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The authors Wrenn and Whitehead must be commended for their work in producing this important volume. The laity of the Church (especially here in the States) have not been well served in recent years by an elitist body of dissident theologians and their "parrots" in the catechetical organizations of the Church and local parishes. The bishops (perhaps because they also were not pleased by the quality of catechesis in the Church) moved to have a new and updated Univeral Cathechism produced for the whole Church. Many years of work and input from bishops from all over the world (not to mention working committees and the Holy Father himself) resulted in a one-volume book the intent of which was to, in as simple language as possible, 1)provide a reliable reference guide for the bishops themselves, and 2)serve as the basis and starting-point for catechetical programs produced subsequent to it. Unfortunately, in many cases it didn't work out that way. This book clearly reveals why. It names names and does not protect the guilty. What Wrenn and Whitehead have done is give us a Rosetta Stone of sorts, deciphering the "newspeak" (to borrow from Orwell) the critics of the Catechism employ when "critiquing" the text of the Cathechism. If the reader of this review has read the Catechism but wonders why their parish Adult Formation coordinator never refers to it (but is famous for distributing "hand-outs" which purport to "explain" a doctrine of the Church, but which conveniently omit any mention of what the Catechism says) this book will go far to provide a possible explanation. Wrenn and Whitehead are to be commended for this unique and timely volume.

The authors of this book have a traditionalist/"conservative" orientation (i.e., supporting the traditional Catholic orthodoxy, such as John Paul II advocated), and not surprisingly take a rather dim view of "radical feminists," "extreme environmentalism," liberation theology, and other more "liberal" perspectives on Catholicism. Nevertheless, this book is a highly-informative prsentation of the history and issues that led up to the issuance of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Second Edition in 1992, and the English-language edition in 1994.

The authors begin by pointing out that, contrary to expectations for thick, complex "religious" books, "The Catechism of the Catholic Church quickly became a best-seller in country after country, as successive translations of it appeared. Within a year after its publication, over three million copies of it in nine languages had already been printed and distributed ... By the summer of 1995, well over eight million copies of the book in some twenty languages had been sold."

They trace the need for a new Catechism (there had been no previous "universal" Catechism since the post-Reformation Council of Trent) to earlier documents such as the 1971 General Catechetical Directory, which "was one of the first official Church documents to recognize that the faith was endangered also from WITHIN the Church, in the minds and hearts of many members of the Church, who ... tuned in more sympathetically to the world's often alluring but false message."

The authors note with pleasure that the Church's traditional teachings on subjects such as Original Sin, Purgatory, the perpetual virginity of Mary, Transubstantiation, limiting the priesthood to males, indissolubility of marriage, contraception, and homosexual acts are "only a few of the traditional Church teachings that the Catechism unhesitatingly reaffirms, even though certain supposedly up-to-date theologians and others ... have tried to convince the faithful that these same points have been 'changed' since Vatican II."

Why did it take two years for an English-language translation to be issued? In the words of the authors, because "The original translation was made using the so-called 'inclusive language' favored by radical feminists." That's expressed rather more harshly than necessary, but that certainly was one of the major reasons for the delay.

The authors note with approval the extensive process of review the Catechism had gone through ("this was the first time in the history of the Catholic Church that a major teaching document such as this was ever subjected to such a worldwide, massive consultation process"). They also opine (rather unkindly) that "those who rush to judge the Catechism only to find it so drastically wanting would appear not to believe very strongly in the divine mission and commission of the Catholic Church or in the promises given to her by Jesus Christ."

It's an opinionated book; but if you agree with the authors' opinions, or if you are willing to ignore some of their uncharitable statements, there is a lot of information in the book that can be of value to readers interested in Catholic issues and controversies.