The Good Enough Catholic: A Guide for the Perplexed

by Paul Wilkes

Overview

The acclaimed author of "And They Shall Be My People" presents an inspiring look at the endurance of Catholicism in the face of a changing Church and challenged believers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345409621
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/21/1997
Edition description:	1ST TRADE
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Paul Wilkes's writing on religious belief and spirituality has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and other magazines both in the United States and abroad. He wrote and directed the acclaimed PBS documentary on Thomas Merton, Merton: A Film Biography, and is the author of many books, most recently The Good Enough Catholic.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Good Enough Catholic"
by .
Copyright © 1997 Paul Wilkes.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

Taking the "good enough" concept from Bruno Bettelheim's The Good Enough Parent, layman Wilkes (In Mysterious Ways: The Death and Life of a Parish Priest, LJ 9/1/90) transfers it to today's Catholic faithful, who face complex challenges in a time of profound transformation in their church. Asserting that the church is experiencing a spiritual adolescence, he offers readable and practical suggestions to guide conflicted and imperfect but sincere seekers toward a moral life within the church. Wilkes reviews thorny issues such as celibacy, birth control, papal authority, and women's ordination, with references to historical contexts and theological developments over the centuries. He recommends "thoughtful obedience" as the church moves into the new millennium. Realistic and refreshingly positive in tone, this book is interspersed with relevant quotations on personal views by Catholics from all walks of life. It might well be used as a guide for parish discussion groups. Recommended especially for Catholic collections.-Anna M. Donnelly, St. John's Univ. Lib., N.Y.

Library Journal