Catholic Church History: Pre-Christian to Modern Times presents how the Catholic Church developed in time, from her earliest days up until modern times. Repeatedly the reader will encounter Christ's mystical presence extended through time by the Church as His body. The various aspects of the Church, such as prefigured, persecuted, mother, teacher, shepherd, and prophet, all are touched upon as the reader reads the Church's history. While presenting the Church in her full splendor and holiness in her pilgrim state on earth, borrowing words from the International Theological Commission, her "maternal solidarity" as she "assum[es] the weight of her children's faults in maternal solidarity" are also discussed.