A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America

"A People Adrift" holds that the Catholic Church in the USA must transform or suffer irreversible decline. Steinfels shows how even before revelations about sexual abuse by priests, the explosive combination of generational change & the thinning ranks of priests & nuns was creating a crisis of leadership & identity. He offers an analysis not just of the church's immediate troubles but of less visible, more powerful forces working below the surface of an institution that provides spiritual identity for 65 million Americans & spans the nation with parishes, schools, clinics, universities, hospitals & social service agencies. He warns that entrenched liberals & conservatives are trapped in a "theo-logical gridlock" that often ignores what actually goes on in families, parishes, classrooms, voting booths & Catholic organizations. The altered landscape demands a new leadership agenda, from the selection of bishops & the rethinking of the priesthood to the preparation & genuine incorporation of a lay leadership that's already taking over key responsibilities in Catholic institutions. Catholicism exerts an enormous cultural & political presence. No one interested in the nation's moral, intellectual & political future can be indifferent to the fate of what has been one of the world's most vigorous churchesAuthor's NoteIntroductionThe battle for Common GroundThe scandal The Church & societyCatholic institutions & Catholic identityAround the altar Passing on the faith Sex & the female church At the helm Conclusion: Finding a futureNotesIndex