Segundo Galilea moves over the ground he has chosen with an admirable clarity, much pastoral common sense and patience, moderation and wisdom. He shows a nuanced appreciation, surely the fruit of much personal pastoral experience, of the values present and operative in Popular
Catholicism. At the same time, as a liberation theologian, he indicates the continuities that must be drawn between the prayer-and-ritual orientations of Popular Religiosity and the broader, deeper perspectives of an integral Christian liberation process.
Segundo Galilea's book is really a set of notes to prime study, reflection, discussion, rather than a fully finished “thesis.” It should render valuable service to us here in the Philippines, where local Popular Catholicism is also at a moment of transition. While its best use would be for class or study group, as point of departure for discussion (and one can recommend such use!), still every pastoral worker and missionary will find much profit in reading it. Seminary classes would do well to include Galilea's reflections on Popular Religiosity and Popular Catholicism in a course on pastoral theology; missionary approaches or even ecclesiology.