Includes bibliography.

The Question of Catholicity -- The Self–Understanding of the Catholic Church -- The Church : Christian and Catholic -- How Much Change Can the Catholic Church Stand? -- The Question of Catholicity -- Faith and Dogma -- The Crisis of Faith -- Questions and Doubts -- Some Areas of Doubt -- Does Doctrine Change? -- Does Doctrine Change? -- Faith and Dogma -- The Limits of Orthodoxy -- Theology and Dogma -- The Theologian in the Church -- Theology or Ideology? -- Can Faith Exist Without Theology? -- Orthodoxy and Orthopraxis -- Scripture and Tradition -- Tradition -- Tradition and Traditions -- Scripture and Tradition -- Magisterium and Dissent -- The Pope, the Bishops, and Contemporary Theology -- The Teaching Magisterium -- The Meaning and Scope of Magisterium Teach? -- Interpreting Conciliar Statements -- The Problem of the Papacy -- Infallibility -- Apostolic Succession -- Collegiality -- Uniformity vs. Pluriformity -- Authority in the Church -- The Pope and Birth Control -- "The Credo of the People of God" -- Bishops and Pastors: A Job Description -- Ordained Ministry and the Ministry of the Whole Church -- The Crisis of Hope

Father McBrien writes directly, succinctly and cogently of the meaning of Catholicism crisis troubling many people today. The work, each chapter of which is accompanied by questions for group discussion, will appeal to those concerned, sensitive and critical enough to know that the usual answers to the question "Who is a Catholic?" no longer suffice. It treats, in a manner designed to provoke discussion and not to settle it, the following: What is the self-understanding of Church? -- How much change can Church stand? How is the Catholic faith related to the dogma of the Church? Can faith exist with doubt? Can faith exist without theology? What is the relationship between the Bible and tradition? What is the scope of authority in the Church? -- Can a Catholic doubt what the Bishops and the Pope teach? -- What is the meaning of infallibility? Should Catholics have any voice in the selection of their leaders? Is there any point to being, becoming, or remaining a Catholic? This magnificent survey of the fundamental questions asked by Catholics today is accompanied by appendix of suggestions for further reading and detailed response to the numerous questions asked of Father McBrien in his hundreds of lectures throughout every part of the United States.