Customer Reviews

The Resilient Church: The Glory, the Shame, & the Hope for Tomorrow

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This book sets a new standard for popular writing about the Catholic Church--smart, brightly written, faithful.

Mike's a great storyteller and he weaves the story of the Church against the backdrop of world history. We see how popes, saints, and ordinary clergy and laypeople lived and spread the faith in the face of Caesars, czars, revolutionaries, fuhrers, dictators, and all manner of fanaticism, heresy, and false ideology. His chapters on the rise of the early Church, the Reformation, and the Crusades are brilliant and reflect the best of recent scholarship. If you think you know what these events were really all about, think again.

Mike's clear-eyed about the failures of Catholics over the centuries. But he's also intelligent and faithful enough to remember that the Church is no ordinary human institution--that it's the family of God, the sign and instrument of our Father's plan for the world.

"The Resilient Church" should be required reading for every pastor and everyone who works for the Church. Not to mention every Catholic who wants to know his birthright and family heritage.

I read this over the course of two days waiting around on jury duty. After each chapter, I'd call up my wife and say, "did you know...?" and repeat the whole chapter to her from memory. The writing is that good--the sketches from church history stick in you head and make you want to tell someone else.

I never made the connection that the Cure of Ars was the Church's answer to Napoleon.

Or that anti-Catholicism was so bad in the U.S. that in 1844 the mayor of Philadelphia, John Morin Scott, lead a group to prevent St. Augustine's Church from being burned down. Instead he was beaten senseless and the church was burned anyway. And they mayor wasn't even Catholic--he was Protestant.

Or the Vatican had blank baptismal certificates printed up during WW2 to help save the lives of Jews. It is estimated that the Church saved 800,000 Jews in Italy.

and on and on. A fantastic book.

Mike Aquilina's books on Catholic culture and history (e.g., The Fathers of the Church, Expanded Edition) are not to be missed. The Resilient Church is an effortless, respectful look at a number of episodes in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Not a comprehensive history (or even an attempt at a concise one), this book offers readers a number of vignettes from the life of the Church, through its encounters with heresy and holiness, scandal and salvation. Political events find their way in, but Aquilina's focus is on the Church as exemplifying one particular virtue: perseverance. Inasmuch as all Christian history is the story of a divine marriage, Christ and his Church, consider this book as an honest and sometimes humbling memoir of how that, as yet not fully consummated, marriage plays out in the lives of the faithful across millennia. It's an excellent read, and while not scholarly, the reader is bound to find something of interest. I particularly enjoyed the treatment of the Crusades. Inasmuch as the history of the West largely cannot be understood outside the history of the Church, this book is recommended for all.

This pint-sized page-turner hits point after point of Church history and at the same time successfully invites the reader to view something of a Catholic family album. Aquilina's style is beautifully descriptive and reads like a script for the history channel. The breadth of topics make a great starting point for further investigation--not intimidating, but very satisfying.

As the author says in the Introduction: "This book is not a chronicle or even, strictly speaking, a history. It covers only a sampling of years from just a few spots on the globe." This being said, it succeeds in its goal of covering key events throughout the history of the Church from the early martyrs of Roman persecution through the priest scandals of our present decade. In between, we're reminded of or introduced to (depending on the reader's knowledge of history) key figures and events in the history of the world and the Church. For example, we're told of the earliest apologists, like Justin Martyr. Great intellects of the early Constantine-liberated Church like Ambrose, Augustine, and Cyril of Jerusalem. Also, the effects of the rise of Islam and its related persecutions of Christians leading to the First Crusade and the Spanish expulsion of Muslims. Then a jump to the split of Martin Luther and his followers, Henry VIII, and subsequent Protestant fractioning. Spaniards Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross give the Church hope as Protestantism rapidly spreads. During this time expansion in the New World and the trials and tribulations there, including poor treatment of the natives in too many cases, is highlighted. The appearance of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego leads to the conversion of millions just as many Europeans leave the Church for Protestantism. The French Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries led to severe anti-Catholicism and repression. This anti-Catholicism was very prominent in America as well, with much persecution of immigrants, particularly the Irish. Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII of the late 19th century saw the demise of the Papal States and the fight against Modernism. The spirituality of the 20th century was most influenced by Therese of Lisieux in her short, hidden life. World War II is explicated through: its chief villains (Hitler and Mussolini) who, aside from the tragic attempt to exterminate the Jews, killed many priest, nuns, and lay Christians, and; the popes who opposed them (Pius XI and Pius XII) through word (encyclicals and letters) and deed (particularly saving many Roman Jews). The latter part of the 20th century saw the influential Second Vatican Council and the popular and long-serving Pope John Paul II and his fight against Communism.

