Somewhat dated book (2007) but still a great read about American feminism from the daughter of Bobby Kennedy. Townsend values her own upbringing as part of the Catholic subculture which emphasized helping the poor as the most valid means by which to practice the Gospel values of Christianity. Townsend says that Protestant churches have become complacent and not engaged social justice issues while Catholics have mistargeted abortion, contraception, and excluding females from leadership offices as goals. She calls for a second New Awakening which would attend to the needs of the poor in a structural way. She poses a future Utopian America which has woman Catholic priests, married male clergy, a politically progressive country where all religions would be involved in the same political ends. Townsend assumes this country would be dominated by Roman Catholicism but however would promote other faiths whom she proposes to have the same intentions. She asks to try this project, since the alternative is to not try at all at making the world not a better place. This is an argument borne out of frustration rather than hope. I found this an unusual work as it isn’t theological but a social justice opinion, an opinion rooted in her family’s understanding of 1960’s struggle for clarity around human rights. The film The Green Book makes mention of Robert Kennedy assisting in the release of Don Shipley from jail, but I have no idea if that is a factual occurrence.
This book was written in the aftermath of the 2002 Catholic clergy scandal. Townsend mentions Mr McCarrick, now defrocked cardinal, as still an authority at the time of the books writing.
This book is critical of the Catholic Church but is intentionally so. She wants laypeople to stay in the church and try to reform it from within rather than abandon it. Of course, her vision is far-fetched but at least it does find reference points in the JFK Administration which sought to distance itself from the influence of Roman Pontiffs and the aspirations of Robert Kennedy toward the brotherhood of all men and women.
Good bibliography, no Index. ( )

Failing America’s Faithful: How Today’s Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Epiphany-OviedoELCA Library section 7 C: The Church in the World, Society/Human Rights/Justice. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the eldest child of Robert Kennedy, niece of John F. Kennedy, was the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland. Raised in Catholic parochial schools, mother of four, and professor at Georgetown and University of Pennsylvania, she tells us how religious values can enlighten politics if only we remember Jesus’ actual message that God gives priority to the poor – the ones at the bottom of the ladder.
Her chapter on The Progressive Protestant Tradition discusses how the Puritans protested the British national religion by coming to America where they swore to “rejoice together, mourn together, suffer and labor together.” Unity was stressed because without it they would most likely not have survived. She says the Christian Coalition of the mid-1990s completely ignored this Biblical message. Instead, they assisted the wealthy at the expense of the poor, and distracted voters with polarizing issues such as homosexuality or abortion. To a great extent this is still going on. Listen to any Christian fundamentalist and see how often they mention the poor, the hungry or the homeless. Compassion for the poor is twisted to become “socialism.”
When she hears the term, “Christian nation,” she feels sad because if America were truly Christian (in attitude) our political policies would reflect Christ’s compassion and concern for the most vulnerable among us. While we might cynically say, “that’s easy for her to say, she’s wealthy,” compare it to what Tim LaHaye or Rick Warren, wealthy Christian fundamentalist leaders, told her in discussions in this book. Further, evangelical literature in Christian bookstores is concerned with how faith in God can make you happier, healthier and even wealthier! What happened to caring for the poor, hungry, and the catastrophically ill?
She has become disenchanted with the Catholic church over its refusal to give women positions of leadership and power within the church, issues mainly involved with retaining power at the top. While she applauds Catholicism’s long tradition of social justice and anti-war protest, she feels it lost its way in reaction to the women’s movement of the late 1960s. This is an interesting theory and she goes into some detail about it. The church has lost members because the laity finds it more and more irrelevant to daily life and family decision-making.
Christianity, she feels, has created a one-dimensional cross in which we look up and down at the morality of others, which of course, is important, but fails to look consistently across humanity at our collective and social responsibilities. We are not just called to avoid evil but to do good. She calls for believers to become more political but less partisan. She sees a “holy trinity” of three ideals as important: faith, hope and love. Our responsibility is not just to improve ourselves but to care for the poor, heal the sick, and build a world that is more just for every one of God’s children. Jesus’ commandments resound far beyond our own bodies or lives. If we can truly follow Jesus our churches will begin to walk down a new path of purpose.
This leads me to ask, what is OUR own church’s purpose beyond acknowledging Jesus as Lord and worship? Keep this question in mind while reading this book. What does our church stand for? Do we keep the most vulnerable among us at the forefront? In what ways will that give greater meaning to our own lives? ( )

Representative Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the daughter of Robert Kennedy and the niece of Jack Kennedy. She is also a vary opinionated woman with much to say. In this sometimes repetitive, but often wise book she describes how the bond between the practice of Christian religion and acts of political and social justice has grown dangerously weak. Using her Roman Catholic upbringing in the 1960s as a background, Townsend urges the church to focus less on issues of personal choice and morality and more on broader social issues such as poverty, claiming that this is truly what Jesus would do. ( )