The Second Vatican Council set out a realisable vision for Church reform. In the forty years since the Council this vision not only has not been realised, but some would say was strangled at birth. There are, however, many within the Church who have remained true to the Spirit-led vision of the Council’s call for renewal and over the years have attempted to articulate this visionIn this volume of essays honouring Seán Fagan, SM, a theologian steeped in the spirit of Vatican II, fourteen contributors look at the church in the modern world. They offer fresh ways to view the problems but, more importantly, work towards practical solutions that are true to the gospel spirit of reaching out to the alienated. In this way, they also offer the disillusioned reasons for staying within the Church.This book, which is non-academic and written in an accessible style, is geared at the general reader interested in reform and renewal in the Church. The contributors (inter alia Charles Curran, Gabriel Daly, Anne Thurston, Seán Fagan, Michael Glazier) are from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and disciplines and the articles reflect this. Topics such as spiritual abuse, Catholic fundamentalism, homosexuality in the Church, the changing nature of families, etc., are of immediate importance to anyone serious about Church reform. The issues are robustly discussed with clear indicators for future action.
Angela Hanley is a co-ordinator in the Priory Institute distance education programme in theology. David Smith is a member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. He is also Visiting Senior Lecturer in Medical Ethics in the Royal College of Surgeons, Director of the MSc in Health Care Ethics and Law in RCSI and invited lecturer in Trinity College, University College Dublin, University College Cork and The Church of Ireland Theological College.
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