Catholicism In Crisis

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A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward

Author : Ralph Martin
Publisher : Emmaus Road Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1949013758
Total Pages : 435 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (49 download)

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Book Synopsis A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward by : Ralph Martin

Download or read book A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward written by Ralph Martin and published by Emmaus Road Publishing. This book was released on 2020-10-01 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nearly forty years ago, Ralph Martin’s bestselling A Crisis of Truth exposed the damaging trends in Catholic teaching and preaching that, combined with attacks from secular society, threatened the mission and life of the Catholic Church. While much has been done to counter false teaching over the last four decades, today the Church faces even more insidious threats—from outside and within. In A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward, Martin offers a detailed look at the growing hostility to the Catholic Church and its teaching. With copious evidence, Martin uncovers the forces working to undermine the Body of Christ and offers hope to those looking for clarity. A Church in Crisis covers: -polarization in the Church caused by ambiguous teachings -initiatives that accommodate the culture without calling for conversion -Vatican-sponsored partnerships with organizations that actively contradict the teaching of the Catholic Church -and the recycling of theological errors long settled by Vatican II, Pope St. John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI. Powerfully written, A Church in Crisis reminds all readers to heed Jesus’ express command not to lead His children astray. With ample resources to encourage readers, Ralph Martin provides the solid foundation of Catholic teaching—both Scripture and Tradition—to fortify Catholics against the errors that threaten us from all directions.

The Crisis of Authority in Catholic Modernity

Author : Michael J. Lacey
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199778787
Total Pages : 393 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis The Crisis of Authority in Catholic Modernity by : Michael J. Lacey

Download or read book The Crisis of Authority in Catholic Modernity written by Michael J. Lacey and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-06 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is fairly clear that, while Rome continues to teach as if its authority were unchanged from the days before Vatican II (1962-65), the majority of Catholics - within the first-world church, at least - take a far more independent line, and increasingly understand themselves (rather than the church) as the final arbiter of decision-making, especially on ethical questions. This collection of essays explores the historical background and present ecclesial situation, explaining the dramatic shift in attitude on the part of contemporary Catholics in the U.S. and Europe.

Crisis and Challenge in the Roman Catholic Church

Author : Debra Meyers
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1793604924
Total Pages : 269 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (936 download)

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Book Synopsis Crisis and Challenge in the Roman Catholic Church by : Debra Meyers

Download or read book Crisis and Challenge in the Roman Catholic Church written by Debra Meyers and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the historical, theological, sociological, and ethical dimensions of the current issues threatening the two thousand-year-old Roman Catholic Church. The interdisciplinary analysis contained within the volume exposes the destructive convictions and actions of the Roman Catholic clergy that has produced the current institutional crisis while suggesting options for moving forward. Documenting the cases that constitute the many crises currently surrounding Catholicism, the volume aims to provide clarity and conscience. At the same time, with a constructive vision of an ethics and religious practice rooted in integrity and transparency, the authors offer a path towards holistic and holy reformation by and for Catholics.

A People Adrift

Author : Peter Steinfels
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 9780743261449
Total Pages : 454 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (614 download)

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Book Synopsis A People Adrift by : Peter Steinfels

Download or read book A People Adrift written by Peter Steinfels and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2004-09 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this national bestseller, the most influential layman in the United States reports that the Roman Catholic Church in America must either profoundly reform or lapse into permanent irrelevance.

Christianity in Crisis

Author : Hank Hanegraaff
Publisher : HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN 13 : 1418576077
Total Pages : 449 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (185 download)

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Book Synopsis Christianity in Crisis by : Hank Hanegraaff

Download or read book Christianity in Crisis written by Hank Hanegraaff and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2012-06-18 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nearly two decades ago Hank Hanegraaff’s award-winning Christianity in Crisis alerted the world to the dangers of a cultic movement within Christianity that threatened to undermine the very foundation of biblical faith. But in the 21st century, there are new dangers—new teachers who threaten to do more damage than the last. These are not obscure teachers that Hanegraaff unmasks. We know their names. We have seen their faces, sat in their churches, and heard them shamelessly preach and promote the false pretexts of a give-to-get gospel. They are virtual rock stars who command the attention of presidential candidates and media moguls. Through make-believe miracles, urban legends, counterfeit Christs, and twisted theological reasoning, they peddle an occult brand of metaphysics that continues to shipwreck the faith of millions around the globe: “God cannot do anything in this earthly realm unless we give Him permission.” “Keep saying it—‘I have equality with God’—talk yourself into it.” “Being poor is a sin.” “The Jews were not rejecting Jesus as Messiah; it was Jesus who was refusing to be the Messiah to the Jews!” “You create your own world the same way God creates His. He speaks, and things happen; you speak, and they happen.” Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century exposes darkness to light, pointing us back to a Christianity centered in Christ. From the Preface: “Having lost the ability to think biblically, postmodern Christians are being transformed from cultural change agents and initiators into cultural conformists and imitators. Pop culture beckons, and postmodern Christians have taken the bait. As a result, the biblical model of faith has given way to an increasingly bizarre array of fads and formulas.”

