McBrien cute and impish

With all the Christian Charity I could muster... "impish" came to mind.
A textbook for diaconal formation.
Good Lord.

Catholicism had been singled out for such critical review, said the Archbishop, "precisely from the point of view of its wide use as a text for adult education, diaconal formation and introductory theology."

In examining the first of the "problem" areas, the Committee noted that Catholicism maintains that "Jesus Christ could have sinned" and that this is an orthodox position. It presents the virgin birth of Jesus as "being of uncertain and perhaps even doubtful historicity" and "non-doctrinal", despite the fact that this belief "has been a constant part of Church teaching from the first century, and has been reaffirmed by the Holy See since Vatican II."

Secondly, the review notes that Catholicism confronts the reader "with a broad range of opinions and requires the reader to make judgments among them." But McBrien's book "does not do enough to enable the reader to grasp what is the main current of the Catholic teaching and theological tradition." The book's "weakness" is that "by devoting so much attention to the presentation of a multiplicity of opinion, it provides insufficient direction for those seeking to know what is truly at the core of the faith."

The various editions of Fr Richard McBrien's 'Catholicism' have been popular with Catholic teachers and lecturers in the US and Australia over the past 15 years. In some cases, the latest edition seems even preferred as a guide to the Faith to the new Catechism.