Why I Am a Catholic

Garry Wills

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780618380480
• eBook ISBN: 9780547526676
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Biographies

An "intellectually satisfying, and spiritually moving," argument for a questioning, conscience-driven faith, by a New York Times bestselling author ( Booklist).
 
Pulitzer Prize winner Garry Wills has been asked more than once why he remains in the Church, especially in the wake of his bestselling book Papal Sins, which examined the darker side of the religion's history. In Why I Am a Catholic, he offers some persuasive and heartfelt answers.
 
Beginning with a reflection on his early experiences as a child, and later as a Jesuit seminarian, Wills reveals the importance of Catholicism in his own life. He discusses G.K. Chesterton, a personal hero whose writings brought him comfort after he left the seminary. He goes on to challenge, in clear and forceful terms, the claim that criticism or reform of the papacy is an assault on the faith itself. For Wills, a Catholic can be both loyal and critical, a loving child who stays with his father even if the parent makes mistakes.
 
Why I Am a Catholic also goes beyond his personal experiences to present a sweeping narrative covering two thousand years of Catholicism, revealing that the papacy, far from being an unchanging institution, has been transformed dramatically over the millennia—and can be reimagined in the future. At a time when the Church faces various crises and struggles, Garry Wills offers an important look at both its past and its future, in a book that is  "one part autobiography, three parts history, and one part confession of faith" ( Booklist).
 
"It is a great satisfaction to have the Church's history analyzed by a mind so critical but still so in love." — The New Yorker

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L |M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Note: Ecclesiastical councils appear under the name of the place in which they were held.

A

Aaron (Biblical figure), 73

Abel (Biblical figure), 73, 74

Abelard, Peter, 134, 136, 275

Abiram (Biblical figure), 73

Abortion, 51, 272, 273, 279

Acacian schism, 98–100, 104

Acacius (patriarch of Constantinople), 98, 100

Achaea, 259

Action Française, 204

Acton, Harold, 105, 157, 159–60, 170–73, 210, 275–77, 283, 290

Acts of Saint Processus and Martinianus (“Linus”), 76

Adam (Biblical figure), 202, 320, 321, 327

Adler, Renata, 43

Adoptionism, 114

Adrian VI (pope), 159

Advice on Church Reform, 161–63

Aeschylus, 41

Aeterni Patris (Leo XIII’s document), 198

Africa, 245, 259. See also Carthage

African Americans, 356 (n. 42)

Agapetus I (pope), 100

Agapetus II (pope), 119

Agatho (pope), 109

Agiluf (Lombard king), 103

Agnosticism, 13

Agrarianism (Chesterton’s), 40–41

AIDS, 277

Aistulf (Lombard king), 110

Alaric the Visigoth, 97

Alberic, 119, 120

Alberoni (cardinal), 180

Albertus, 275

Albigensians, 137–38

Albright, William, 51

Alcuin, 115, 116

Alexander II (pope), 128

Alexander III (pope), 136

Alexander V (pope), 153

Alexander VI (pope), 157–60, 167, 172–73, 282

Alexander the Great, 94

Alexandria, 80, 83, 95, 98, 104, 134; as apostolic community, 96, 113

Alexios Comnenos, 102

Alfrink, Bernard, 227

Ali Agca, Mehmet, 246–48

Almain, Jacques, 167

Alocoque, Marguerite-Marie, 181

Alypius (African bishop), 81, 89, 259

Ambrose (saint and bishop of Milan), 94, 104, 281, 295

American Freedom and Catholic Power (Blanshard), 5, 45, 48, 218, 234, 275–76

Americanism (as a heresy), 202–4

American Philological Association, 25

Amette (archbishop of Paris), 212

Anagni, 145, 147, 150, 152

Anastasius (emperor), 98–99, 104

Anastasius II (pope), 99

Ancien régime, 178–86

Andrew (saint), 97, 299

Annals (Tacitus), 73

Annulments, 171–76

leaf388: page:370

Anselm (saint), 275

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Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Key to Brief Citations
• Introduction to the Mariner Edition
• Introduction
• BORN CATHOLIC
• Saint Mary’s and Campion
• Jesuit Days
• Chesterton
• Encyclicals
• CHURCH WITHOUT PAPAL PRIMACY
• Peter
• Paul
• Rome Mediating
• Rome Meddling
• Rome and the East
• Rome Turns West
• FORMS OF PAPAL PRIMACY
• Forgeries and Populism
• Rise of the Secular State and the Church Council
• Renaissance and Reformation
• Trent and England
• Ancien Régime and Revolution
• War on Democracy
• Reign of Terror
• THE VATICAN II CHURCH
• The Great Rebirth
• Born to Set Times Right
• Fighting Vatican II
• Living Vatican II
• The Pope’s Loyal Opposition
• THE CREED
• I believe in God . . .
• . . . the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth . . .
• . . . and in Jesus Christ our Lord, the only son of God . . . He descended into hell . . .
• . . . conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary . . .
• . . . shall come to judge the living and the dead . . .
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the Author