Book Review

A new Catholic horizon

Culture
Nov 4, 2009

THE FUTURE CHURCH: HOW TEN TRENDS ARE REVOLUTIONIZING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
By John L. Allen Jr.
Published by Doubleday, $28

Perceptive, evenhanded, thought-provoking, horizon-expanding, remarkably well informed--words like these popped into my head as a read John L. Allen Jr.’s new book, The Future Church: How Ten Trends Are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church. I thought I detected in his introduction a note of apology for writing as “a journalist, not a priest, theologian or academic.” His credentials, as NCR readers know, are just fine. If you had doubts, the book will dispel them.