The Church in Pluralist Society: Social and Political RolesVatican II opened new pathways to engagement with societies shaped by modernity. Its project could be read as an attempt to interpret the stance of the church in relation to the whole project of modernity. The fundamental presumption of this collection of essays is that it is timely, indeed imperative, to keep alive the question of the church's self understanding in its journey alongside the complex, often rebellious, always restless mind of the