Reconstructing Catholicism: How Faithful Catholics Are Embracing an Inclusive, Emergent Way of Being the Church

In recent years, a movement to form Catholic faith communities outside the umbrella of Rome has been gaining momentum in the U.S. Most trace their roots to a centuries-old trajectory that began in Europe, "Old Catholicism." However, these emergent U.S. Catholic jurisdictions are also shaped by a particularly American sensibility, particularly the experience of the renewal of the Church promised by Vatican II. This book explores the genesis of these faith communities, and describes for readers what is the same and what’s different in this emergent, independent, and inclusive way of being Catholic.