This personal history of the American Catholic Church during writer Carroll's lifetime traces the transformation of a medieval institution, suspicious of American ideas of freedom and democracy, into a church that has begun to embrace basic American principles of pluralism and respect for conscience. The book tells the story of heroes (Pope John XXIII, Thomas Merton, Cardinal Richard Cushing, William Sloane Coffin), and great events (Vatican II, the Kennedys, the end of the Cold War). Considering the new meaning of belief in a secular world, it stands against the fundamentalisms of "neo-atheists" as well as of born-again Christians. The book shows how and why the world needs a renewed, rational, vital Catholic Church. For Carroll, faith is a practice--like all practice, it aims at getting better.--From publisher description.

An evaluation of America's impact on Catholicism draws on the author's life and experiences to trace the church's transformation from a reactionary monolith to an institution in which the deepest aspects of faith are being re-examined.