Reviewed Book: Clarke, Tony. Behind the mitre: the moral leadership crisis in the Canadian Catholic Church. Toronto: HarperCollins, 1995

Cole-Arnal, Oscar

English

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Behind the mitre: the moral leadership crisis in the Canadian Catholic Church

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 22Issue 1 Canadian Lutherans and Social Justice:Sampling of a HeritageArticle 205-1-1996Behind the mitre: the moral leadership crisis in theCanadian Catholic ChurchOscar Cole-ArnalFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationCole-Arnal, Oscar (1996) "Behind the mitre: the moral leadership crisis in the Canadian Catholic Church," Consensus: Vol. 22 : Iss. 1 ,Article 20.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol22/iss1/20128 ConsensusBehind the Mitre: The Moral Leadership Crisis in theCanadian Catholic ChurchTony ClarkeToronto: Harper Collins Publishers, Ltd., 1995216 pp.Tony Clarke has been a Christian social activist since the mid-1960swhen he was pursuing graduate studies in Chicago. For about fifteen yearshe served as co-director for the social affairs department of the CanadianConference of Catholic Bishops. Consequently he is well-positioned to giveus a narrative analysis of Catholic episcopal evolution from prophetic out-rage of the early 1980s to the chilling silence experienced on the contempo-rary scene. His book Behind the Mitre is at once a descriptive narrative,a sociotheological analysis, a personal testimony and a prophetic appeal.Given the multiple context out of which it was written this book is a mostexcellent and timely work.Its narrative description is terse and clear, following a chronologicalpattern from the famous episcopal statement of 1983, Ethical Reflections onthe Economic Crisis^ to the more recent disarray within Canada’s Catholicepiscopal community. I can remember quite vividly the impact of thisearlier document upon the progressive forces in this country. It galvanizedprotest against the government and corporate agenda and infused hope intothose groups organized to resist the business-government alliance. Not onlydoes Clarke help us relive this moment but also he adds detail to our moregeneral knowledge. His book documents just how wide and furious was theopposition to the bishops, from the outrage of Trudeau and his cabinet toThomas D ’Aquino, the leader of the Business Council on National Issues(BCNI). Clarke describes as well the voices of support for the bishops, fromother churches and from wider movements like labour.The richness of his sociotheological analysis is at its best when blendedwith the personal experience that can be found only from an insider.Clarke’s own activist faith led him to accept the position with the Cana-dian Catholic Church, and that job, combined with the impact of Vatican IIand Latin American liberation theology, brought him from Anglicanism toCatholicism. Within this faith and vocational context the author portraysopenly the divisions among the bishops themselves and how they respondedto external pressure. We are treated to inspiring profiles of the radicals inthe episcopal camp, notably Remi De Roo of Victoria and Adolphe Proulxof Gatineau-Hull. Especially gratifying is the latter portrayal. After all,most anglophone Christian liberationists have heard of De Roo, but we canthank Tony Clarke for bringing to life in English the saintly radical bishopof Hull’s creative diocese. There is an element of expose as well. The linksof Archbishop Emmett Carter of Toronto to the “good life” and corporatefriends such as Conrad Black are highlighted, as are the machinations ofthe more conservative bishops to marginalize De Roo and his allies. ClarkeBook Reviews 129realizes the potential weaknesses of the testimony of an insider, but thishas not stopped him from speaking out. We are the richer for it.Above all, Behind the Mitre is both “a lament” and a prophetic appeal.Clarke’s radical actions against NAFTA had embarrassed the bishops tothe point that they fired him from his ecclesiastical position. However,there is no spirit of vengeance in this book. Rather it is “a lament forthe loss of moral leadership on the national stage at a time when the gapbetween rich and poor is rapidly expanding” (p. xiv). But that is notall. Behind the Mitre is also a ringing prophetic appeal for Christians torekindle hope by organizing and pursuing justice from the “grass-roots”.The book’s concluding chapter and appendix inspire and guide us in thatdirection. Behind the Mitre may describe Catholic episcopal evolution ina sorry direction, but the book is ecumenical in its analysis and appeal.Clarke’s own words confirm that fact: “Finally, it is my fervent hope thattelling this story will encourage all people of faith, not only Christiansbut also those from other religious traditions, to deepen their spiritualityby becoming more actively engaged in the struggles for justice and thetransformation of the world. For the ‘cries of the victims are the voice ofGod’ in our midst” (p. xv).Oscar Cole ArnalWaterloo Lutheran SeminaryWaterloo, OntarioThere’s Got to be More! Connecting ChurchesCanadiansReginald W. BibbyWinfield, B.C.: Wood Lake Books Inc., 1995j153 pp.! I must admit that I approached Bibby’s latest book. There’s Got to beI More with a degree of scepticism. When I am confronted with statisticsI' and surveys I’m reminded of Winston Churchill’s comments on Gallup Polls[ during the Second World War. Early in the war, September 30, 1941, amember of the opposition asked the Prime Minister how England could livewith the gloomy results of the latest polls.Churchill replied: “Nothing is more dangerous in war-time than to livein the temperamental atmosphere of a Gallup Poll, always feeling one’spulse and taking one’s temperature.”I believe the same reply needs to be given by the church to the manypessimistic surveys of our day. Our call to be faithful disciples in thisgeneration cannot be compromised by statistics that talk the language ofgloom and doom.Reading this work by the now famous-within-Canada religious sociol-ogist at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta was, nonetheless, both

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