A PROPHETIC CHURCH IN A MCDONALDIZED SOCIETY

Abstract

Vatican II calls forth the “scrutinizing of the signs of the times and
interpreting them in the light of the Gospel.” In view of this call, this
paper scrutinizes a social phenomenon called the McDonalidized society
and asks the pressing question of what it means to be a prophetic church
in this society. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part uses
the work of the sociologist George Ritzer who analyzes this social
phenomenon and its four dimensions of efficiency, calculability,
predictability, and control. The second part critically reflects on how this
phenomenon creates a human condition of numbness and inauthenticity
and its deleterious effects on persons and communities. And the third
part presents how the church can be prophetic church in this
McDonaldized society. It draws from the concept of “dangerous
memories” of Johann Baptist Metz and the concept of “prophetic pathos”
of Walter Bruggemann as theological paradigms in understanding how
the church as a prophetic church can confront this pervasive numbness
and inauthenticity and offer an alternative way of being human. The
significance of this paper is its concrete way of showing how the call of
Vatican II can be concretely pursued by the church’s engagement with
contemporary society with its prophetic vision and hope.