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Summary: Wills trades-in RC for PC
Review: Coming from a protestant background, I didn't care about "orthodox opinions" as much as facts. Apparently, Wills cares little for either. As I read this book, I kept wondering if the author ever stopped writing long enough to figure out that he was writing about a faith that he no longer holds. Yet, it's not as though he lost his religion. He simply traded it in for a new one. This became obvious once I noticed how he unquestioningly accepts every "politically correct" dogma of democratic liberalism, and with such docility. Then, he turns around and uses his new-found infallible authority to clobber his old one. Honest and courageous? Only for fellow devotees and fawning reviewers.
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Summary: Clear-headed look at the papacy!
Review: Impeccable scholarship and brisk, concise prose are the drawing cards of Garry Wills' new book. In the blink of an eye, Mr Wills dissects several of the more onerous fantasies of the modern papacy. In this post-Christian age, Mr. Wills takes up the case for papal reform more effectively than did the protestant savants in the ages of faith. The sections on the Church's relations with Jews, on pedophile priests and their enabling heirarchies, and on birth control are especially telling. It takes a Catholic to write a book this clear-headed about the papacy. Garry Wills' Catholicism gives him not only the authority, but indeed the courage, to make a substantive contribution to the discussion of these matters moral, doctrinal, and, finally, human. And substance is indeed the outcome of Mr. Wills' frontal assault on the so-called deceitful structures of the modern papacy. Especially interesting is the conclusive parallel drawn between the mindset of Pius IX and that of John Paul II. Indeed, in this age of the puzzling popular 'canonisation' of the living pope, it is good to be reminded of the face behind the mask. Wills' continual references to the writings of Raymond Brown, a theologian from the little leagues, is annoying at times, but he uses the particular references chosen to good effect in making his own arguments. Catholics should be proud to have such thoughtfulness as that displayed by Garry Wills working on their behalf. Unfortunately, viewing some of the reviews on this page, it sadly seems still true that nothing confounds the Catholic, especially the American Catholic, like a good romp at the papacy. Nevertheless, this is an important book, and one I suspect that will more than stand the test of time. Highest recommendation!
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Summary: Typos - and Misses the Issue on Vocations
Review: Typos - Page 62: Who is "Pope John Paul VI." Who ever your proofreader is needs to be fired. They probably were not Catholic so they should not be expected to know the names of the popes for the last 100 years."Structures of Deceit": The author bought the hierarchy's explanation for the vocation's crisis hook, line and sinker. The American hierarchy tells us that there is a lack of vocations because today's American men can not accept celibacy. As I pointed out in my review of the book "New Men," there are plenty of applicants to the priesthood but the hierarchy squashes most of them to further the hierarchy's agenda of promoting the end of celibacy and a men-only priesthood. The real structure of deceit is that the American hierarchy refuses to admit to the Pope that they are against celibacy and a men-only priesthood and have used the vocations of young men as a pawn in their attempt to communicate their displeasure regarding the status of these issues to the Pope. The files of diocesan vocations offices are filled with applicants but all applicants are rejected. Result: A manufactured vocations crisis, one of the real "Structures of Deceit" that should have been explored by the author.
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Summary: Structures of Willsian Deceit
Review: This work is not a scholarly look at the papacy. It is a tantrum with footnotes by an anti-Catholic Catholic. While cooing how much he loves the Church, he systematically denies the most basic Catholic doctrines on Christ, Mary, and the Church. His rage know no bounds. He attacks the canonization of Edith Stein, claiming her death had nothing to do with her being a Catholic. In fact, she was killed because she was both Catholic and Jewish; like other Catholics of Jewish descent, she was sent to Auschwitz after the Dutch bishops denounced the Nazis from the pulpit. He claims that the majority of bishops of Vatican II supported contraception; in fact, they explicitly criticized contraception in Gaudium et Spes. He can't even get his facts straight on noncontroversial issues. Where does one find the infancy narrative in Mark? A sad piece of self-hatred, but his masters at New York Review of Books are surely delighted.
