The Catholic Revolution: New Wine, Old Wineskins, and the Second Vatican Council |
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Buy The Catholic Revolution Now 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). |
Keep in touch... Locally, and Globally!  Check out Andrew M. Greeley's Columns for the Chicago SunTimes' Daily Southtown. |
| 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.
Editorial Reviews Greeley may be better known as a novelist than a sociologist, but in this latest book he is in full professional stride, offering studied observations on his Church in the years since the landmark Second Vatican Council (196265). As the title suggests, Greeley proposes that a revolution has occurred since the heady days of Vatican II. In fact, he likens the actions that made change possible to the storming of the Bastille. Vatican II's reforms were modest, Greeley believes, yet were "too much for the rigid structures of 19th-century Catholicism to absorb." In short, he says, the new wine burst the old wineskins. He attributes this to the Church's failure to adjust its rhetoric and style to educated contemporary Catholics who no longer blindly obey the directives of Church authorities. Thus, he writes, Church leadership is now in conflict with lower clergy and laity, who have redefined Catholicism on their own terms, holding onto core doctrines and traditions even as they disagree with the rules in such areas as sexual behavior. Greeley does not necessarily endorse these unofficial reforms, but he does applaud the laity for their faith and calls on Church leaders to recognize and respect them. He has especially harsh words for authoritarian liturgists who have imposed their vision of worship on congregations starving for a real connection between faith and daily life. Catholics who want to know what happened after Vatican II will find this compelling reading. Copyright ©
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