Promoting radical change in the Roman Catholic Church: Rhetorical requirments, problems and strategies of the American Bishops

Abstract

This essay examines the rhetoric of Roman Catholic bishops in America during and after the Second Vatican Council to determine the rhetorical requirements, problems and strategies of elites who seek to implement radical change within their own institution. When faced with demands for change emanating from above and below, institutional innovators encounter three obstacles to institutional continuity and change: (1) ideological discontinuity, (2) resistance to innovation, and (3) challenges to institutional authority.