“The great missionary vision of Vatican II remains largely unrealized. This book shows how to recover it, primarily by returning to the council’s four major constitutions. Fr. Blake Britton is an able guide, radiant and thoughtful, with an infectious joy and love for the council. He stands on the vanguard of a new generation tasked with finally bringing the council’s vision to fruition. I warmly commend this book to anyone wanting to understand Vatican II, but especially to young Catholics confused about the council and those skeptical about its relevance today.”

“Sixty years after the Second Vatican Council commenced, two extremes remain locked in battle: traditionalists scorn the council and want to dismiss it, claiming it’s the root of the Church’s biggest problems today; while liberals maintain the council didn’t go far enough in its progressive reforms. Between those extremes, many faithful Catholics are just confused—unsure what to make of Vatican II. Was it good? Bad? Somewhere in between? Fr. Blake Britton, the most enthusiastic and insightful defender of the council among millennial Catholics, guides us through this confusion to show why the Second Vatican Council remains one of the Holy Spirit’s greatest gifts to the Church. He explains why the council was needed, what the texts taught and intended, and how they were sadly misimplemented. More importantly, he shows how we can get the conciliar reforms back on track by returning to the texts themselves. We’ve desperately needed a book like this. It’s timely, clear, charitable, inspiring, faithful to the Church, and strikes all the right notes. If every Catholic read this book and followed its path, liturgies would become more reverent, biblical studies would be renewed, the Church would be more confident about her identity, and evangelization would flourish—exactly what Vatican II had in mind!”

“The ongoing debate within the Church about the Second Vatican Council serves as a microcosm of our age: well-meaning, passionate people have divided themselves into camps, so sure of their own positions that they are unable to hear the truth spoken by the other. Fr. Blake Britton offers a balanced, grounded response that our Church desperately needs. Correctly identifying Vatican II as a ‘kerygmatic’ council, he invites the reader to let go of half-truths and learn from the documents themselves in order to behold the splendor of the Church.”

“This timely little book could not come at a more opportune moment. Polarization over the Second Vatican Council has reached a new degree of intensity, at least in the public eye. I continue to have the faith that, as Fr. Blake Britton suggests, the documents of Vatican II—spirit, content, and all—can still today provide the inspiration for meaningful reform in the Church and for the evangelization of the modern world.”