A collection of essays on history of the Catholic Church and how the history is involved in shaping the church's present.
The author, who is Jesuit priest and church historian, is presenting the historical backgrounds (mostly European, as the history of the church is based mostly there) and how the roots of some decisions were shaped. In this book he is concerned mostly with the biggest church events - the councils, namely the Trent Council and the second Vatican council, about their differences, similarities, results and consequences.

I am a Catholic from the European country with both the ling Catholic tradition and the post-communist reality. In this context the reading was bith very interesting (mind you, I am not church historian. But also mind you, I am walking around the medieval churches when going to work, so I am also a bit more connected with the culture that non-Europeans (no offense, just stating the facts)) as it was a bit disturbing, to be honest. Not given the facts, per se. Any Catholic these days is confronted with the painful failures of the individuals and maybe even the institutional ones to have his faith and Catholic identity evaluated and re-evaluated and even confronted. But I also see the beauty, the service, the love. And the spirit, or Spirit involved. In this context I was able to identify some personal opinions/inclinations of the author, his "trying to shake things a bit". Nothing wrong with that! But when one is saying A, they shoud say B, too (as the saying goes in my country).

Having said all that, I still consider the book an interesting and useful read. One should really know their past to understand their present -and to be able to evaluate and shape (if needed) accordingly. And, most importantly, one should listen to God who knows the past, the present and the future the best. This I am saying in accordance with Socrates and his 'I know I know nothing'.