Table of Contents: The churches -- History -- The workings of the church.

In recent years a new interest in the Eastern Churches has emerged in the Western Churches both Catholic and Protestant. The reader of this work will find answers to such fundamental questions as Who are Eastern Catholics?" "How did the Eastern Catholic Churches originate?" "Who are Orthodox Christians?" "How do Orthodox Christians differ from Eastern Catholics?" "Why do so many diverse Eastern Churches exist?" While it cannot answer all these questions thoroughly, this concise booklet can help interested laity, theological students, and ministers come to understand and respect Eastern Catholicism for its many contributions to the universal Catholic Church.

Examines the long and often difficult history of the Eastern-Church Catholics (e.g., Melkites, Maronites, Ruthenians, Copts, Ukrainians) and their relationship, often tenuous, with Rome.

Taken together, these questions explore the role of deacons in the contemporary church, the formation of deacons, what it is like to live as a deacon, and the role of deacons as ministers of the word, the liturgy, and as apostolic leaders in service.

Recent research into the Inquisition and the Crusades has reversed many of the misconceptions the surround these events in history. This book helps to explain some of them.

Touches on every major aspect of the mystery of the Church, its nature, mission, ministries and structures.

In this book Giles Dimock answers some the most commonly asked questions about the Eucharist that have been posed to him in his preaching and teaching. He starts off with questions on the Jewish background of Eucharist and then examines the Last Supper and its theology in the light of the Paschal Mystery. Some of the other questions deal with transubstantiation, sacrifice, Real Presence, communion, and intercommunion. Fr. Dimock's answers are both practical and ecumenical. The questions range from the straightforward "Why is the Eucharist called Holy Communion," "What is Forty Hours," to the more involved "What is said about the Eucharist in the Code of Canon Law?" Father Dimock places the teaching of the Church on the Eucharist in conciliar and papal documentation. Here is a book, appropriately appearing at the culmination of the Year of the Eucharist, that will satisfy the spiritual as well as theological curiosity of college students and seminarians studying the Eucharist, as well as probing, informed lay people. +

An informative and accessible guide to everything you want to know about Vatican II.