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Summary: There is more than one Truth
Review: As a person raised in a traditional Catholic family, educated in Catholic Schools (even attending Seminary as a former member of a religious community), I can say that I did not find Papal Sin threatening, either to myself or the Church. For me personally, it brought to light a reality of the Church that many Catholics, especially those in the hierarchy, choose to deny. As for the Church, (the faithful AND the "powerful") I hope the reaction chosen is not one of fear and denial, but rather an honest self-evaluation and authentic move towards change. Through the various instances and situations that Wills elucidates, the reader is indeed challenged to think about the justice (or injustice) within the church. I did NOT experience this book as evidence of Wills hating the Catholic church at all, but rather loving it enough to want to purge the church of inauthenticity and duplicity. After reading this book one might ask one's self "is the Catholic church really this misguided -- or even corrupt?" The truthful answer is yes and no. As a human institution, albeit one that has and continues to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, the people of the church (lay AND hierarchy) do make mistakes. Like anything else that represents humanity, the church can be the best humans have to offer. But whether one cares to admit it or not, at times the church (lay AND hierarchy), falls way short of being the best we humans can be. And that's the Truth as well. Thank you Gary Wills for being brave enough to call attention to it.
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Summary: Nothing but Anger
Review: What I hoped would be an informative, well-written book turned out to be nothing but a vitriolic bashing of the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Wills manipulates scripture quite well to uphold the points he attempts to make. Unfortunately, those even moderately familiar with scripture will recognize the manipulation, as entire verses on the subject are intentionally left unquoted. For example, Mr. Wills claims that the papacy "invented" the concept of the Holy Eucharist being the true presence of Christ. If Mr. Wills had only quoted the apostle Paul completely, readers would have learned that Paul himself acknowledged this fact. I am not Roman Catholic, so my question to Mr. Wills is, if he doesn't like the heat (in the Roman church) why doesn't he get out of the kitchen?
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Summary: A Careful Look At the Historical Papacy
Review: Scholar Gary Wills turns his eye toward the Papacy. He considers the present and historical papacy and the policies that have come out of Rome. Wills takes a fairly even hand in approaching his subject. However, Rome's actions and inactions seem to scream tilt on the game machine. There are so many inconsistencies in the Roman Catholic Church's policies that it is hard not to conclude a blindness to reality. Wills examines issues such as the Church's approach to Nazi Germany, Celibacy, Birth Control, Marianism, Women Priests, and Pedophilia. Some of what Wills has documented is clearly embarrasing to the Roman Catholic reader at a loss to explain them away!Well researched and carefully developed. Not a book too easily dismissed.
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Summary: If you hate the Catholics...
Review: Then this book is for you. Our Lord told us to love our enemies, and so while I disagree with much of catholic teaching, I cannot accept such a bitter, diatribe filled text. Expecting a historical account? You'll find childish making-fun of instead of any serious history or theology. For example, Wills claims that the catholic church wants to present itself as perfect, without error or sin - then why did their pope issue an apology for sins made by their church in March of this year? Maybe Wills will have to rewrite that part of his book. Wills stoops to referring to the catholic mass as "magic" and claims that the prayers priests say at mass is some sort of black magic, as Wills pokes fun on page 136 that an old priest struggles to make "sure the magic formula was given all its force." He also ridicules priests as "eunuchs" ( page 128) - childish at best. Any mature opponent of catholicism would not stoop to such name-calling. I will say this - the catholic church must be doing something wrong if one of its members (if indeed Wills still claims to be a member) is writing this sort of thing. If you are one of the anti-catholics who uses your belief in a simple, scripture-based faith to rant and rave against others, you'll love this book. If you are a true follower of our Lord and Savior you will look to the love that the Holy Spirit has filled you with and realize that you must win souls by showing what joy and love God can bring - not with bitter, hateful, rants like Mr. Wills.
