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The Good Enough Catholic: A Guide for the Perplexed
Many Catholics face a how can one be faithful to traditions, yet remain open to new discoveries, both about yourself and Catholicism?
In The Good Enough Catholic, Paul Wilkes plumbs the hunger in Catholic souls for a relationship with God and a spiritual life, and boldly confronts the controversial issue of Church authority. After each chapter, there is an invitation to put into practice what has been explored through a rich mixture of doctrine, history, current thinking, and the personal experiences of "good enough" Catholics across America.
With this book, Wilkes beckons us to look to the essence of our religion for the guidance and strength to live lives filled with spiritual transcendence.
In The Good Enough Catholic, Paul Wilkes plumbs the hunger in Catholic souls for a relationship with God and a spiritual life, and boldly confronts the controversial issue of Church authority. After each chapter, there is an invitation to put into practice what has been explored through a rich mixture of doctrine, history, current thinking, and the personal experiences of "good enough" Catholics across America.
With this book, Wilkes beckons us to look to the essence of our religion for the guidance and strength to live lives filled with spiritual transcendence.
384 pages, Paperback
First published October 21, 1996
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May 18, 2024
A MORE OPEN AND ‘ACCEPTING’ APROACH TO CATHOLICISM IN AMERICA
Paul Wilkes (a Catholic layman) wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, “With a good measure of hope and even more humility, I want to propose a new approach to living the life of a Catholic today---The Good Enough Catholic… we Catholics have been witnesses to perhaps the most sweeping revolution in church history. Once we were required to follow strict laws obediently… Suddenly, we were given license to employ our intellects and consciences in reaching decisions about our lives, our beliefs, our approach to God. The event that caused this upheaval … was, of course, the Second Vatican Council… (Pg. xi)
“Remarkably, the church---virtually overnight… opened itself to diverse approaches to God, announcing that the world was no longer to be piously shunned…. With such a recent and fundamental reorientation… it is hardly surprising that so many Catholics today find themselves conflicted on how, and whether, to live as a Catholic… In the midst of the social and religious turmoil that surrounds us, many Catholics simply walked away in frustration or marginalized themselves from their faith..” (Pg. xii-xiv)
“It is the premise of this book… that there is a Catholicism---a new kind of Catholicism---that is exactly right for this spiritually hungry, morally unsure, and self-reflective time… I believe that there are ways to live out … a Catholicism offering the freedom both to participate in its life and to disagree genuinely with some of its ways… I am a member of that vast majority of Catholics… who find themselves at odds with certain teachings and practices of the church, but are unable to stay away from what has been the single most formative influence in our lives.” (Pg. xv-xvi)
He says, “It is no longer good enough for modern-day Catholics to follow Jesus Christ without knowing who it is they are following---or simply because the church says to do so… By honestly trying to know and understand him, however imperfect and tentative our efforts may be, the Good Enough Catholic shows Jesus great honor and respect… If we begin to honestly seek the power and the presence of the man, something will begin to happen… We will receive counsel to make wise decisions, strength to help us meet both daily trials and major adversaries… The Good Enough Catholic we want to be will begin to emerge.” (Pg. 17-18)
He observes, “Happily for modern Catholics, the mass we attend today… has more in common with the communal gatherings of early Christians than with the Latin Mass that many of us knew as children. In these not-so-long-ago days… the priest seemed to be performing a ritual of such secrecy that his words were not to be uttered by the likes of us. He SAID mass. Today, we… communally CELEBRATE the mass… The priest presides at this festive, holy occasion.” (Pg. 27-28)
He explains, “In the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, only baptized Catholics… ‘in the state of grace’ were judged worthy to receive the Eucharist. This… implied that there was no mortal sin, unconfessed … Of course, the sacrament of reconciliation is available… [A]t the beginning of every mass, there is a time for a personal examination of conscience…. This reflection on ‘what we have done and what we have failed to do’ is a straightforward … weekly review of our lives. But Good Enough Catholics should know this: No human law, no private or public sin---NOTHING can prevent you from receiving the Eucharist if you earnestly desire this communion with God…” (Pg. 34-36)
