Dr. John Rao outlines the Gregorian Reform and the many obstacles in its path. Continued Germanic and other barbarian customs still stood in the way of Christianization and Romanization. The Moslems were again on the advance through the work of the Seljuk Turks. Moreover, Eastern Christianity still found it hard to accept the idea of Papal Supremacy.

The ravages of feudal soldiers in the West made the task of Christianizing and Romanizing the military a primary one. This was tackled by offering them the defensive role of guarding pilgrims to Compostella in Spain and teaching them how they could "take up their Cross" and "Crusade" for the protection of Christians against Moslems. Dr. John Rao describes the idealism and practical difficulties of the venture.

A population that needed to go on pilgrimage to God had to have a dedicated and purified clergy guiding it. Dr. John Rao speaks of how this involved a fight for celibacy and against simony and the all too frequent barbarization of the behavior of popes, bishops, and priests.

Christianization and Romanization required a deeper learning in the High Middle Ages. Dr. John Rao shows that this involved studies in theology, philosophy, and law in the period from 1000-1300 and the development, under Church care, of the first universities.

Political squabbles pitting popes against emperors, kings, princes and their supporters in the episcopacy troubled the Gregorian reform program. So did the economic ambitions of the growing cities and bourgeoisie in Europe. Dr. John Rao outlines the complexity and interaction of these troubling elements.

Dr. John Rao speaks of the way in which the Gregorian pilgrimage to God involved a deeper understanding of how the Incarnation required the transformation of all things in Christ. It is understandable that heresies which detested the idea of the Incarnation and its meaning for the world would resist. Manichean beliefs in the evil of Creation reared their head by the 1100's and 1200's.

Napoleonic and Restoration Europe was still not a world that the Catholic Church could enjoy. It was too regalist and too naturalist. Dr. John Rao discusses how secularist State interference in Church affairs continued even when the Revolution ended.

Dr. John Rao discusses the various forces which contributed to a revival of Catholic self-confidence in the years 1800-1848. These involved a number of clerical-lay circles in Germany, France, and Italy in particular. All worked to rediscover the fullness of the Catholic "pilgrimage to God", the extended meaning of the Incarnation, and the richness of the concept of the Mystical Body of Christ.

Such early nineteenth century circles, which concerned themselves with theological, philosophical, spiritual/mystical, historical, catechetical, liturgical, literary, missionary, and political and social issues are discussed here by Dr. John Rao in detail, country by country.

The next four talks by Dr. John Rao discuss the various dilemmas and disagreements arising from this movement of Catholic rediscovery. They caused clashes not only with enemies of Catholicism, but also internally, among Catholics themselves.