Man and Woman

Author : Alice Von Hildebrand
Publisher : Sapientia Press Ave Maria Univ
ISBN 13 : 9781932589566
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (895 download)

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Book Synopsis Man and Woman by : Alice Von Hildebrand

Download or read book Man and Woman written by Alice Von Hildebrand and published by Sapientia Press Ave Maria Univ. This book was released on 2002-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In follow-up to her acclaimed Privilege of Being a Woman;, Dr. von Hildebrand expands the discussion to explore how the fullness of human nature is found in the perfect union between man and woman. God chose to create man doubly complex. He made man of both soul and body a spiritual reality and a material reality. To crown this complexity, He created them male and female. Dr. von Hildebrand elucidates the tragic separation that happened with original sin and the consequences of this brokenness in the world today: the distortion of the male and female genius, supernatural blindness, and the triumph of secularism. She explores how this brokenness can be healed by following God s Divine plan for man and woman. We see this first and foremost in our Blessed Mother, exemplar of the path to holiness. This is also seen in the characteristics of saintly male / female relationships between husbands and wives, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, brothers and sisters, and holy friendships. It is only by coming to more fully understand the Divine plan for man and woman, and submitting ourselves to His plan, that true complementarity harmony of body and soul, male and female can be accomplished.

Turmoil & Truth

Author : Philip Trower
Publisher : Ignatius Press
ISBN 13 : 9780898709803
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Turmoil & Truth by : Philip Trower

Download or read book Turmoil & Truth written by Philip Trower and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Catholic Church in recent years, particularly in Europe, the USA and Australia, has suffered a series of crises. Catholics have been forced, whether willing or not, to perform collective examinations of conscience, and to investigate the causes of these problems. In the many books and articles written on this subject, authors have tried to point the blame one way or another. Turmoil and Truth takes a different approach. Drawing on his years of experience as a Catholic writer, Philip Trower offers a long view of how the Church arrived in its present situation. Whereas many analyses take the Second Vatican Council as their starting point, Trower turns his gaze back towards the previous centuries, searching out the roots of modern conflicts over authority within the Church, the nature of Scripture, the relationship with the secular world, and more. His central thesis is that the positive movement for reform, and the negative movements of rebellion against the Church's authority and elements of her teaching, grew up intertwined in the years preceding Vatican II, and that it was only really in the period following the Council that the division between the two became clearer. His analysis introduces the reader to a host of persons and movements who may be unfamiliar today, but whose legacy endures. Philip Trower's accessible style of writing and his attention to detail offer the reader a clear understanding of where the Church has come from in its recent past. Turmoil and Truth is essential reading for all who wish to understand the present and future direction of the Catholic Church Book jacket.

The Catholic Thing

Author : Robert Royal
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781587311055
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis The Catholic Thing by : Robert Royal

Download or read book The Catholic Thing written by Robert Royal and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Catholic "thing" - the concrete historical reality of Catholicism as a presence in human history - is the richest cultural tradition in the world. It values both faith and reason, and therefore has a great deal to say about politics and economics, war and peace, manners and morals, children and families, careers and vocations, and many other perennial and contemporary questions. In addition, it has inspired some of the greatest art, music, and architecture, while offering unparalleled human solidarity to tens of millions through hospitals, soup kitchens, schools, universities, and relief services. This volume brings together some of the very best commentary on a wide range of recent events and controversies by some of the very best Catholic writers in the English language: Ralph McInerny, Michael Novak, Fr. James V. Schall, Hadley Arkes, Robert Royal, Anthony Esolen, Brad Miner, George Marlin, David Warren, Austin Ruse, Francis Beckwith, and many others. Their contributions cover large Catholic subjects such as philosophy and theology, liturgy and Church dogma, postmodern culture, the Church and modern politics, literature, and music. But they also look into specific contemporary problems such as religious liberty, the role of Catholic officials in public life, growing moral hazards in bio-medical advances, and such like. The Catholic Thing is a virtual encyclopedia of Catholic thought about modern life.