He continues, “As for those who might be considered ineligible to receive the Eucharist because of where the church now draws the line concerning marriage and divorce, realize that there is an intense debate going on within the church about this issue. There are bishops who say that divorce does not prohibit a person from receiving; there is an official church teaching that claims the opposite. You, Good Enough Catholic… can make that decision.”” (Pg. 36)
He says of Penance/Reconciliation, “Many Catholics still recall the rigors of weekly confession: the long lines, the stiff penances, and the horror dying with a mortal sin staining their souls---which meant, they feared, a direct plunge into the eternal fires of hell. But even in those days, the purifying effect of confession could be quite beneficial… But for … too many---those sensations were often drowned in the raging seas of negativity and guilt… Vatican II recaptured the spirit of the sacrament that had been corrupted over the centuries… What is emphasized instead is a conversion of heart, an inner disposition to do better in the future.” (Pg. 49) He suggests, “the Good Enough Catholic is summoned to a different level of consciousness---to be a certain kind of person; a person who struggle to do what is right, and in failure is ready to make reparation and try harder next time… But we realize that even in our sinfulness, we are already forgiven---just for the asking.” (Pg. 104)
He explains “we must also deal with the reality of divorce. On the one hand, divorce is a failure to live up to our marriage commitment; yet, like all our failures---if we believe in the redemption promised by Jesus---it holds the possibility of forgiveness, healing and enhancement… we must also consider the whole issue of church annulments---and, for that matter, the possibility of a subsequent marriage.” (Pg. 132) He continues, “Regardless of the sternness of official church teaching, the Catholic divorce rate… is little different from the divorce rate of the rest of America… Meanwhile the divorced---once the exceptions to the rule, and pariahs within the Catholic community---are everywhere… So many of them want to be Catholics… A failed marriage hasn’t killed their desire to participate in parish life, to receive the sacraments… If anything, the experience of divorce has … intensified their awareness of the need for God’s forgiveness…” (Pg. 142, 145)
He observes, “The issue of annulments may be the cause of more pain than any other Catholic procedure today… there are millions of decent, otherwise-believing Catholics who feel they are outside the church because while they have obtained a civil divorce from a marriage, they had not obtained an annulment… many Catholics have found the annulment process a final and healing end to a marriage… Still, a far larger number of Catholics say no to annulments… If they remarry, it will be outside the church. And they may or may not practice their Catholicism, held off at arm’s length… by church teaching… Some dioceses make annulments extremely difficult… Some priests are openly welcoming to the divorced, regardless of formal annulment proceedings … Others make life uncomfortable for divorced folks… Ultimately, it is incumbent upon divorced Good Enough Catholics not to let the rigid or insensitive deter them from their spiritual quest…” (Pg. 150-152)
He recounts, “In the afterglow of Vatican II… a much-heralded commission was called into being by Pope Paul VI… Excitement within Catholicism grew when word leaked out that the vast majority of the commission’s members---by a margin of fifty-four to four---were recommending that the church modify its strict ban against the use of artificial birth control devices… The long-awaited papal encyclical ‘Humanae Vitae’… was ultimately released in 1968… [It] reconfirmed the church’s stand, starkly condemning any means of artificial birth control… Those who used … such birth control methods committed such a grievous sin that they could be excommunicated and condemned to eternal damnation in hell… A church that had not listened to its people on this crucial issue was not a church that millions of Catholics around the world would henceforth be willing to heed… Study after study has shown that ‘Humanae Vitae’ stands as one of the least-obeyed church teachings of modern times… American Catholics went on to use artificial birth control measures, and today use them as frequently and as routinely as the population at large…” (Pg. 167, 170-171)
He concludes, “there are still a significant number [of Catholics] who are haunted by their seeming disobedience. They ask the question: Can I still be in the church and receive the sacraments while practicing birth control? There is a significant body of theological thought, as well as mountains of pastoral experience, to support you in a resounding ‘yes.’ This said, the Good Enough Catholic must still regard every sexual act as having the POSSIIBLITY of procreation… for married couples, conscious use of birth control … shows that you look at your family as a whole… If there are circumstances in which conceiving another child would be detrimental to the good of the children already born, then you need to respect those lives already in existence.” (Pg. 172-173)
