Practicing Catholic / James Carroll.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Carroll, James, 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Carroll, James, 1943-.

Carroll, James.

Catholics--Biography.

Catholics.

Catholic Church--History--20th century.

Catholic Church.

History.

Catholic Church--History--21st century.

Catholic Church--Doctrines.

Genre:

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

ix, 385 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

Summary:

This personal history of the American Catholic Church during writer Carroll's lifetime traces the transformation of a medieval institution, suspicious of American ideas of freedom and democracy, into a church that has begun to embrace basic American principles of pluralism and respect for conscience. The book tells the story of heroes (Pope John XXIII, Thomas Merton, Cardinal Richard Cushing, William Sloane Coffin), and great events (Vatican II, the Kennedys, the end of the Cold War). Considering the new meaning of belief in a secular world, it stands against the fundamentalisms of "neo-atheists" as well as of born-again Christians. The book shows how and why the world needs a renewed, rational, vital Catholic Church. For Carroll, faith is a practice--like all practice, it aims at getting better.--From publisher description.

Contents:

Born Catholic

The God of my youth

Coming of age

The council

A new language

Sex and power

Thou art a priest

The scandal

Religion and terror

A writer's faith.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 330-360) and index.

ISBN:

9780618670185

0618670181

OCLC:

245022073

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description