Catholic church today -- Challenges for the church -- Documents of Vatican II -- Nature and mission of the church -- God and the church -- Symbolic character of the church -- Ecumenical outlook -- Diversity and divisions within christianity -- Ecumenical progress -- Bishops and the Pope -- Ordained priesthood -- Levels of teaching, levels of assent -- Lay people -- Tools for church renewal -- Spirituality of work -- Christian spirituality -- Breaking the cycle -- Job description for the Holy Spirit -- Religious communities -- Liberation theology and church community -- Liberation theology: critiques anf appraisals -- Pilgrim church -- Meaning of life -- Pilgrims and saints -- Mary as symbol of the church -- Feminism and Christian tradition -- Ordination of women -- Servant church -- Atheism and the New Theism -- Religious pluralism -- Underlying principles of Catholic social teaching -- Marriage and the family -- Culture -- Economics -- Peace and politics -- Ecology.