The Underground Church: Nonviolent Resistance to the Vatican Empire (Studies in Critical Social Sciences / Studies in Critical Re)

Since the 1970s, liberal American Catholics have sustained a Reform Movement to counteract the conservative drift of the Vatican and to preserve and expand on the reforms of Vatican II. This book draws on a range of theory to analyze and interpret this movement, which is intent on creating a model of church, that examples Vatican II's open, receptive attitude toward the modern world. In response to backlash from church officials, the movement has increasingly abandoned effort to reform Roman Catholicism from within, and has moved in a sectarian direction by creating independent worship communities. The movement faces a precarious future due to its rapidly aging membership and the unstable nature of its newly-formed communities. Drawing on theories of religious movements and nonviolent resistance strategies, this book analyzes the Reform Movement of liberal American Catholics who for over four decades have sustained a movement to expand on the reforms and visions of Vatican II. In the face of backlash from church officials, reformers have moved in a sectarian direction. By Kathleen Kautzer. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.