Rethinking Catholic Devotions

Clarke examines devotional practice throughout the Catholic Church and asks what it means for personal spiritual maturity and for the life of the church as a community. Rather than treating devotions one at a time, he studies a range of popular ones as they take shape in different cultures, testing what each expression of faith actually conveys and where it may be heading.

He weighs both the gifts and the hazards of devotional life. When a devotion is lifted out of its historical and cultural setting and applied without careful discernment, Clarke argues, it can become distorted, and he shows that this does happen. Drawing on theology, depth psychology, anthropology, and spirituality, he traces the story behind widely practiced devotions and explains the principles that shape the ritual forms of their prayer. Measured against Church teaching, he takes on misconceptions, superstitions, misuses, and ill-advised partnerships that have grown up around them.

Clarke also observes that faith expression often follows national identity, which can fuse political and ecclesial influences and sometimes produce devoted followings that verge on the cultic. He aims to recover the zeal that animated each devotion's originator, returning attention to the spirit behind the practice.

In the final part, he proposes devotions suited to the present historical moment and makes the case for an embodied, prophetic spirituality. He then reinterprets familiar devotions through that lens. The methods he offers for adapting them are set out clearly and are meant for any reader who wants to deepen and enrich their relationship with the divine.