Customer Reviews

The Desolate City: Revolution in the Catholic Church

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Many books have been written criticizing the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council, but this one, besides being very well written, expresses a sense of sadness and loss about what was left behind in the Church's rush to modernize that few other writers have ever achieved. While she summarizes the struggles between liberals and conservatives in the US and Canadian Church very well the best parts, in my opinion, are when she writes about her personal experiences as a lonely faithful fighting against a relentless liberal bureaucracy bent on imposing its will despite what Vatican II actually wrote, what the pope has to say on the subject, or what individual lay people think. I have read it over and over - it's that good - and recommend this book to anybody interested in the subject. It was written in 1986 and updated a few years later, so by now it is a little obsolete.

This was an eye opening book on the forces within the Catholic Church who tried to turn the Church into a form of liberal Protestantism.
Anne Roche Muggeridge first examines the forces of modernism that started in the early 20th century, the truly revealing part of the book however are the sections of the book that cover the time immediatly before, during and after Vactican II leading to Paul VI's encyclical Humane Vitae.
The usual suspects are present including Schillebeeckx, Kung, Curran, Chardin, Rahner etc, etc. The lesson we Catholics who are faithful to the Magisterium can learn from this book is that dissenting Catholics hide there intentions behind orthodox language and obfuscation.
Muggeridge shows that the liberal Catholics purposefully hid their intentions to try to force their agenda on Catholics during Vacican II.
The book was written in 1986 so it only touches on the "Counter Revolution" started by Paul VI with Humanae Vitae , continued by John Paul II and is being fought today by Benedict XVI.
Excellent book with a wealth of information in its 194 pages.

The best book on Vatican II that I have read.

Highly recommended

Being a former fallen away Catholic, I endeavor to get as many historical perspecpitives on Vatican II and the cultural forces that led me and my family away from Catholicism. Another great book in this category. Recommended.