Toward a New Catholic Church
The Promise of Reform
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
The National Book Award–winning author “seizes the moment of Catholicism’s sexual-abuse crisis” to call for a Vatican III (Publishers Weekly).
Elaborating on “A Call for Vatican III” from his New York Times–bestseller Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews, James Carroll proposes a clear agenda for reform, to help committed but concerned Catholics understand the most essential issues facing their Church.
Carroll moves beyond current events to suggest new ways for Catholics to approach Scripture, Jesus, and power, and he looks at the daunting challenges facing the Church in a world of diverse beliefs and contentious religious fervor. His thought-provoking case for democracy within the Church illustrates why lay people have already initiated change. Carroll shows that all Catholics—parishioners, priests, bishops, men and women—have an equal stake in ensuring the Church’s future.
“The boisterous collapse of trust in the Catholic hierarchy during the pedophile scandals makes it not only important but imperative to heed this eloquent call for a new Ecumenical (this time truly ecumenical) Council.” —Garry Wills, author of Why I Am a Catholic
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this reconstituted version of his call to Catholic reform at the end of Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews, Carroll seizes the moment of Catholicism's sexual-abuse crisis to present his ideas afresh. His agenda for change is emblematic of the one touted by progressive reform groups throughout the church in America and Europe. Carroll, a former priest who was in the seminary during the landmark Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, proposes a "Vatican III," suggesting it could even be held in a place like Boston, the epicenter of the current scandal. He presents five areas of reform dealing with scripture, the ecclesiastical power structure, teachings about Jesus Christ, democracy and institutional repentance. Among other things, Carroll would like to see the church develop a more sophisticated relationship with its scriptures, loosen its power structures to permit more lay involvement, repeal papal infallibility and de-emphasize the traditional Christian teaching that Jesus is the only way to salvation so as to engender greater respect for other religions. The latter springs from Carroll's deep concerns about the church's long history of anti-Semitism, and it is a constant, somewhat overused, theme as he expands on his vision for a new Catholic Church. Readers who support the kinds of changes Carroll is seeking will be drawn to his latest work, but some orthodox Catholics may find his ideas disturbing.
