In this widely acclaimed book that will long remain an indispensable work on American religion and the Catholic Church; one of its most influential laymen in the United States says that the Roman Catholic Church in America must either reform profoundly or lapse into irreversible decline. In addition to providing a spiritual identity for over 60 million Americans; the church is the nation's largest nongovernmental provider of education and social services; as well as the largest not-for-profit provider of health care. But even before the recent revelations about sex abuse by priests; American Catholicism was already heading for a major crisis; with its traditional leadership depleted by the decline in religious vocations and paralyzed by "theological gridlock." Catholicism in the United States confronts hard choices among contrasting visions for the future; choices with huge implications for American life. Analyzing these choices in ways that escape all the familiar labels of conservative or liberal; Steinfels points to the directions the church must take to survive.
#87943 in Books 2001-05-08 2001-05-08Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x 1.40 x 6.12l; 1.05 #File Name: 0743201299416 pages
Review
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. No Easy Answers.By Hoosier HayseedWhile everyone wants to make history clear-cut and simple; the fact is that it is anything but simple; and even beyond extremely complex.The main thing that we all need to keep firmly in mind is that both Germany and Japan were controlled by people intent on world domination; and with hatred for the U.S. particularly; as a free; Capitalistic government; which was anathema to their attitude of how to obtain what you want from other nations - namely; taking it by force; and killing as many of the resisters as necessary to do it.Being a nation of free people; who had only fairly recently lost a great many sons and husbands in a previous European war; they definitely did not want to do it all over again; and provide fresh meat for the grinder of war in Europe.And so; Roosevelt was faced with a monumental problem: How to alert the U.S. population to the very real dangers of Hitler and Hirohito; which they steadfastly refused to confront; in spite of the fact that both Germany and Japan were slaughtering millions of people already.The predominant anti-war attitude in the U.S. was that we didn't want to get involved; in spite of the fact that England was on the verge of being totally annihilated.We foolishly believed that the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans sheltered us from any personal danger; and we were not about to commit our precious men and treasure to preserve Great Britain; even though they were on the very brink of complete collapse.My personal belief is that he knew full well; far in advance; of exactly what Japan's intentions were; but probably had no idea that they were capable of inflicting anything like as much damage as they ultimately did do.The big question; which I have never seen pursued; is was it really an act of extremely fortunate happenstance that our aircraft carriers just happened to be away from the scene of the carnage; and were preserved to strike back later?In any event; even in the carrier scenario; we were woefully undermanned and outgunned in virtually every department of naval power; not only in the number and size of our battleships compared to Japan; but also the same dismal ratio with the carrier situation.This was in addition to having aircraft which were all drastically inferior to the vaunted Zero; which spelled out the hopelessness of our position.But while it was catastrophic for us to have lost not only the men; but the battleships that were sunk or ruined; the only possible saving grace of the whole situation turned out to be - although it had not been shown prior to this precise time period; which was only months away in the future - that the battleship had become almost totally anachronistic and outdated; and the carrier's time was definitely upon us.Which we were only to discover in the upcoming months and weeks; with the action at Midway.Of course; Japan had already given us the first; very rude lesson in the superiority of the carrier; which we were later to confirm; in spades; at Midway. I find it deliciously ironic that what they did to us at Pearl Harbor; where their intention was to completely obliterate our naval capability; we turned around and did to them - much more completely and effectively than they had done to us - which in essence sealed their fate at that moment; even if they; and even we; did not know it at the time.To add to the irony; just remember that we were "asleep at the switch;" both literally and figuratively; it being early on Sunday morning; when we were mostly still in bed; with our ammunition in the storage bins under lock and key; and the Japanese sucker-punched us almost to total elimination; while what we did to them at Midway was under full combat conditions on both sides.But even then; they were in the midst of another sneak-attack; and we just beat them to the punch.Not that Midway was the end of the Pacific war; by any stretch of the imagination; but at least you could safely say that it was the beginning of the end.Just the sheer size and number of ships manned by Japan should have told us immediately that we were totally outclassed; which we had allowed ourselves to sink to; given the mind-set of the American population.I guess people thought that if you were sufficiently anti-war; just avoiding building up any sort of defensive capability would insulate you against ever needing it.And so; although probably every word in this book is absolutely true; that doesn't cause me to regard Roosevelt as a bad guy; or a traitor; or anything but a very brilliant leader; who was faced with an impossible set of circumstances; and who somehow was able to orchestrate it all into a victorious ending; even though the cost was incredibly high.But at least we persevered. Just think about the alternative: We could have lost even more people; and we might have lost not only the war; but our country as well.Not only was that scenario possible; in Hitler's mind; it was precisely what he had envisioned.4 of 5 people found the following review helpful. If You are interested in Pearl Harbor (WWII) history.....Read this bookBy CustomerThis book seems to be well researched. A lot more important data presented that was not before unavailable.Having read several other books on this topic.....this book connects the dots. Good read for those that strive to find out the truth about what happened at Pearl Harbor.7 of 9 people found the following review helpful. A Solid and Readable Expose'By Charles R. MostRobert Stinnett; in his very readable "Day of Deceit"; has patiently labored over a long period; using the Freedom of Information Act and numerous heretofore hidden private diaries and collections of papers; to pry out considerably more facts than previously had been made public about the conspiracy to involve an unwilling America in World War II. The still widely-accepted myths that American cryptographers could not read the Japanese naval code; that the Japanese fleet maintained strict radio silence during this operation; and that the attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise to the top U.S. and British leaders are all convincingly exploded. The reader will note and appreciate that Stinnett; a naval officer himself at the time; does not stint in carefully documenting the sources; often multiple sources; for his sometimes startling claims and conclusions.It is truly sad that those young American heroes on the ships at Pearl; as well as a generation of veterans; died without being at all aware that they were being purposefully sacrificed.
