The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful Are Shaping a New American Catholicism – How the Crisis Unleashes Forces of Lasting Change

by David Gibson

Rather than chronicling the well-reported sexual abuse scandal or advocating a particular reform agenda, David Gibson shows how the crisis in the church is unleashing forces that will change American Catholicism forever.

Genres: Religion

366 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the take of this convert to Catholicism and think the book is well-researched, even with its ambitious scope. The chapter on clericalism is especially on-target. I just don't feel the same hopefulness that David Gibson does. And, it might have something to do with me being a cradle Catholic -- and female. I don't see any sharing of power by the hierarchy; I see retrenching. I agree the church is at a crossroads. But I think the church's defensiveness makes it more likely it will ponder and nag itself into irrelevance than undergo a revolution "from below."

[David Szatkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a decent book but dated (published 2002). However, worth noting is that many (if not all) of the suggestions that Gibson proposes as helpful to the Church have come about in various forms over the last 15 years or so.

[Whitney Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was rather educational in reading about what had happened during the scandals of 2002 and seeing that over time they have started to get remedied so that they can start to become few in number.