Rev. Michael J. Buckley,
S.J.), the Medieval Church (Dr. Catherine M. Mooney), the Tridentine and Baroque
Church (the Rev. Thomas F. O’Meara, O.P.), the Church in the 19th Century (the
Rev. Michael J. Himes, also the editor) and Vatican II (Dr. Richard R. Gaillardetz).

Panelists agree the Church is always in need of reform. As Father Himes observes, “If
you try to stand still, the world moves around you, and you aren’t where you
thought you were.”

Sin and crisis are not new phenomena in the Church, Harrington notes. In fact, the
first century was not the golden age of untroubled growth that we imagine. Paul’s
First Letter to the Corinthians contains reference to problems similar to those facing
the Church today.

During the first millennium of Church history, the laity had a voice in the selection
of their ownTHE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE 21st CENTURY: Finding Hope for Its
Future in the Wisdom of Its Past from St.
Francis Bookshop.

Reviewed by PAT McCLOSKEY, O.F.M., editor of this publication. As a high school
freshman, he missed five minutes of Latin class because of bells ringing to mark
the start of Vatican II.

THE LIMITED SPACE HERE prevents me from doing full justice to this excellent volume
of interviews with 32 men and one woman who were present in Rome during all or part
of Vatican II.

Originally, this book was meant to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Constitution
on the Sacred Liturgy (December 4, 2003). Eventually, people involved in other
aspects of the Council were included.

The interviewees include 13 men who were bishops at the Council, nine experts or
staff persons, three theologians and eight observers or