended to the papacy on the eve of Germany’s invation of Czechoslovakia and Poland, with Prof. James Felak, professor of history at the University of Washington. We start out with a brief examination of how popes choose their names and then dive into the nature of the controversy surrounding Pius XII. Interestingly, Prof. Felak notes that Pius XII was widely lauded for his courageous actions during World War II and that the controversy over his seeming “inaction” only emerged in 1963 following the release of Rolf Hocchuth’s play The Deputy. It was reawakened again in 1999 following another book accusing Pius XII of being “Hitler’s pope.” We roll back history a bit to examine the early life of Eugenio Pacelli and his pathway to the “Throne of St. Peter.” We then spend significant time examining the wartime context in which Pius XII found himself in so as to better understand the diplomatic manuevering of the Vatican at this time. Prof. Felak notes how the pope tended to keep his criticism of war attrocities at a general level so as not to endanger the Church in various nations, nor to threaten some of the activities of grassroots Catholic activists in places such as Germany and Poland. This discussion also entails an examination of how the Church functions institutionally with a realization that clergy, religious orders and lay members have a certain degree of autonomy from the Holy See. Following this discussion, we then look at the other proclamations and activities of Pius XII on issues such as medical ethics and how he laid the foundation for the Second Vatican Council. Prof. Felak finishes with some general observations about the legacy of Pius XII and what we can take away from his tenure to better understand our contemporary times. Recorded: July 3, 2012.

Jon M. Sweeney on The Pope Who Quit

tonygill — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:00:36 +0000

Winners never quit, and quitters never win. But does this old adage apply to the papacy in the 13th century? Independent scholar Jon M. Sweeney, editor-in-chief at Paraclete Press and author of numerous books about Christian history, joins us to discuss the life and times of Peter Morrone, who became Pope Celestine V’s in 1294. This discussion is based on his well-written and lively book, The Pope Who Quit: A True Medeival Tale of Mystery, Death, and Salvation. Celestine’s reign as the head of the Catholic Church lasted a short fifteen weeks before he voluntarily retired from the papacy, the only pope ever to do so willingly. After a brief diversion discussing Jon’s own personal religious background, we dive into the early life of Peter Morrone and trace his path from child in a large, relatively poor family to his life as a spiritual hermit. Despite his hermetic lifestyle, Jon notes that one of the ironies of Morrone’s life is that people were drawn to him, leading him to create and establish his own monastic branch of the Bennedictine Order. Peter Morrone’s life is one of venturing forth into the world followed by retreat, balancing contact with the ecclessia spiritualis (spiritual church) and the ecclesia carnalis (material church). Indeed, Peter’s life represents the ongoing tension within Christianity between those who saw it as a higher spiritual calling and those who used the offices of the Church for personal power and financial gain. After discussing how popes were chosen back in the 13th century, Jon then details the fascinating story of how Peter Morrone was selected for the highest office of the Church. And it all began with a simple letter complaining about the process of selecting popes. At 84 years of age, it appears as if Peter Morrone was a “safe choice” for pope that could buy the College of Cardinals a bit more time to negotiate between feuding families seeking the papal office. Jon then covers the various “oddities” and mistakes of Celestine V’s short tenure, including a plenary indulgence and the insistence that he live in a humble wooden hut within the walls of the palatial Castle Nuovo, built by Charles II in Naples and the building that housed the Holy See during this time. With the help of the interesting, and perhaps maniuplative, Cardnial Gaetani (of the Orsini) family, Celestine V is given a “legal out” from the throne of St. Peter, paving the way for Gaetani to become Pope Boniface VIII. We end the story in mysterious fashion with Friar Peter being arrested by Boniface on his way back to spiritual seclusion. After two years of imprisonment, Peter Morrone died at the age of 86. But was it murder? And we conclude with Jon’s thoughts on how this interesting tale of a rather obscure pope tells us about our contemporary religious landscape. Recorded: April 3, 2012.