He also notes, ‘the Catholic Church has not only stood firm---forbidding Catholics, under pain of mortal sin, from advocating or having an abortion---but has mounted an unprecedented public campaign to ban abortion in America and the rest of the world. In consequence, abortion has been a sadly divisive issue in the church… The bold effort by the Catholic Church to influence both public opinion and the law has not only been divisive, it has been counter-productive. The church’s unyielding call to make abortion illegal has actually increased public support for a woman’s right to choose… It appears that the church can no longer use its moral authority as a bully pulpit when addressing an increasingly independently minded laity… the position of the Good Enough Catholic is to look at all the circumstances… we struggle for the faith that God will provide an answer if we are bold enough and humble enough to ask him... We are never outside the love or grace of God…” (Pg. 177-179)
He states, “There are those Catholics, still angry with a church that once would condemn a person to hell for a Friday hamburger, would want to continue to vent their rage, and thus hold themselves apart from such a seemingly arrogant and myopic institution. We can sympathize with them. The church can be faulted for …a certain immaturity of thought… But to unequivocally condemn actions of the church really produces no gain… Changed historical conditions bring about changes in church teaching. What was right in one century can be wrong in the next, and vice versa. Change… need not be feared…” (Pg. 269-270)
He notes, “Much has been written about the place and propriety of an all-male priesthood and mandatory celibacy… a good number [of theologians] have concluded that there is nothing in Scripture or in early church practice that actually precludes women liturgical leaders or married priests. In fact, both existed… Will women be ordained to the priesthood some day? Will celibacy be optional?... We do not know. Some may hope for change, but we cannot suspend our moral, spiritual, Good Enough Catholic lives as we await the outcome… A new Catholic Church is being born, even as we struggle within the aging flesh of the old.” (Pg. 307-309)
This book will be of great interest to most non-conservative American Catholics. (Conservatives and Traditionalists will strongly reject it, characterizing it as an example of ‘Cafeteria Catholicism.’)
Paul Wilkes (a Catholic layman) wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, “With a good measure of hope and even more humility, I want to propose a new approach to living the life of a Catholic today---The Good Enough Catholic… we Catholics have been witnesses to perhaps the most sweeping revolution in church history. Once we were required to follow strict laws obediently… Suddenly, we were given license to employ our intellects and consciences in reaching decisions about our lives, our beliefs, our approach to God. The event that caused this upheaval … was, of course, the Second Vatican Council… (Pg. xi)
“Remarkably, the church---virtually overnight… opened itself to diverse approaches to God, announcing that the world was no longer to be piously shunned…. With such a recent and fundamental reorientation… it is hardly surprising that so many Catholics today find themselves conflicted on how, and whether, to live as a Catholic… In the midst of the social and religious turmoil that surrounds us, many Catholics simply walked away in frustration or marginalized themselves from their faith..” (Pg. xii-xiv)
“It is the premise of this book… that there is a Catholicism---a new kind of Catholicism---that is exactly right for this spiritually hungry, morally unsure, and self-reflective time… I believe that there are ways to live out … a Catholicism offering the freedom both to participate in its life and to disagree genuinely with some of its ways… I am a member of that vast majority of Catholics… who find themselves at odds with certain teachings and practices of the church, but are unable to stay away from what has been the single most formative influence in our lives.” (Pg. xv-xvi)
He says, “It is no longer good enough for modern-day Catholics to follow Jesus Christ without knowing who it is they are following---or simply because the church says to do so… By honestly trying to know and understand him, however imperfect and tentative our efforts may be, the Good Enough Catholic shows Jesus great honor and respect… If we begin to honestly seek the power and the presence of the man, something will begin to happen… We will receive counsel to make wise decisions, strength to help us meet both daily trials and major adversaries… The Good Enough Catholic we want to be will begin to emerge.” (Pg. 17-18)
