Includes bibliographical references and index.

The role of the teaching Catholic Church in our search to know God and God's will -- The role of experience and the role of scripture in our search to know God and God's will -- Can Catholic Church teaching change? -- Contraception -- Ordination and women's role in the Church -- Homosexuality -- Abortion: church, state, conscience, and effective witness -- Marriage and annulments -- Teaching social justice and treating employees justly -- Unity in the body of Christ.

Why do a third of the people raised Catholic in the United States no longer worship as Catholics? Ralph engages the reader to enter into a necessary yet reasoned conversation about pertinent issues, such as contraception, women's ordination and homosexuality, and present practices surrounding the Catholic Church. She critically examines pertinent topics of not just the secular culture, but the Catholic culture, that affects both families and culture as a whole, and presents a model for how to discuss difficult issues in a respectful and thoughtful manner.