The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) produced sixteen documents of great brilliance, beauty, and inspiration, but few Catholics have ever read them. The Voice of Vatican II provides the first-time reader with a balanced introduction to the writings that have defined the modern Catholic experience. In this brief overview, historian and theologian Peter Huff pictures the Vatican II texts as a great "cathedral of ideas." His tour of the documents begins at the cathedral"s altar, the council"s landmark statement on liturgy, and moves progressively through all the texts, culminating with the cathedral"s great door: the council"s magnificent Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. "The pilgrim departs a great cathedral rejuvenated," the author writes. "What awaits the sincere reader of the Vatican II texts is a life-changing encounter with the living Church and the Church"s living Lord."