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Summary: Garry Wills' Book: A Structure in Deceit
Review: This book is nothing but an angry book about the Catholic Church. Just what religion does Garry Wills see as evolving from this effort? He doesn't believe in priests, doesn't believe in the Real Presence, advocates abortion, amongst other things. This isn't even a book about Popes! If Garry Wills considers himself a "Catholic" I think he should read the Catechism of the Catholic Church and see exactly what it means to be Catholic. Garry Wills has no faith in God. I don't even believe he believes there IS a God.
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Summary: A Conservative Catholic Raises Moral Issues of Truth
Review: The subtitle of this work tells it all: "[Papal] Structures of Deceit." Like his companion work on Augustine, Wills treats the modern Papacy with a concise, cogent, indictment: The modern Papacy has lost the ability to tell the truth in all matters, large and small, trivial and dogmatic. Wills uses a neo-Thomastic analysis to conclude that self-deception has become an engrained daily operation in Rome from all twentieth century popes to the lowest ranking Jesuit in the Vatican archives. Wills uses the tools of a historian to demonstrate that Vatican pronouncements are deceitful, even when the deceit serves no purpose whatsoever. One of the myths of Roman Catholicism is that Catholic Tradition is a useful midrash to clarify ambiguities in the Scriptures. Wills conclusively demonstrates the proclaimers of "Tradition" have used tradition to obfuscate Scriptural clarities. He shows how a less than literate Pius IX proclaimed his godhead by saying that he, Papa No No, was Tradition personified, especially in his pedophilic retention of Edgardo Mortago, who had been kidnapped from his Jewish parents: "The Pope . . . genuinely loved children." Even John Paul II was unable to tell the truth about the Catholic complicity with Hitler and Mussolini's in the letter acknowledging the deceits of Catholic complicity with Catholic Eichman's Final Solution. Wills also takes a direct sight on the unholy conspiracy of silence in the Catholic priesthood: The pedophiles are protected by the homosexual and straight celebate and non-celibate clergy, lest the lay community learn that celebacy is a grace given to a monastic few. The heterosexual clergy refuse to out the pedophiles and homosexuals lest the homosexuals and pedophiles out the non-celibate straights. Even the celebates hesitate to condemn pedophiles lest the stain rebound on those without the grace of celebacy, who are worthy clergy and bishops. Thus we have a celebate gay Cardinal truthfully proclaiming his individual celebate innocence, and thus succeeding in deflecting questions of how pedophiles abused teenagers in his own Midwestern residence, without his direct knowledge, due to his own willfull ignorance. How many sermons have been preached in Northern California concerning a Santa Rosa Bishop blackmailing a priest into sexual favors lest the priest's rigid adherence to liturgical perfection be equated with simple theft? Wills uses neo-Thomistic tools to defend Augustine's attack on Jerome's mendacity, and to suggest that the "intent to deceive" is what distinguishes a Lie from Truth. This completely eliminates the Bellarmine notion of "mental reservation" and shoots large holes in the deceitful principle of the double effect. Thus viewed, each and every Roman pronouncement can be evaluated on the test of "Was the announcement intended to deceive?" The words used or omitted are not the criteria. Thus when Rome says that John Paul I died with a prayer book in his hands when he was discovered by his male secretary, we know that deceit was intended since he died with a financal report on the Vatican Bank, and his corpse was discovered by a nun. We need not look for the motive in this deceit: the fact that it was a lie and was intended to mislead is sufficient. There is a motto taken from John and inscribed on the outside of the CIA Headquarters Building: "Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free." There are no words to convince the Vatican of this Augustinian self-evident natural law tenet, but so long as we have conservative Catholics like Wills proclaiming what is true and what is false, the Vatican may learn from example that Truth is the true healer of ancient wrongs. This book forms a useful exegesis to the earlier "Rome Has Spoken." Wills is more charitable than Tad Szulc's "To Kill the Pope" regarding the hatred of the Cathars for the post Vatican II Latin Rite of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.
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