Catholics in Crisis

Author : Jim Naughton
Publisher : Penguin Group
ISBN 13 : 9780140268188
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (681 download)

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Book Synopsis Catholics in Crisis by : Jim Naughton

Download or read book Catholics in Crisis written by Jim Naughton and published by Penguin Group. This book was released on 1997 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Polls illustrating the gulf between the Roman Catholic Church and its American flock appear with numbing frequency. But behind the statistics are millions of people struggling to reconcile their lives with their faith. Catholics in Crisis is a vivid portrayal of this struggle, told through the narrative frame of a single, albeit highly influential, parish. Holy Trinity in Washington, D.C., one of the most prominent and popular churches in the nation, has long enjoyed a reputation as a place where post-Vatican II Catholicism is at its most vital. It is also a community in which American dissent from Vatican teaching is clearly articulated. But when a lone parishioner stands up through a Sunday Mass to protest the exclusion of women from the priesthood, he ignites a fire-storm of controversy that exposes deep rifts and threatens to tear the community apart. The Standing, as it came to be called, is but one of the stories that Jim Naughton skillfully weaves together as he examines the issues that can divide parents and children, husbands and wives, priests and the laity, Rome and America. The rich cast of characters includes: the pastor of Holy Trinity--deeply spiritual, charismatic, and about to leave the church; the female director of liturgy, caught between liberal and conservative factions; a parishioner and parent, who is appalled at the CCD program that he feels substitutes liberal platitudes for Catholic truth; a young priest, who is struggling with his vow of celibacy; a powerful bishop, who believes that Holy Trinity goes out of its way to flout Church rubrics, and is determined to bring it to heel; and a handful of others who play out the realities of divorce, remarriage, abortion, and premarital sex against the background the church's teachings.

Beyond Betrayal

Author : Patricia Ewick
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022664443X
Total Pages : 182 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (266 download)

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Book Synopsis Beyond Betrayal by : Patricia Ewick

Download or read book Beyond Betrayal written by Patricia Ewick and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-08-21 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2002, the national spotlight fell on Boston’s archdiocese, where decades of rampant sexual misconduct from priests—and the church’s systematic cover-ups—were exposed by reporters from the Boston Globe. The sordid and tragic stories of abuse and secrecy led many to leave the church outright and others to rekindle their faith and deny any suggestions of institutional wrongdoing. But a number of Catholics vowed to find a middle ground between these two extremes: keeping their faith while simultaneously working to change the church for the better. Beyond Betrayal charts a nationwide identity shift through the story of one chapter of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), an organization founded in the scandal’s aftermath. VOTF had three goals: helping survivors of abuse; supporting priests who were either innocent or took risky public stands against the wrongdoers; and pursuing a broad set of structural changes in the church. Patricia Ewick and Marc W. Steinberg follow two years in the life of one of the longest-lived and most active chapters of VOTF, whose thwarted early efforts at ecclesiastical reform led them to realize that before they could change the Catholic Church, they had to change themselves. The shaping of their collective identity is at the heart of Beyond Betrayal, an ethnographic portrait of how one group reimagined their place within an institutional order and forged new ideas of faith in the wake of widespread distrust.

Goodbye, Good Men

Author : Michael S. Rose
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 162157427X
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (215 download)

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Book Synopsis Goodbye, Good Men by : Michael S. Rose

Download or read book Goodbye, Good Men written by Michael S. Rose and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Goodbye, Good Men uncovers how radical liberalism has infiltrated the Catholic Church, overthrowing traditional beliefs, standards, and disciplines.

Sacred Silence

Author : Donald B. Cozzens
Publisher : Liturgical Press
ISBN 13 : 9780814627310
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (273 download)

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Book Synopsis Sacred Silence by : Donald B. Cozzens

Download or read book Sacred Silence written by Donald B. Cozzens and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sacred Silence is a book about failed leadership in the Catholic Church. Donald Cozzens looks at various challenges and the scandal gripping the Church and offers an historical overview of our church leadership. He explains how the misplaced loyalties of those in leadership positions created the current crisis. Cozzens clarifies why bishops and church authorities think the way they do and why the ecclesiastical system might be the real villain in the abuse scandal. With compassion and understanding Cozzens answers the why of the present and past leadership failures and proposes a new direction. Chapters in Part One: Masks of Denial are "Sacred Silence," and "Forms of Denial." Chapters in Part Two: Faces of Denial are "Sacred Oaths, Sacred Promises," "Voices of Women," "Religious Life and the Priesthood," "Abuse of Our Children," "Clerical Culture," "Gay Men in the Priesthood," and "Ministry and Leadership." The chapter in Part Three: Beyond Denial is "Sacred Silence, Sacred Speech." Donald Cozzens, PhD, a priest and writer, is author of two award-winning titles, Sacred Silence and The Changing Face of the Priesthood, and editor of The Spirituality of the Diocesan Priest, all published by Liturgical Press. He is writer in residence at John Carroll University where he teaches in the religious studies department.

