The essays that comprise this collection offer a penetrating examination of the spiritual condition of 21st-century society and the modern Catholic Church. In a witty but soundly reasoned manner, the moral weakness that epitomizes the contemporary era is berated. Examples from the lives of figures from early and recent church history serve as parables for current cultural crises, and the voices of frustrated parishioners around the world give these situations immediacy. Each chapter vividly demonstrates that the moral dangers of post-Vatican II life are often disguised as mere alternatives...