"The Catholic Answer" reviews Dr. Alan Schreck

"More than 40 years after the Second Vatican Council, its nature and consequences remain at the center of heated debates within the Church. Was its authority somehow less binding than that of earlier councils because it was 'pastoral?' Were its documents intentionally ambiguous? Has the Church backed away in recent years from the council's teachings? Did the council lead to the renewal of the liturgy, or to its corruption? Did it bring the Church into the world, or worldliness into the Church? Alan Schreck, [in "Vatican II: The Crisis and the Promise"] handles these and other thorny issues in this carefully measured evaluation. First, he allows the council's critics to speak, both those who believe its reforms went too far, and those who think they didn't go far enough. Next, he describes the crisis in the Church since the council, which he summarzies as a 'loss of true Catholic identity and a betrayal of authentic Catholic teaching.' Schreck then challenges the notion that the crisis was caused by the council. He offers instead the common observation that the trouble comes from 'distortions, partial presentations and misunderstandings of the council's teaching.' So the solution must be clear: We must 'educate Catholics in the authentic teaching of the Second Vatican Council.' The remainder of the book is the author's contribution to that desperately needed education. He introduces the major figures in the council; provides a time line of council events; briefly describes the conciliar documents; and examines their key teachings in a helpful question-and-answer format. The most severe critics of Vatican II will not likely be satisfied with Schreck's defense of the council. Nevertheless, his useful analysis should generate more light than heat."