A People Adrift The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America

In this widely acclaimed book that will long remain an indispensable work on American religion and the Catholic Church, one of its most influential laymen in the United States says that the Roman Catholic Church in America must either reform profoundly or lapse into irreversible decline.In addition to providing a spiritual identity for over 60 million Americans, the church is the nation's largest nongovernmental provider of education and social services, as well as the largest not-for-profit provider of health care. But even before the recent revelations about sex abuse by priests, American Catholicism was already heading for a major crisis, with its traditional leadership depleted by the decline in religious vocations and paralyzed by "theological gridlock."Catholicism in the United States confronts hard choices among contrasting visions for the future, choices with huge implications for American life. Analyzing these choices in ways that escape all the familiar labels of conservative or liberal, Steinfels points to the directions the church must take to survive.

Peter Steinfels was senior religion correspondent for the New York Times from 1988 to 1997, and writes "Beliefs," a biweekly column for that paper. He received a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has been a visiting professor of history at Georgetown University and of American studies at Notre Dame. He has worked in bioethics, was editor of Commonweal, and is the author of The Neoconservatives. He is married to Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, a prominent Catholic writer, editor, and speaker. They were the recipients of the 2003 Laetare Medal, the University of Notre Dame's highest award for service to the church and society.