Reclaiming Vatican II: What It (Really) Said, What It Means, and How It Calls Us to Renew the Church

This book is fair, intelligent, and charitable! Fr. Blake offers a chapter on history concerning the Second Vatican Council, a chapter on each major document of the Council, the Church and the modern world, and what to do moving forward. Fr. Blake cuts through problematic categories of "liberal" and "Trad" Catholics that are so popularly in use by Catholics today. Instead, Fr. Blake talks about what he terms the "paracouncil" which is not Vatican II itself, but what people think the Council is and what is being reacted to. He offers what I would consider quite an accurate and charitable characterization of people who refer to themselves as "Traditionalist." I recommend this book for all Catholics as well as anyone just trying to understand the Second Vatican Council. I would even recommend this to anyone coming into the Church so that they can get a lay of the land. Fr. Blake is not liberal nor a Traditionalist - he is simply a Catholic and is in love with the Church!