A wonderful, cultured book written by a master wordsmith. I agree with Alvin Kimmel's review, below, that it is difficult to describe this book because it touches so many areas - the personal aspects of faith, history, theology, etc. One of the things that impressed me most was Fr. Neuhaus's gentle and classy dissection of heterodox approaches to Catholicism.

For many of us Catholics used to so much diplomatic language that sounds like nothing really is being said, Fr. Neuhaus can always be counted on to speak strongly and directly. For example, in the first chapters he carefully but pointedly takes note that we Catholics do in fact believe that the Catholic Church, with the Pope in Rome at her head, is indeed the fullest expression of the Church of Christ on earth. That is a bit much for too many to take, but it is indeed what the Roman Catholic Church teaches and believes. It is a matter of simple honesty to state it.

In other chapters, Neuhaus, like George Weigel, does not hesitate to take issue with the dissenters within the Church. But most important of all is Neuhaus' personal testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ is the answer to all the questions posed by all our lives. As he writes, the Gospel of Christ is the "meta-narrative" that encompasses all the stories of our individual lives and of our different cultures. As such, we do the world the greatest favor by proposing the Gospel to the whole world. Neuhaus is a realist, but a realist who knows that truth is attainable, that good has the final victory, and that we can rejoice in the gift of Jesus Christ. The reader will find the bracing language and testimony of Fr. Neuhaus a breath of fresh air from all the equivocation and blandness we get from so many other writers on matters Catholic.