He observes, “Happily for modern Catholics, the mass we attend today… has more in common with the communal gatherings of early Christians than with the Latin Mass that many of us knew as children. In these not-so-long-ago days… the priest seemed to be performing a ritual of such secrecy that his words were not to be uttered by the likes of us. He SAID mass. Today, we… communally CELEBRATE the mass… The priest presides at this festive, holy occasion.” (Pg. 27-28)
He explains, “In the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, only baptized Catholics… ‘in the state of grace’ were judged worthy to receive the Eucharist. This… implied that there was no mortal sin, unconfessed … Of course, the sacrament of reconciliation is available… [A]t the beginning of every mass, there is a time for a personal examination of conscience…. This reflection on ‘what we have done and what we have failed to do’ is a straightforward … weekly review of our lives. But Good Enough Catholics should know this: No human law, no private or public sin---NOTHING can prevent you from receiving the Eucharist if you earnestly desire this communion with God…” (Pg. 34-36)
He continues, “As for those who might be considered ineligible to receive the Eucharist because of where the church now draws the line concerning marriage and divorce, realize that there is an intense debate going on within the church about this issue. There are bishops who say that divorce does not prohibit a person from receiving; there is an official church teaching that claims the opposite. You, Good Enough Catholic… can make that decision.”” (Pg. 36)
He says of Penance/Reconciliation, “Many Catholics still recall the rigors of weekly confession: the long lines, the stiff penances, and the horror dying with a mortal sin staining their souls---which meant, they feared, a direct plunge into the eternal fires of hell. But even in those days, the purifying effect of confession could be quite beneficial… But for … too many---those sensations were often drowned in the raging seas of negativity and guilt… Vatican II recaptured the spirit of the sacrament that had been corrupted over the centuries… What is emphasized instead is a conversion of heart, an inner disposition to do better in the future.” (Pg. 49) He suggests, “the Good Enough Catholic is summoned to a different level of consciousness---to be a certain kind of person; a person who struggle to do what is right, and in failure is ready to make reparation and try harder next time… But we realize that even in our sinfulness, we are already forgiven---just for the asking.” (Pg. 104)
He explains “we must also deal with the reality of divorce. On the one hand, divorce is a failure to live up to our marriage commitment; yet, like all our failures---if we believe in the redemption promised by Jesus---it holds the possibility of forgiveness, healing and enhancement… we must also consider the whole issue of church annulments---and, for that matter, the possibility of a subsequent marriage.” (Pg. 132) He continues, “Regardless of the sternness of official church teaching, the Catholic divorce rate… is little different from the divorce rate of the rest of America… Meanwhile the divorced---once the exceptions to the rule, and pariahs within the Catholic community---are everywhere… So many of them want to be Catholics… A failed marriage hasn’t killed their desire to participate in parish life, to receive the sacraments… If anything, the experience of divorce has … intensified their awareness of the need for God’s forgiveness…” (Pg. 142, 145)
He observes, “The issue of annulments may be the cause of more pain than any other Catholic procedure today… there are millions of decent, otherwise-believing Catholics who feel they are outside the church because while they have obtained a civil divorce from a marriage, they had not obtained an annulment… many Catholics have found the annulment process a final and healing end to a marriage… Still, a far larger number of Catholics say no to annulments… If they remarry, it will be outside the church. And they may or may not practice their Catholicism, held off at arm’s length… by church teaching… Some dioceses make annulments extremely difficult… Some priests are openly welcoming to the divorced, regardless of formal annulment proceedings … Others make life uncomfortable for divorced folks… Ultimately, it is incumbent upon divorced Good Enough Catholics not to let the rigid or insensitive deter them from their spiritual quest…” (Pg. 150-152)
He recounts, “In the afterglow of Vatican II… a much-heralded commission was called into being by Pope Paul VI… Excitement within Catholicism grew when word leaked out that the vast majority of the commission’s members---by a margin of fifty-four to four---were recommending that the church modify its strict ban against the use of artificial birth control devices… The long-awaited papal encyclical ‘Humanae Vitae’… was ultimately released in 1968… [It] reconfirmed the church’s stand, starkly condemning any means of artificial birth control… Those who used … such birth control methods committed such a grievous sin that they could be excommunicated and condemned to eternal damnation in hell… A church that had not listened to its people on this crucial issue was not a church that millions of Catholics around the world would henceforth be willing to heed… Study after study has shown that ‘Humanae Vitae’ stands as one of the least-obeyed church teachings of modern times… American Catholics went on to use artificial birth control measures, and today use them as frequently and as routinely as the population at large…” (Pg. 167, 170-171)
