A Theologian's Journey

Here is a fascinating memoir of a theologian's education and his journey through a time when change was rocking both society and the Catholic Church. A member of the Order of Preachers and ordained in 1962, O'Meara was sent to study theology in Europe. In Rome and later in Munich he encountered, either personally or in lecture, some of the great philosophers and theologians of the day: Karl Rahner, Martin Heidegger, Heinrich Fries, Yves Congar, Edward Schillebeeckx and Hans Küng. His account of his years in Europe is filled with personal portraits and shrewd observations about places and preserved culture. He returned to the USA in 1966 to find a church and a nation in turmoil. He beautifully sums up his sense of the collision of the old and new within the church and in society. The old world is gone, he says, and we mush embrace inevitable change and wait for the future--whatever it is.