The Courage To Be Catholic

Author : George Weigel
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 0465009948
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (65 download)

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Book Synopsis The Courage To Be Catholic by : George Weigel

Download or read book The Courage To Be Catholic written by George Weigel and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2007-10-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Catholic Church in America is in a state of crisis. Yet few understand what the crisis really is, why it happened, or how the Church must respond to it. As no other commentator or critic has done, George Weigel situates the current crisis of sexual abuse and episcopal malfeasance in the context of recent Catholic history. With honesty and critical rigor, he reveals the Church's failure to embrace the true spiritual promise of Vatican II, a failure that has resulted in the gradual but steady surrender to liberal culture that he dubs "Catholic Lite." Drawing upon his unparalleled knowledge of how the Church works, both in America and in Rome, Weigel exposes the patterns of dissent and self-deception that became entrenched in seminaries, among priests, and ultimately among the bishops who failed their flock by thinking like managers instead of apostles. But, Weigel reminds us, in the Biblical world a "crisis" is a time of great opportunity, an invitation to deeper faith. Every great crisis of the Church's past, from the Dark Ages to the Reformation, has resulted in a period of reform that returned the Church-and its priesthood-to its roots. Weigel sets forth an agenda for genuine reform that challenges seminarians, priests, bishops, and the laity to lead more integrally Catholic lives. As he argues so persuasively, the answer to the present crisis will not be found in "Catholic Lite" but in classic Catholicism: a Catholicism that has reclaimed the wisdom of the past in order to face the corruptions of the present and create a strong future.

Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures

Author : Joseph Ratzinger
Publisher : Ignatius Press
ISBN 13 : 168149096X
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (814 download)

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Book Synopsis Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures by : Joseph Ratzinger

Download or read book Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures written by Joseph Ratzinger and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2009-09-03 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreword by Marcello Pera Written by Joseph Ratzinger shortly before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures looks at the growing conflict of cultures evident in the Western world. The West faces a deadly contradiction of its own making, he contends. Terrorism is on the rise. Technological advances of the West, employed by people who have cut themselves off from the moral wisdom of the past, threaten to abolish man (as C.S. Lewis put it)whether through genetic manipulation or physical annihilation. In short, the West is at war-with itself. Its scientific outlook has brought material progress. The Enlightenment's appeal to reason has achieved a measure of freedom. But contrary to what many people suppose, both of these accomplishments depend on Judeo-Christian foundations, including the moral worldview that created Western culture. More than anything else, argues Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, the important contributions of the West are threatened today by an exaggerated scientific outlook and by moral relativism-what Benedict XVI calls "the dictatorship of relativism"-in the name of freedom. Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures is no mere tirade against the moral decline of the West. Razinger challenges the West to return to its roots by finding a place for God in modern culture. He argues that both Christian culture and the Enlightenment formed the West, and that both hold the keys to human life and freedom as well as to domination and destruction. Ratzinger challenges non-believer and believer alike. "Both parties," he writes, "must reflect on their own selves and be ready to accept correction." He challenges secularized, unbelieving people to open themselves to God as the ground of true rationality and freedom. He calls on believers to "make God credible in this world by means of the enlightened faith they live." Topics include: Reflections on the Cultures in Conflict Today The Significance and Limits of Today's Rationalistic Culture The Permanent Significance of the Christian Faith Why We Must Not Give Up the Fight The Law of the Jungle, the Rule of Law We Must Use Our Eyes! Faith and Everyday Life Can Agnosticism Be a Solution? The Natural Knowledge of God "Supernatural" Faith and Its Origins

Religion in Times of Crisis

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 900427779X
Total Pages : 204 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion in Times of Crisis by :

Download or read book Religion in Times of Crisis written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2014-07-03 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion is alive and well all over the world, especially in times of personal, political, and social crisis. Even in Europe, long regarded the most “secular” continent, religion has taken centre stage in how people respond to the crises associated with modernity, or how they interact with the nation-state. In this book, scholars working in and on Europe offer fresh perspectives on how religion provides answers to existential crisis, how crisis increases the salience of religious identities and cultural polarization, and how religion is contributing to changes in the modern world in Europe and beyond. Cases from Poland to Pakistan and from Ireland to Zimbabwe, among others, demonstrate the complexity and ambivalence of religion’s role in the contemporary world. Contributors are Mariecke van den Berg, David J. Bos, Marco Derks, Marco Derks, R. Ruard Ganzevoort, Miloš Jovanović, Vladimir Kmec, Marta Kołodziejska, Anne-Marie Korte, Anne-Sophie Lamine, Christophe Monnot, Alexandre Piettre, Ali Qadir, Srdjan Sremac, Joram Tarusaria, Martina Topić, and Tom Wagner.