He concludes, “there are still a significant number [of Catholics] who are haunted by their seeming disobedience. They ask the question: Can I still be in the church and receive the sacraments while practicing birth control? There is a significant body of theological thought, as well as mountains of pastoral experience, to support you in a resounding ‘yes.’ This said, the Good Enough Catholic must still regard every sexual act as having the POSSIIBLITY of procreation… for married couples, conscious use of birth control … shows that you look at your family as a whole… If there are circumstances in which conceiving another child would be detrimental to the good of the children already born, then you need to respect those lives already in existence.” (Pg. 172-173)
He also notes, ‘the Catholic Church has not only stood firm---forbidding Catholics, under pain of mortal sin, from advocating or having an abortion---but has mounted an unprecedented public campaign to ban abortion in America and the rest of the world. In consequence, abortion has been a sadly divisive issue in the church… The bold effort by the Catholic Church to influence both public opinion and the law has not only been divisive, it has been counter-productive. The church’s unyielding call to make abortion illegal has actually increased public support for a woman’s right to choose… It appears that the church can no longer use its moral authority as a bully pulpit when addressing an increasingly independently minded laity… the position of the Good Enough Catholic is to look at all the circumstances… we struggle for the faith that God will provide an answer if we are bold enough and humble enough to ask him... We are never outside the love or grace of God…” (Pg. 177-179)
He states, “There are those Catholics, still angry with a church that once would condemn a person to hell for a Friday hamburger, would want to continue to vent their rage, and thus hold themselves apart from such a seemingly arrogant and myopic institution. We can sympathize with them. The church can be faulted for …a certain immaturity of thought… But to unequivocally condemn actions of the church really produces no gain… Changed historical conditions bring about changes in church teaching. What was right in one century can be wrong in the next, and vice versa. Change… need not be feared…” (Pg. 269-270)
He notes, “Much has been written about the place and propriety of an all-male priesthood and mandatory celibacy… a good number [of theologians] have concluded that there is nothing in Scripture or in early church practice that actually precludes women liturgical leaders or married priests. In fact, both existed… Will women be ordained to the priesthood some day? Will celibacy be optional?... We do not know. Some may hope for change, but we cannot suspend our moral, spiritual, Good Enough Catholic lives as we await the outcome… A new Catholic Church is being born, even as we struggle within the aging flesh of the old.” (Pg. 307-309)
This book will be of great interest to most non-conservative American Catholics. (Conservatives and Traditionalists will strongly reject it, characterizing it as an example of ‘Cafeteria Catholicism.’)
November 2, 2023
I appreciated that this author did not hesitate to discuss extremely controversial topics in Catholicism such as abortion, contraception and divorce. It felt refreshing that there was more of an understanding, insightfulness and less judgmental tone on those mentioned topics. This book is good for believers who are in doubt for their faith and good for previous believers like me to see the faith in more of an objective perspective that they wished was taught upon them when being raised as Catholic.
January 26, 2011
I enjoyed this book as a jumping point for looking at Catholicism. Wilkes is a journalist who is Catholic, and he presented quite a few facets of the church in this book, starting with Jesus and ending with the church of believers today. Each chapter had some historical background laid out, but the driving point of the book centered on even if you aren't the perfect Catholic, you can always turn to God (by way of the Church). He didn't achieve purely objective writing on different subjects, and his choice for quotes seemed off, but all of his subjects lent themselves to further thought, even if it was to disagree with him. A good book just to get back into what it means to be Catholic.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews