North American Conference of Separated or Divorced Catholics, Inc. (NACSDC), which is recognized by USCCB and listed in The Official Catholic Directory, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation which, among other things, advertises and sells educational materials through its catalogue and website. NACSDC has a Catholic book section which sells only four books. The first book in the Catholic section is While You Were Gone; A Handbook for Returning Catholics and Those Thinking About It, by William J. Bausch. The book's description states, "An overview of the changes that have taken place in the church since Vatican II, presented in a non-threatening and welcoming manner. It is a very popular book with pastors and leaders."

The author, William J. Bausch, is a priest of the diocese of Trenton, New Jersey.

While You Were Gone third printing is endorsed by:
Rev. Kenneth Boyack, C.S.P., Director of The Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association,
Susan W. Blum, Ed. D., Vice President, National Council for Catholic Evangelization,
Maureen Gallagher, Ph. D., (Milwaukee) Archbishop's Delegate for Parishes,
Rev. William C. Graham, National Catholic Reporter,
Msgr. Hugh J. Nolan, Catholic Standard & Time,
Paul Matthew St. Pierre, British Columbia Catholic.

Excerpts from the book distributed by NACSDC, While You Were Gone by Fr. Bausch, Trenton NJ
The council [of Trent] wrapped the church in isolation and fashioned it into a kind of self-sufficient island kingdom untouched by the world. All kinds of self protecting regulations were passed: the Index of Forbidden Books, rubrics standardizing the liturgy all over the world, and a single formulation of dogma (up to that time there were many legitimate formulations.) It was the beginning of a static period only ending with the Second Vatican Council in our lifetime. (p. 22). 

The church had to declare loud and clear: We have all the truth; others don't. We would be saved; other lost. Authority was strict, dialogue was out, and obedience in, and we saw to it that people would be kept safe from "dangerous" ideas. Even though many wonderful securities and benefits and a rich Catholic devotional life were evident, this ghetto mentality, this separation from the world couldn't hold forever. It officially burst with Vatican II. (p. 24). 

They [people who have been hurt at the hands of the church] hate those authoritarian representatives of the church who are supposed to represent a loving God and God's mysterious and pervasive love and box it into rigid rules and regulations. ... Many disagree with the church's stand on sexuality, from masturbation and premarital sex to abortion. (p 31). 

Others are involved in divorce and remarriage and they simply don't know where they stand in the church and they are aggrieved that they can't receive the Eucharist. (p 32). 

Eighty-seven percent of Catholics think the church should permit couples to make their own decision about forms of birth control, (p. 64). 

You can dissent and remain a faithful Catholic (p. 65). 

For most people like yourself, the parish is what you identify as 'the church.' Most don't care what the Vatican does, or the pope or the bishop... the pastor is more significant than the pope. (p. 67).

There is something to be said about the church's traditional morality of chastity before marriage and fidelity after. But, of course, there is also unfinished business brought on by modern insights and technology.  What about birth control? ... Should there not be nuances within the couple's lives that permit it? What about sex between those already betrothed, already publicly committed? How about those who are radically homosexual and cannot live a life of chastity and should not live a life of promiscuity? ... Other questions: Is every single instance in every circumstance of an early abortion sinful? That sixty-eight percent of the Baby Boomers deny that one must obey the church's teaching on abortion shows how wide the gap is and how much dialogue there must yet be. These are question that have to be continually examined within the framework of great Catholic moral teaching. Sexual morality is part of our unfinished agenda; it requires a continually formed conscience and a great respect for a communal, not merely a person, context. (p. 91 & 92). 

The challenge is to finish up the business God gave you to do and to make a difference. To correct where you can, change what you might ... You too, after all, as we never tire of saying, are the church (p 94).