Many Catholics today feel that the Church and its leaders are out of touch with the real world. Issues such as annulment, birth control, ordination for women, celibacy for priests, and homosexuality have divided and marginalized many of the faithful. With subsequent numbers of lapsed Catholics on the rise and the American clergy aging with fewer priests to take their place. Catholic scholar and teacher Penny Ryan is justly concerned with the future of Catholicism. Citing many historical precedents that have shaped the Church's teachings over the centuries, Ryan calls for a reexamination of what it means to be Catholic in the modern world. She brings attention to the plight of devoted Catholic women who feel called to the priesthood but are denied access, to couples compelled to turn to more reliable birth control methods than those allowed by the Church, and to gay Catholics struggling to reconcile their personal and spiritual lives with current official Church teachings.