WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN WHEN TWO OF THE MOST EXPANSIVE AND ORIGINAL Catholic thinkers of our times engage in a discussion on issues that profoundly affect our understanding of the Church past, present and future? In a two-year correspondence with Malachi Martin, Wolfgang Smith broaches a wide spectrum of topics, to which Fr. Martin responds in a way that may surprise many readers. What ultimately stands at issue is the meaning of authentic Catholicity--the universality of Catholic truth.

It emerges from the exchange that when it comes to this fundamental issue, theologians have long been...