The American Catholic Revolution: How the Sixties Changed the Church Forever

About this book

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.