The Nature of the Moment, by Francis X. Maier

I spent nearly three decades working in senior diocesan positions.  I saw the failures, problems, and human sins of Church life in an intimate way.  None of it diminished my faith or damaged my trust in the Church or her teachings.  The reason is simple.  The priests and bishops I worked with were overwhelmingly good men; men with vastly different personalities, weaknesses, and strengths, but all — or very nearly all — committed to their people and trying to do their best in an increasingly hostile culture.  That kind of dedication doesn’t absolve them from criticism.  But it does warrant our sincere respect and support.  And when we fail to give them those things, we harm only ourselves.

Over the three years it took to write my book True Confessions, I interviewed 30 bishops in 25 states and one foreign country.  All were prudent, experienced men, men of hope but also realism, and all were in the mainstream of faithful Church thought and life.  Their comments, several of them excerpted here, help us understand the challenges American Catholics now face. …