Beyond Vatican II: The Church at a New Crossroads [Paperback]

I wish that this book could be distributed to every newly-ordained priest. It gives a strong argument for the author's views of the roots of the Church's present crisis, while pointing to a way out, with the hope that Pope Benedict XVI possesses the unique gifts and temperament to launch the exodus from the post-conciliar fog in earnest.
While ardent Catholics know that something has gone amiss in the Church over the past 40 years (e.g., why Church teachings have been permitted to go blatantly contradicted in Catholic schools, parishes, and universities?), Barthe persuasively argues that the present crisis is not due to the Council itself (properly interpreted) or the inabilities of Church leaders, but rather, "in the fact that [the Church's pastors] have fobidden themselves to grasp the rudder, that they have concretely renounced the act of binding and loosing along with the supreme authority, that of judging things of the Faith in the name of Christ" (58-59).
The author provides example after example of Papal and Curial documents that have been issued to "plug the holes" in the boat, only to be met by a "shrug of the shoulders" from those who ignore and dissent from the Church's Magisterium--dissent and disobedience, which is tacitly accepted so that it has now become "possible to profess heterodoxies while remaining within the camp" (59).
Thus, the reluctance of the Church's shepherds to use their authority has resulted in a collapse in unified belief--a situation he describes as "to each his own Credo"--so that the Cathoilc Church has become a virtual "federation" of churches, who, in reality, no longer all share the common apostolic Faith as was the case prior to Vatican II.
In the final portion of the book, the author highlights the unique gifts and skills of the current Pontiff, and gives an optimistic appraisal of the chances of a resurgence and strengthening of the Church's traditional mission and authority during this Pontificate.
Barthe also gives an excellent survey of the various "political" groups and personalities that have been battling for control of the Church in past decades. Interestingly, Barthe says that as recently as 1998 a Papal Conclave could have conceivably produced a "center-left" Pope (a la Cardinal Martini), who would have pushed for a "democratic Church"--i.e., the dissolution of the Church as we know it. However, the latter years of the pontificate of John Paul II produced a consensus of power in the "center-right" (aka, the sympathizers with the "Communio" group--think Cardinals Medina, Schotte, Pell, Bertone, Schonborn, Castrillon-Hoyos, et al.), which elected Joseph Ratzinger to the Chair of Peter.
This book pulls no punches as to the seriousness of the Church's current crisis (above all in Europe, where the author resides), but offers a hopeful assessment of a possible light at the end of the tunnel. Readers should note that the author is a former member of the Society of St. Pius X, but has permission from Rome to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass and is in good standing with the Vatican. Because of this, he spends a good deal of time treating issues that will be more of interest to traditionalist-minded Catholics such as the status of the "universal indult" to celebrate the old rite. Moreover, he does not hide his misgivings regarding the reformed liturgy (i.e., the "Mass of Paul VI") Regardless of whether you agree with his liturgical views, this review only scratches the surface of Barthe's many interesting thoughts, and the book deserves to be widely read and distributed.

I had hoped that Beyond Vatican II would describe pros and cons of
Vatican II. The book has much verbage but says little.

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