Undoubtedly, some will argue that certain persons or events should have been included, but were not. Yet the author does a fine job of covering a lot of ground in an interesting and accessible way. Certain insights sprinkled throughout the book are very valuable. For example, martyrdom in the early Church as a sacrifice and how it relates to Jesus' sacrifice and the Eucharist. Also, certain little known figures, like the interesting story of the first priest to celebrate Mass in the New World, are brought forth. The "Closer Look" sections at the end of all chapters but the last generally focus on a deeper treatment, usually of individuals, of the era covered in the preceding chapter (the story of the first Catholic bishop of Charleston, John England, is particularly fascinating).

The author, as the subtitle indicates, does not shy away from problems that have been caused by certain Church members but he does not dwell on them either. There will be "glory" and "shame" in an institution in which frail humans are involved. This is valuable insight for Catholics and non-Catholics alike, especially those with misconceptions about the Church.

In this relatively short book the author cannot go into great detail on any topic but does an excellent job of providing an overview of certain events. His discussion of the French Revolution stands out as an excellent summary of this era in European history. And the terrible persecutions of Catholic Americans leads us to appreciate the freedom we have to practice religion today. For the student of Church history or secular history it whets the appetite leaving the reader wanting more.

That being said, my main suggestion for enhancing the book would be a "For Further Reading" section at the end of each chapter. One can look to the footnotes, but these are not generally as helpful as would be a list of supplemental materials for the reader who wants to go deeper into a particular topic.

Philip Jenkins is quoted in the last chapter: "The best indicator that Christianity is about to experience a vast expansion is a widespread conviction that the religion is doomed or in its closing days." Then the author goes on, in an excellent one page summary, to show how that has happened throughout Church history, nicely wrapping up the book.

Quick overview of the trials of the Church and how they were overcome. A good reminder that the Church has always had sinners who drag her down and also the saints provided by God in his faithfulness ... who keep her going and provide our hope for the future.

I admit that as with all the other books I've read of Mr. Aquilina, my only disappointment is that it is too short. I found myself engaged from the first page. He does such a great job of covering the facts (most of which are new to me, as I have a secular education - so it was not friendly to the Church), I find myself feeling as if I know the people and places he is covering.

It saddens me that so much of what he wrote is rarely discussed in academia. The "enlightenment" has done so much to curtail true discourse in our western culture that the deepest parts of our being are left for gentile murmurings in church basements or hushed snippets in the hallway.

After reading this book, I came away feeling stronger and more enabled to stand up for the truth of the Church, knowing that it isn't me or the priests, Bishops or religious who maintain the Church, but God Himself inspite of all of us.

Thanks, Mike, for another great book!

What a lovely book!

It could be subtitled "A brief history of the Christian world," but with much more reverence than Mel Brooks could muster. It is filled with interesting anecdotes that would appeal even to non-believers.

Aquilina aptly quotes G. K. Chesterton : "Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave." This book deftly illustrates some of the different paths Christians have so followed their Master.

A great resource in the good fight of religious literacy. Minor points of clarification needed (e.g. page 86: the Church neither excommunicates nor condemns anyone; people choose to place themselves in a state of excommunication, and behaviors--not people--are condemned in the Church's eyes). An interesting exercise would be for a small group of adults to read this book alongside the index in the Catechism of the Catholic Church--looking up points in the Catechism where various people mentioned in Aquilina's book are quoted or referred to in elucidating doctrine. Again--a really great resource bound to be helpful for many adults seeking or recapturing the timeless truths of Faith.

Though there are much more thorough and more entertaining books summarizing Church history, this is a good one for people who don't wish to go too deep and do not wish to be too contentious. There are a lot of contentious points in the 2000 year history of the Church that could be discussed. This book does not pull punches but paints a balanced view. Personally, I enjoyed Crocker's book more.