What God Allows

Author : Ivor Shapiro
Publisher : New York ; Toronto : Doubleday
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis What God Allows by : Ivor Shapiro

Download or read book What God Allows written by Ivor Shapiro and published by New York ; Toronto : Doubleday. This book was released on 1996 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "One typical parish, one pivotal year. A religious educator weighs her feminist views against her duties as a teacher of Catholic doctrine. An orthodox layman launches an attack on what he sees as a wave of moral anarchy. A young priest chooses between his vow of celibacy and his burning need for intimacy. These are some of the people we come to know in What God Allows, journalist Ivor Shapiro's chronicle of a year in the life of St. Paul's Church in Kenmore, New York. Among others we encounter: a seventy-year-old divorcee, as devoted to the Mother of God as she is skeptical about the celibate elite that rules her church; a seven-year-old boy, conquering new Nintendo worlds while preparing for his first sacramental confession; a young professional couple, living in the shadow of grief and finding in the church reasons to hope - and to fight." "One parish, one year. Squabbles over authority, quests for inner peace, small victories of faith. In Rome, Pope John Paul II launches a renewed assault on liberal thought and instruction in the church he leads. In Kenmore the much-loved pastor of St. Paul's prepares to end his twelve-year tenure. By year's end, two disillusioned ministry staffers quit the St. Paul's payroll. But beyond the clash of personalities in one parish, the events of this year display the ambiguous power balance that marks today's Catholic Church." "In these pages, the church is neither target nor stereotype. What God Allows weaves real-life human dramas into a highly readable narrative, vividly portraying a seasoned church's cheerful tenacity in a time of trial. The story touches on (without obsessing over) the issues that divide parishioners from one another and, sometimes, from their sacraments: birth control, divorce, and abortion; celibacy and scandal; orthodoxy and freedom of thought. The author paints a gentle but sardonic portrait of ordinary people with foibles both amusing and annoying - people who seek meaning in a puzzling world, and find it through their decision to believe and to belong." "Through their stories, a picture emerges of what it means to be Catholic in North America at the end of the twentieth century, and of what the church of tomorrow - a church largely without priests - might look like. The author seems in no doubt that the church will survive its current trials in some way. He paints a picture of a faith and sensibility that keep generations of Catholics coming back - or at least keep them (long after they quit showing up at Sunday Mass) Catholics for life. What God Allows helps us understand why, as Jimmy Breslin once said, "there's no such thing as a lapsed Catholic.""--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Priests

Author : Andrew M. Greeley
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226306445
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (64 download)

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Book Synopsis Priests by : Andrew M. Greeley

Download or read book Priests written by Andrew M. Greeley and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2004-03-07 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For several years now, the Roman Catholic Church and the institution of the priesthood itself have been at the center of a firestorm of controversy. While many of the criticisms lodged against the recent actions of the Church—and a small number of its priests—are justified, the majority of these criticisms are not. Hyperbolic and misleading coverage of recent scandals has created a public image of American priests that bears little relation to reality, and Andrew Greeley's Priests skewers this image with a systematic inside look at American priests today. No stranger to controversy himself, Greeley here challenges those analysts and the media who parrot them in placing the blame for recent Church scandals on the mandate of celibacy or a clerical culture that supports homosexuality. Drawing upon reliable national survey samples of priests, Greeley demolishes current stereotypes about the percentage of homosexual priests, the level of personal and professional happiness among priests, the role of celibacy in their lives, and many other issues. His findings are more than surprising: they reveal, among other things, that priests report higher levels of personal and professional satisfaction than doctors, lawyers, or faculty members; that they would overwhelmingly choose to become priests again; and that younger priests are far more conservative than their older brethren. While the picture Greeley paints should radically reorient the public perception of priests, he does not hesitate to criticize the Church's significant shortcomings. Most priests, for example, do not think the sexual abuse problems are serious, and they do not think that poor preaching or liturgy is a problem, though the laity give them very low marks on their ministerial skills. Priests do not listen to the laity, bishops do not listen to priests, and the Vatican does not listen to any of them. With Greeley's statistical evidence and provocative recommendations for change—including a national "Priest Corps" that would offer young men a limited term of service in the Church—Priests offers a new vision for American Catholics, one based on real problems and solutions rather than on images of a depraved, immature, and frustrated priesthood.