Renewal: How a New Generation of Faithful Priests and Bishops Is Revitalizing the Catholic Church

by Anne Hendershott, Christopher White

In the wake of the clergy abuse scandal of the last decade, many media commentators predicted the “end” of the Catholic priesthood. Demands for an end to celibacy, coupled with calls for women’s ordination, dominated discussions on the effectiveness of the Catholic Church in America. Renewal argues that rather than a decline of the priesthood and a diminishing influence of the Catholic Church, we are living in a time of transformation and revitalization. The aging generation of progressives that continues to lobby Church leaders to change Catholic teachings on reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and women's ordination is being replaced by younger men and women who are attracted to the Church because of the very timelessness of its teachings.

Genres: Nonfiction

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some interesting aspects of this book, but overall I had to push through this book. It is full of very specific details about current status and recent events relating especially to the Catholic Church's activities in the social and political sphere, but it was written in 2013 and the elaborate detail it goes into of nitty-gritties of the state of "current affairs" has really dated the book. It's also very specific to the American context, so while it was kind of interesting to hear about what had been happening in the US, as a Canadian, it was not as relevant to me.

I'd recommend this book if you were looking to read up on the dynamics of the tug-of-war between progressive and more traditional Catholics and Catholic organizations/movements in America, especially if you're interested in the events from about 2005-2013. But I think if you are looking for something more high-level, or more about the dynamics of revitalization rather than the specifics, there are other resources that will probably be more helpful - for example, the works of Bishop Barron might be a good place to start.