Reclaiming Vatican II (Study Guide for Individual and Group Use): What It (Really) Said, What It Means, and How It Calls Us to Renew the Church

By Blake Britton

During the past five decades, the Second Vatican Council has been alternately celebrated or maligned for its supposed break with tradition and embrace of the modern world. But what if we've gotten it all wrong? Have Catholics--both those who embrace the spirit of Vatican II and those who regard it with suspicion--misunderstood what the council was really about?

Fr. Blake Britton discovered the truth and beauty of the council while he was in seminary and he has witnessed firsthand the power of its teachings in the life of his own parish. In Reclaiming Vatican II, Britton presses beyond the political narrative foisted upon the post-conciliar Church and contends that Vatican II was neither conservative nor liberal, but something much more beautiful and challenging.

Britton clears up misconceptions about the council and reveals how--when properly understood and applied--it fosters a richer experience of being the Church.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 164680029X
• ISBN13: 9781646800292
• Release Date: October 2021
• Publisher: Ave Maria Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Fair, Intelligent, Charitable, Must Read!

This book is fair, intelligent, and charitable! Fr. Blake offers a chapter on history concerning the Second Vatican Council, a chapter on each major document of the Council, the Church and the modern world, and what to do moving forward. Fr. Blake cuts through problematic categories of "liberal" and "Trad" Catholics that are so popularly in use by Catholics today. Instead, Fr. Blake talks about what he terms the "paracouncil" which is not Vatican II itself, but what people think the Council is and what is being reacted to. He offers what I would consider quite an accurate and charitable characterization of people who refer to themselves as "Traditionalist." I recommend this book for all Catholics as well as anyone just trying to understand the Second Vatican Council. I would even recommend this to anyone coming into the Church so that they can get a lay of the land. Fr. Blake is not liberal nor a Traditionalist - he is simply a Catholic and is in love with the Church!