Praise for My Journal of the Council

Now Featured in the Patheos Book Club
My Journal of the Council
By Yves Congar

Endorsements for My Journal of the Council

"One of the most theologically fascinating and just plain entertaining books I've read in a long time is Yves Congar's My Journal of the Council."
—Robert Barron, Author of Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith

"It is an immensely happy development to have in English at long last the diaries of Yves Congar, one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century who did so much to advance the cause of Orthodox-Catholic unity. If you have any interest in, inter alia: Congar's life, the developments in the Catholic Church during the twentieth century, the Second Vatican Council, Protestant-Catholic relations, Orthodox-Catholic relations, the ongoing deliberations between the Society of St. Pius X ... and Rome today, the early thought and career of Joseph Ratzinger, Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, and much else besides, then you simply must buy this book. It is an absolute goldmine of insights into all the foregoing persons, events, and institutions, and into Congar himself, of course -- and much, much else besides. It ranges from soaring insights -- especially into ecclesiology, which was Congar's speciality -- to such mundane comments after an overlong meeting of conciliar officials in Rome in September 1964 as 'Afterwards, I went out for a pee.'... Buy it, read it, and be astonished by the details, awed by this man's bluntness (so much so that publication was embargoed until the year 2000), convulsed with laughter at some of his acerbic but accurate comments, bored by some of the tedious details of endless meetings, but delighted for hours on end with this delicious vin extraordinaire."
—Adam A.J. DeVille, PhD, Eastern Christian Books blog

"My Journal of the Council is a must-read for anyone with an interest in the nitty-gritty of church history. We're lucky to have it."
—National Review Online

"This journal is a must read for anyone interested not only in Vatican II but in ecclesiology and in modern Church history."
—Fr. William C. Mills, Author of Church, World, and Kingdom

"The English translation of Yves Congar's Journal du concile is absolutely important, for it reopens the debate on the theological value of Vatican II. Congar was arguably the most important theologian of Vatican II, and his journal is the single most important "private" source for historians and theologians of the Council. It is one of the very necessary texts at fifty years from the opening of the Council."
—Massimo Faggioli, University of Saint Thomas, Author of True Reform

"Yves Congar's diaries give us an intimate insight into the most important event in the life of the Catholic Church in twentieth century. Having been marginalized and silenced because of his theological views, Congar was summoned to Rome to be a crucial actor in the Council. He records his views of the participants with wonderful frankness, and gives us access to the dramatic negotiations and maneuvers that took place behind the scenes. It is impossible to put it down. It unveils the genesis of the Council documents that changed the Church."
—Timothy Radcliffe, OP, Former Master General of the Dominican Order

"Fr. Yves Congar, OP, was the most important and influential theologian at the Second Vatican Council. The journal that he wrote on the spot nearly every day provides entry not only to his ideas and feelings but to the dynamics at work as the Council accomplished a work of renewal and reform for which he had himself worked and suffered for decades before. This is indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand the texts, and the drama, of Vatican II."
—Joseph A. Komonchak, Professor Emeritus, Historical and Systematic Theology, The Catholic University of America, Editor of the English version of The History of Vatican II, Giuseppe Alberigo (ed.)

"My Journal of the Council offers a riveting first-hand assessment of the dynamics, disputes, and decisions of the Council. At the same time this volume provides a rare glimpse into the personal and spiritual cost of Congar's love of truth and his commitment to hand on the Church's authentic Tradition as a living heritage of faith."
—Mary Catherine Hilkert, OP, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame