THREE BROTHERS

Matthew, Mark, and Luke O'Sullivan are triplets-whose pious Catholic mother passed away during childbirth, but whose family sees to it that they are firmly raised in the faith. Upon graduating from high school, all three of them have a vocation to the priesthood. It's an exciting time-The Vatican Council has concluded, the Mass is now said in English, and Catholic priests are going to jail for protesting the Vietnam War but the Papal encyclical Humanae Vitae has caused division in the Church, as well.

Always mindful of their father's counsel that "Brothers come first!", the three of them attend college and then seminary during a time of unprecedented change in the Catholic Church. The Mass ritual itself is changed, the Roe v. Wade decision legalizes abortion, and the Charismatic Renewal sweeps the world, while Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre is disciplined for stubbornly opposing the significant changes taking place.

Yet after ordination, the pace of change only increases: Pope John Paul II is elected, but there are increasingly bitter divisions in the Church over ecumenism, feminism and the ordination of women, clerical celibacy, and the place of gays and lesbians in the Church. Amidst a society torn by protests about nuclear arms, abortion, and the AIDS crisis, the three brothers challenge each other in basketball, as they challenge each other's arguments over birth control, the death of Terri Schiavo, and The Passion of the Christ, but especially over the clergy sexual abuse scandal and what it means for the priesthood. Then Benedict XVI is elected Pope, further threatening the ability of dissenting Catholic theologians to freely express their views.

In reading this thought-provoking book, you may discover that the most pressing issues affecting the Catholic Church are really the same issues that affect us all.