We can’t understand the issues swirling in today’s Catholic church without understanding the past. In Catholic History for Today’s Church acclaimed historian John W. O’Malley, SJ, illuminates some of today’s most contentious issues—from celibacy to the role of the pope—through their history. In his characteristically engaging style, O’Malley’s essays provide readers with an overview of each theme in history then explore how that past connects with life today. Many of the essays highlight his expertise on the papacy and the papal curia, as well as the significance and legacies of the Council of Trent and Vatican II. By taking a historical approach, O’Malley shows how contemporary issues arose, assesses where they are today, and suggests how they might be changed for the better. Catholic History for Today’s Church takes an invaluable long view on topics that too often find us shortsighted.

"A wide array of topics are covered here, including the fascinating stories of a number of the popes, the origins of priestly celibacy, as well as a summary of the great councils of the Church and what they did and did not decide. O’Malley is a masterful writer and elucidates complex ideas in a way that the average lay person can not only understand, but also appreciate. A key highlight is the chapter from an address the author delivered about his own life of learning and navigating academia. It is humble, encouraging, and filled with quite a bit of history itself from the author’s multiple decades of experience as a student, priest, scholar, and teacher. As is the case with most of O’Malley’s corpus of work, this collection will please even the most cursory student of history and whet readers’ appetites for more." - Publishers Weekly

"Readers who are serious about their love of the Church will find this book to be of immense interest and insight." - St. Anthony Messenger

"If the historian's work is to make sense of the past, the effort is often shaped according to matters of the moment. This is history with a purpose, at work in the service of the present and is largely what O'Malley is about in this highly readable collection of lectures, book chapters, and previously published essays. A constant theme throughout is 'what happened in the past gives helpful perspectives on the present' (95). But this is not simply a collection of O'M.'s short historical writing: this is a handbook of historical pathways to contemporary Roman Catholic ecclesiology. And it's done with a personal touch." - Theological Studies