This is an extremely well-written and informative guide about the Roman Catholic Church, extremely readable without being simple. It was apparently finished before Pope Benedict abdicated and Pope Francis was elected. In the interest of disclosure, I will say that I was raised in what is sometimes considered a mainline church, but am now an atheist.

I always feel a little bit nervous about praising the information in a book that I am reading to find out about the subject -- how would I know if it is wrong? I trusted in this because Allen came at this with an understanding of what critics are saying, and explained competing views among Catholics. Allen is himself a Catholic, and occasionally this introduces a tiny bias, but on the whole, it is seems extremely fair and even-handed. (An example of a tiny bias is that while Allen freely uses projections throughout the book, when it comes to the projection that Catholicism is rapidly losing members in Latin America, he reminds us -- and presumably reassures himself -- that projects are not always reliable. :-) ) There are a couple of issues that I have questions about: these are not necessarily criticisms.

Allen tells us that the Catholic church regards matter positively, and so there is no spirit/body split; one can learn much about Catholicism from the topless beaches of Brazil. He also suggests that there is a spirit/body split or rejection of matter in favor of spirit in Protestantism. Protestants vary a great deal on this subject: my parents' church, although it still forbids homosexuality, would otherwise seem down right decadent next to official Catholic mores; others, except for priestly celibacy, are very similar to Catholics's. My knowledge of church fathers is erratic, but it is hard to find the connection between Tertullian's lengthy list condemning the seductive wile of woman -- who let their shawls "accidentally" fall off their shoulders -- and those topless beaches. Is there perhaps a third factor that unites them to Catholicism? He contrasts the Latin cultures with Norway and Finland, but the Scandinavian aren't known as prudes. Swedish women have a reputation for "promiscuity" which, according to my professor, derives from their pre-Christian mores that regarded it as natural for unmarried people to have affairs. Ireland, once the most Catholic culture in the world, was not noted for carnality. The United States is often criticized by the Catholic Church for our self-indulgence. One would really need to compare the views of Catholics and Protestants in countries that have a fair number of each, say Germany.

My second comment relates to his discussion of the Church and money. I think that he misses out on one of the chief criticisms: the amount that the Catholic Church spends on display. Of course, there are more ways to spend money than on statuary, I do not have the statistics to assess whether this is factual or fair, so I discuss it merely as a perception. Many non-Catholics think that too much money is spent ornamenting churches, from the parish church to the cathedral, and that the parishioners are oppressed to pay for it.

The other example of display is the pomp and panoply surrounding the papacy, gold encrusted vestments, for example. as well as its palaces and other buildings. Pope Francis has determined to cut down on these displays, and encourage a simpler life for the hierarchy of the church, and recent events show him to be quite serious.

The last issue is the matter of women. Allen compares the positions of women in the parish and diocese to that of American corporations and finds Catholic women more empowered. That might be appropriate for small companies, but multi-nationals could be compared to the upper hierarchy, and there are no women there at all.

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about the Roman Catholic Church. They are certainly in for interesting and exciting times. ( )