Thursday, December 6, 2012

‘Best’ Vatican II History Launches Observer’s Year of Faith Book Club

As part of our Year of Faith celebration, The Observer is launching a book club and our first selection is “What Happened at Vatican II” by Father John W. O’Malley, SJ.
Pope Benedict XVI has recommended that Catholics revisit the documents of the Second Vatican Council, but because even the oldest of the Baby Boomers were only in high school during the council,  we decided it might benefit us to start with a look at the history of the council itself.
While we were considering selections, we got enthusiastic recommendations for Father O’Malley’s book.
The first came from Father Jonathan Bakkelund, who is teaching a course about Vatican II for the diocesan Theological Institute. We asked him for suggestions and he told us, “The best book out there is John W. O’Malley, SJ’s ‘What Happened at Vatican II.’ ”