Why I Am a CatholicIn this provocative work, which could not be timelier, Garry Wills, one of our country's most noted writers and historians, offers a powerful statement of his Catholic faith. Beginning with a reflection on his early experience of that faith as a child and later as a Jesuit seminarian, Wills reveals the importance of Catholicism in his own life. He goes on to challenge, in clear and forceful terms, the claim that criticism or reform of the papacy is an assault on the faith itself. For Wills, a Catholic can be both loyal and critical, a loving child who stays with his father even if the parent is wrong. |
Contents
Saint Marys and Campion | 13 |
Jesuit Days | 21 |
Chesterton | 31 |
Encyclicals | 43 |
CHURCH WITHOUT PAPAL PRIMACY | 53 |
Peter | 57 |
Paul | 70 |
Rome Mediating | 78 |
Reign of Terror | 208 |
THE VATICAN II CHURCH | 223 |
The Great Rebirth | 226 |
Born to Set Times Right | 239 |
Fighting Vatican II | 255 |
Living Vatican II | 271 |
The Popes Loyal Opposition | 282 |
THE CREED | 293 |
Rome Meddling | 85 |
Rome and the East | 93 |
Rome Turns West | 109 |
FORMS OF PAPAL PRIMACY | 123 |
Forgeries and Populism | 127 |
Rise of the Secular State and the Church Council | 142 |
Renaissance and Reformation | 154 |
Trent and England | 165 |
Ancien Regime and Revolution | 178 |
War on Democracy | 190 |