To Change the Church

Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism

By: Ross Douthat, Ross Douthat - preface

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

A New York Times columnist and one of America’s leading conservative thinkers considers Pope Francis’s efforts to change the church he governs in a book that is “must reading for every Christian who cares about the fate of the West and the future of global Christianity” (Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option).

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936, today Pope Francis is the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Francis’s stewardship of the Church, while perceived as a revelation by many, has provoked division throughout the world. “If a conclave were to be held today,” one Roman source told The New Yorker, “Francis would be lucky to get ten votes.”

In his “concise, rhetorically agile…adroit, perceptive, gripping account (The New York Times Book Review), Ross Douthat explains why the particular debate Francis has opened—over communion for the divorced and the remarried—is so dangerous: How it cuts to the heart of the larger argument over how Christianity should respond to the sexual revolution and modernity itself, how it promises or threatens to separate the church from its own deep past, and how it divides Catholicism along geographical and cultural lines. Douthat argues that the Francis era is a crucial experiment for all of Western civilization, which is facing resurgent external enemies (from ISIS to Putin) even as it struggles with its own internal divisions, its decadence, and self-doubt. Whether Francis or his critics are right won’t just determine whether he ends up as a hero or a tragic figure for Catholics. It will determine whether he’s a hero, or a gambler who’s betraying both his church and his civilization into the hands of its enemies.

“A balanced look at the struggle for the future of Catholicism…To Change the Church is a fascinating look at the church under Pope Francis” (Kirkus Reviews). Engaging and provocative, this is “a pot-boiler of a history that examines a growing ecclesial crisis” (Washington Independent Review of Books).

Mispronunciations

Very well narrated but mispronounced many foreign language words.
Should check how things are pronounced in Italian, Latin etc...

Terrifyingly honest presentation of Pope Francis

Writing as a journalist, Douthat investigates the Francis years as they've developed. From middle ground compromise between "conservative" and "reformer" factions in the church, to liberalizing, polarizing wrecking ball reformer in recent years, Douthat traces the transformation and movements in Rome, and views the Chruch-changing events from as many angles as possible.

Well written, well argued, and well read by the narrator.

Warning to Catholics who might have more fragile beliefs, this is rough. I recently reconverted, and I've read Douthat's other other books. I picked this up hoping for an insightful update on the Francis years. It gave me what I was asked for, but that was more than I bargained for. There is a lot of airing of dirty laundry here, it's all publicly available, all cited sources you can check; but still it's a compilation of facts you likely would not have put together on your own. There's a lot of dirty politics it seems the Holy Father is playing, and a lot of the implications of the book suggest we may be in years of a heretical Pope who is consciously damaging all that we know of to be "the Church" in favor of some poorly articulated "higher morality." The author makes a good case for this, which was the most upsetting part for me, it wasn't some right wing wonk, it was quality journalism. As a common Catholic, there isn't much I can do but pray. This may just cause pain with no practical transformation offered for you unless you are connected with a Bishop or Cardinal. Listener beware.

Fine Book, Risible Narration

Mr. Douthat’s fine work is unexceptionable, but the narration leaves much to be desired. A partial list of egregiously mispronounced words: synod, despoliation, papabile, Kulturkampf, Boniface, fumi-e, hagan liu, ecumenism, Lettres provinciales.

The publisher owes an author of Douthat’s reputation and vocabulary a narration to match—I rarely write a review of this kind, but given the specialized subject matter, it would have been far preferable to have the author read the text himself.

Church or God.

Glad I have never found myself trapped in church "stuff". Nothing to do with sprituality.

A Conservative's View of the modern Church

Although I fundamentally disagree with Douthat's analysis (and conclusions), I found this to be a fascinating account of the state of affairs in the Catholic Church over the past 55 years---especially his "insider's" perspective on some of the main players. Despite his numerous swipes at Traditionalists (of which I am one), I could not stop listening. And despite the blistering attacks levelled at Douthat by Catholic conservatives, I found his conclusions to be relatively optimistic. My major disagreement with him lies in the contrasts he draws between JPII, Benedict, and Francis. The differences are style---not substance, as I am convinced that the root cause of most of the current problems in the Church is Vatican II. Despite Francis' outlandish and frequently heretical pronouncements, his pontificate is the direct outgrowth of (and totally consistent with) Vatican II.

Although I frequently nit pik narrators who are guilty of errors in pronunciation, none have even come close to the egregious number contained in this recording. I an surprised that a journalist from the New York Times would not have done a better job of screening the narrator of such an important work. It was truly painful to hear him mutilate so many commonplace words---by far the worst I have heard in the hundreds of books to which I've listened.