"While I have much sympathy for the complaints Charles Davis raises against the Catholic Church and l agree with most of the descriptions he gives of the present state of affairs, I have a totally different interpretation of what is actually taking place in the Catholic Church" Since Charles Davis has asked Catholic theologians to reply to his reflections and explain why the Catholic Church continues to make sense to them, I wish to discuss the issue of the Church's credibility today and develop arguments that bring out the meaningfulness of the Church in the present age. "The crucial difference between Davis and myself lies in the evaluation of Vatican ll. I regard Vatican ll as an extraordinary institutional event in the life of the Catholic Church. I look upon Vatican ll as the beginning-or at least, with Karl Rahner, as the beginning of the beginning-of a profound doctrinal reform in the Catholic Church, A careful study reveals that the doctrinal development at Vatican ll is much more startling than a casual reading of the conciliar documents suggests…
"The present upheaval in the Church and the doctrinal uncertainty so widely spread are,
according to my view, signs of the gradual process of re-interpreting the entire teaching of the Church in the light of the new focus. Vatican ll began this in a few instances. In a process in which dialogue and some conflict are essential the Catholic Church remains faithful to the Word spoken to her in the past and addressing her in the present, by proclaiming divine revelation, infallibly held by her in faith, as the Good News for the contemporary age."