A Liberal Revolution

Although the Second Vatican Council has generated a large scholarly corpus, A Liberal Revolution is the first history to be written of a diocese in the years immediately following it. Using the important see of Baltimore as a case study, Hanael Bianchi reconstructs how the Council was implemented and experienced on the local level, drawing exclusively on primary sources such as newspaper accounts and archival materials. The claim that the Church “embraced the modern world” after Vatican II is well known; this book sharpens it by focusing specifically on liberalism as the framework through which implementation took place. Hanael Bianchi Although the story told in these pages is a tragedy, A Liberal Revolution is no polemic; rather, it is a work of historical analysis grounded in years of research. It will not only contribute to the scholarly understanding of Vatican II and its aftermath but also offer guidance to Catholics seeking a path toward genuine renewal, grounded in a thorough and accurate assessment of what actually happened.

PRAISE FOR THIS BOOK
“A richly detailed account of how Vatican II played out, concretely, in a single—and significant—archdiocese. An impressive piece of scholarship, beautifully written, very compelling, and highly recommended.” —Stephen Bullivant

“The importance and necessity of this book cannot be overstated. Bianchi reveals the destructive effects of the late 1960s mindset at the parochial level.” —Barry Spurr

“A deeply researched account of how the soaring hopes of Vatican II collided with the lived reality on the ground. With historical precision and narrative force, it shows how reforms reshaped Catholic life in unexpectedly negative ways, with consequences that still reverberate through the Church today.” —Anne Hendershott