“Hope has two daughters,” quotes Catholic theologian, feminist, and social activist Joanna Manning. “Courage and anger.” The source of this wisdom? Saint Augustine himself, one of Catholicism’s leading misogynists. This fragment from Manning’s book, Is the Pope Catholic? A Woman Confronts Her Church, encapsulates the baffling contradiction that the Church represents to someone like me – an embittered ex-Catholic, disgusted with the flagrant contempt the Church has consistently demonstrated toward women.

Manning understands my position all too well, having worked her entire life against Pope John Paul II’s deliberate and systematic attempts to push back the theological renaissance initiated by the Second Vatican Council in 1963. While the rigidly patriarchal Church was rife with misogyny long before Vatican II, Manning contends that the ideas and reforms suggested during the 1963 Council could have, if heeded, led to a more compassionate, relevant, and dynamic Church. In short, more Christian. Herein lies the crux of Manning’s argument. Her answer to the question the book’s title poses? An unequivocal “No.” Manning’s contention is that John Paul II’s dogged efforts to continue denying women equal status within and without the Church runs completely counter to original Catholic doctrine, and that the Pope has, in effect, forced the Church into a heretical position.

One need only scan a few lines from John Paul II’s definitive work on women, Mulieris Dignitatem, to become aware that, for all his conviction about universal human rights, the Pope remains unconvinced that women qualify as human beings. His doctrine is chillingly close to that of apologists for racial segregation and apartheid – it doesn’t take an angry feminist to get creeped out by his equal-but-different rhetoric. If we need any more proof of the damage these teachings inflict, Manning draws our attention to two of the women John Paul II has chosen to elevate to sainthood over the years: a housewife who stayed with her husband despite years of violent beatings and a mother who chose to forgo a life-saving operation in order to save that of her unborn child.

Manning’s hope lies in the tireless activity of the progressive bishops, priests, and Catholic educators with whom she has worked despite the Vatican’s repeated attempts to hijack their efforts. And although Manning’s prose gets a little self-conscious during the storytelling portion of her book, particularly in her biographical details, it becomes positively vivid when Manning starts doing what she was trained for – laying out theological arguments and interpreting Catholic wit. My hope lies in knowing that there are reformers like Manning writing books like this one.