THE CHURCH ON THE MOVE

Father Purdy, Roman correspondent for the English review The Tablet, studies in this book the policies and practices of two great, but utterly different, popes of the twentieth century: Pius XII and John XXIII. Considering individually the great issues of the modern Church, he outlines the contrasting but often complementary thought of the two popes on such matters as the relationship between democracy and the Church, communism and socialism, war, the role of the Catholic layman, social justice, anti-Semitism, religious liberty, the Bible, bureaucrats in the Church, and the liturgy. As is obvious from that approach, The Church on the Move is more a record of the modern genesis of conciliar reform in the Catholic Church than (as the title might suggest) an appraisal of the present situation of the reform movement. As such, the book has much value as a plausible reconciliation of the policies and objectives of the two pontiffs, a value enhanced by Purdy's scholarly acumen, sense of historical perspective, and journalistic expertise. The rather academic nature of the subject, however, makes The Church on the Move a work that will appeal only to a rather intellectually inclined Catholic audience.