Even Greater Things: Hope and Challenge after Vatican II

                by Bernard Daly, Mae Daly and Bishop Remi De Roo

                            Ottawa: Novalis 1999, xii, 264 pp. 

                         Reviewed by Jim Noonan, Stittsville, ON

This book takes its title from the fourteenth chapter of John's gospel where Jesus tells his
followers they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. The authors
of the book understand these words literally, and see the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) as
showing Catholics how they can do these greater things.

The scope of the book is ambitious. It is a summary of the work and documents of Vatican II; it is
also an examination of the issues raised by the Council and how they are being confronted today:
ministry and worship, science and religion, marriage and sexuality, church structure and ecumenism,
the differences between Eastern and Western Christianity, and the centrality of the Holy Spirit in the
life of the church. It looks to the future with hope that sees Vatican II as the dawn of an era of great
relevance for the church. That hope is tempered by the wisdom of experience reflected in a sentiment
expressed more than once in Even Greater Things: Christianity is now closer to the beginning than at
the end of its mission in history. 

The authors of the book are friends well qualified to discuss the weighty issues they embrace. Bernard
Daly is Catholic journalist who covered Vatican II for the information service of the Canadian
Conference of Catholic Bishops, and served as its Assistant General Secretary from 1984-1991; Mae
Daly, his wife of 51 years, has a degree in counselling, and taught religion, family life and music
literacy in Grenada; and Bishop De Roo participated in the Council, and was bishop of Victoria from
1962-1999.

The book, comprised of an introduction, eleven chapters on topics treated at the Council, and an
epilogue, is organized as a series of letters between these three people. It begins with Bernard and
Mae writing to Remi De Roo, who in turn replies to them, who then reply to him, and so on until
the epilogue, where the bishop has last word. Bernard and Mae speak as one except for the occasional
letter where Mae alone addresses the bishop. Though interesting and informative, this approach
makes for a somewhat stilted structure, as if each writer was setting the other(s) up for a statement
on a particular issue. 

The book is designed as an adult educational tool and will be useful in RCIA classes. Each chapter is
summarized at the beginning, and is concluded with questions for discussion, directions for action,
and suggestions for further reading in the most up-to-date books on the theme of the chapter. At the
end of the book there is also a glossary, and notes and a bibliography for each chapter, though no
index. 

In the course of the book we are reminded how involved the three authors have been in the changes in
the church since Vatican II. We note especially how Bishop De Roo has engaged lay people like
Bernard and Mae in dialogue, and has encouraged them to take an active role in changing the church;
the fact that this is the third book in which he has dialogued with one or more lay persons is further
evidence of this. We are also reminded of the extent to which De Roo has led the movement for
church reform in the church in Canada, sometimes at great personal cost. He notes this himself when
he recounts later the following incident: I was called on the carpet a few years ago because I dared to
say, at an international women's rally in Washington, that discussion should continue about
the role of women and their ministries. I was told by Cardinal Ratzinger that all I should do was read
what the pope had said and tell people it was wrong to think in any other way (p. 207).

Many Canadians wish he had been ready to be called on the carpet one more time after the July 1999
conference in Atlanta of the International Federation of Married Catholic Priests, which he had
planned to address until he was told not to by the papal nuncio in Canada. Corpus Canada, which he
supports, and which co-sponsored the conference, was especially disappointed and saddened by his
decision to accept the nuncio's fiat. Nevertheless, Catholics and others who want to
re-examine the significance of Vatican II and the promise it still holds for the future will find this a
useful book. It will raise their hopes that Vatican II can still have an impact on the church and the
world at a time when it often seems that pope, bishops, priests and laity alike have forgotten it ever
took place.

           Why Do You Love Me?

                       by Dr. Laura Schlessinger ISBN 0-06-027866-8

This is a children's book to be read and discussed with children by parents, grandparents, and
other caregivers. Sammy asks the question of his mother as she kisses him and puts him to bed; she
in turn asks him "Why do you think I love you.?" Sammy's answers and questions are the
basis of discussion between mother and son, and the reader will enjoy and, at the same time, learn
much from it. The illustrations are colourful, large, and vivid. There is also expressed, in a striking
metaphor, an implicit understanding of why and how God loves us.

Reviewed by Chris Diamond, Cobble Hill, BC