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On the 81st birthday of Pope Benedict XVI it is not inappropriate to reflect on the ambiguous response of Church to the Call of Vatican II for updating as put forth by a predecessor octogenarian Pope John XXIII.

Gaudium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World
SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, December 7, 1965, Introduction #5

“History itself speeds along on so rapid a course that an individual can scarcely keep abreast of it. The destiny of the human community has become all of a piece, where once the various groups of men had a kind of private history of their own. Thus, the human race has passed from a rather static concept of reality to a more dynamic, evolutionary one. In consequence, there has arisen a new series of problems, a series as important as can be, calling for new efforts of analysis and synthesis.” Joseph Gremillion, “The Gospel of Peace and Justice, Catholic Social Teaching since Pope John”, pg 247, copyright © 1976, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, N.Y. 10545

This week I'm coming back from doing a series of lectures in Hawaii. But I learned more about here than I did about there while I was at it.

I learned that it may be more what we do to ourselves than what is done to us that increases or decreases our quality of life.

Reviewed by RACHELLE LINNER

One Hundred Great Catholic Books: From the Early Centuries to the Present By Donald Brophy BlueBridge, 222 pages, $16

The German writer Ida Goerres uses the lovely phrase "book providence" to describe the way "certain books come into our lives at certain times for some God-given purpose." Most people can recognize this in their own experience as readers, whether in the chance conversation that leads to a previously unknown author or a serendipitous discovery made while browsing in a bookstore or library. Donald Brophy's One Hundred Great Catholic Books will surely mediate book providence for countless readers. Mr. Brophy, for many years an editor for Paulist Press, reminds us that great Catholic books are "your friends and companions on the journey." He advises, "Treasure them, hold them close."

The criteria for inclusion in the book, Mr. Brophy writes, was a work's "interest to general readers ... books that people today can actually 'read.' There was some effort made to show the wide range of Catholic writing without loading the volume down with moral or systematic theology." A variety of genres are represented, including poetry, fiction, apologetics, biography, memoirs, history, theology and, most prominently, spirituality. All the books on Mr. Brophy's list are currently available in print or online, and he includes an afterward of 50 more books he recommends and a helpful appendix with publication and translation information.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Washington, D.C.

In what is likely to be the most substantive and programmatic speech of his six-day trip to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the country’s Catholic bishops tonight, referring to the sexual abuse of children as an “evil” and bluntly conceding that the recent crisis in the church was “sometimes very badly handled.”

The language on sexual abuse will likely dominate news reports and after-the-fact discussion of the pope's speech this evening in Washington’s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, but in reality the pope covered a great deal of additional ground. It merits a quick recap, especially given that many bishops were listening carefully to the speech for indications of how the pope wants to frame the future agenda of Catholicism in America.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Washington, D.C.

When talk of a papal visit to the United States in 2008 first began to circulate, some voices in the American church, including at least two cardinals, pressed for Benedict XVI to visit Boston. As the epicenter of the sexual abuse crisis, or so this argument went, Boston would give the pope an opportunity to tackle the recent scandals head-on.