Australian Catholic Bishops and the First Vatican Council 1869-70 describes in fascinating detail the intellectual challenges and multiple social pressures Catholicism was facing from the Enlightenment and Liberal Democratic processes - ideas that successive Popes had condemned, seeing these as part of a determination to destroy traditional Catholicism from within. The book is more than a history. It is a reflection on the processes within the Council, where infallibility rather than primacy was the focus of much of the debate, and the outcome was the Council's institutionalisation of a monarchical Church, a model accepted and celebrated in Australia, with effects lasting even to our own times. ... makes an invaluable contribution to the study of Vatican I and its abiding significance. Professor Austin Cooper omi, AM Vatican I comes to life as we hear long-forgotten voices from the past that speak to the present. Rev. Dr Max Vodola This is a ""must-read"" book not only for church historians interested in Vatican I but also for every Catholic who has struggled with understanding the absolute authority that was given to the Pope at that Council. Dr Larry Nemer, SVD Peter Price gained his Phd in History at Monash University in 2010 where his thesis considered English responses to the First Vatican Council. He has been a senior lecturer in Church History at Yarra Theological Union and is an adjunct Senior Research Fellow with Monash University in Melbourne. Peter is married to Judy, with three adult family members and five grandchildren.