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In the 1960s, the Second Vatican Council enacted the most sweeping changes the Catholic Church had seen in centuries. In readable and compelling prose, Mark S. Massa tells the story of the cultural war these changes ignited in the United States - a war that is still being waged today.
Suddenly, one Sunday, the mass as the faithful had always known it was different, and so was the Church they had believed was timeless and unchanging. Once the Church opened the door to change, Massa argues, it could not be closed again. Skirmishes broke out over the proper way to worship. Soon, Catholics were bitterly divided over birth control, abortion, celibacy, female priests, and the authority of the Church itself.
As he narrates these turbulent events, Massa takes us beyond stereotypes of liberals and conservatives, offering new insights into the last fifty years of American Catholicism.
Review Quotes
1.
"With his characteristic clarity and verve, Mark Massa provides a balanced and badly needed analysis of 'the Catholic sixties.' He tells a gripping story of that fateful decade by seeing the great issues revealed through the lenses of specific incidents and personages. He is thus able to hold our attention and, most important, dispel the comforting myth that the issues were frivolous, without merit, and not worthy of revisiting today."
--Rev. John O'Malley, S.J., author of What Happened at Vatican II
"Mark Massa brilliantly identifies historical consciousness as the acid that dissolved the old Catholic certainties. He is equally convincing in demonstrating that the story of Catholicism since Vatican II is an example of the law of unintended consequences. There was no conspiracy of left or right; just an unexpected combination of internal Catholic stresses and a volatile situation in the United States of the sixties and seventies."
--Patrick N. Allitt, Cahoon F
2.
"Massa goes in-depth on the aftermath of Vatican II in this country. This is absolutely essential reading if you want to understand the turmoil and turbulence that occurred in the American Church in the late 1960s."--U.S. Catholic
"That the history Massa recounts is so recent makes his book even more remarkable. He has produced a credible description of the forest while most of us are still busy scrutinizing individual trees. And that he has done so with such grace and humor will win Massa more admirers, not only among scholars but also among the coveted and elusive 'general readers.'"
--America Magazine
"Well-written, accessible, and consistently interesting." -- Worship Magazine
"This is a good read, beautifully written, for those who want to understand what happened in that decade." -- Conscience Magazine
"The American Catholic Revolution is an engaging, accessible, and astute appraisal of twentieth century Catholicism that makes the convincing case for a Catholic tradition defined by change." --Catholic Library World
"Massa offers a keen, captivating study of the Vatican II era and its influence on American Catholicism... Recommended." -- Choice
"With his characteristic clarity and verve, Mark Massa provides a balanced and badly needed analysis of 'the Catholic sixties.' He tells a gripping story of that fateful decade by seeing the great issues revealed through the lenses of specific incidents and personages. He is thus able to hold our attention and, most important, dispel the comforting myth that the issues were frivolous, without merit, and not worthy of revisiting today."
--Rev. John O'Malley, S.J., author of What Happened at Vatican II
"Mark Massa brilliantly identifies historical consciousness as the acid that dissolved the old Catholic certainties. He is equally convincing in demonstrating that the story of Catholicism since Vatican II is an example of the law of unintended consequences. There was no conspiracy of left or right; just an unexpected combination of internal Catholic stresses and a volatile situation in the United States of the sixties and seventies."
--Patrick N. Allitt, Cahoon Family Professor of American History, Emory University
"This is absolutely essential reading if you want to understand the turmoil and turbulaence that occured in the American Church in the Late 1960's."--Ken Trainor, One Man's Guide to Reading on Vatican II
"Massa makes his argument is very readable prose and with many historical facts...."--James F. Garneau, Mount Olive College
