The Catholic Revolution: New Wine, Old Wineskins, and the Second Vatican Council - Softcover

Greeley, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520244818 ISBN 13: 9780520244818

Publisher: University of California Press, 2004

Synopsis

How, a mere generation after Vatican Council II initiated the biggest reform since the Reformation, can the Catholic Church be in such deep trouble? The question resonates through this new book by Andrew Greeley, the most recognized, respected, and influential commentator on American Catholic life. A timely and much-needed review of forty years of Church history, The Catholic Revolution offers a genuinely new interpretation of the complex and radical shift in American Catholic attitudes since the second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

Drawing on a wealth of data collected over the last thirty years, Greeley points to a rift between the higher and lower orders in the Church that began in the wake of Vatican Council II―when bishops, euphoric in their (temporary) freedom from the obstructions of the Roman Curia, introduced modest changes that nonetheless proved too much for still-rigid structures of Catholicism: the "new wine" burst the "old wineskins." As the Church leadership tried to reimpose the old order, clergy and the laity, newly persuaded that "unchangeable" Catholicism could in fact change, began to make their own reforms, sweeping away the old "rules" that no longer made sense. The revolution that Greeley describes brought about changes that continue to reverberate―in a chasm between leadership and laity, and in a whole generation of Catholics who have become Catholic on their own terms.

Coming at a time of crisis and doubt for the Catholic Church, this richly detailed, deeply thoughtful analysis brings light and clarity to the years of turmoil that have shaken the foundations, if not the faith, of American Catholics.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"Few scholars in our period have clarified the profound changes that have occurred in American Catholicism as well as Andrew Greeley has. This is a stunning and genuinely new interpretation of those radical shifts in Catholic thought post Vatican II."―David Tracy, University of Chicago

"Greeley tackles the big question of how the Roman Catholic Church could be in such deep trouble just a generation removed from its biggest reform. In this timely review of the last forty years, he reveals his mastery of both church politics and popular religious feelings. Once again he shows us why millions of American Catholics trust him to be their voice."―Mike Hout, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley

About the Author

Andrew Greeley is a research associate at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and teaches sociology at the University of Arizona. He is the author of many scholarly books, including The Catholic Imagination (California, 2000), Religion as Poetry (1995), and Catholic Myth: The Behavior and Beliefs of American Catholics (1994), as well as more than thirty novels.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0520244818
• ISBN 13: 9780520244818
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 237