> There is a war going on > right now within the Roman Catholic Church between those who think > the reforms of Vatican II went too far or maybe even should be > completely repealed and those who think that the reforms didn't go > far enough.
Dan replied:
That description is probably true if you are describing bishops, but not if you are describing average Catholics. If you look at surveys of Catholics on issues such as married priests, women priests, birth control, etc. you will find that most Catholics in the US dissent from the teachings of the church. Only 30% agree with the churches policy on married priests, 67% disagree; woman priests: 32% vs 64%; birth control 12% vs 88%.
So, the vast majority of American Catholics want the reforms to go farther. From:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/vault/stories/data101503.html
The balance only exists in the hierarchy.
From my personal experience, that sounds accurate. However, I don't thinkthat
would hold true of Catholics in European countries. I don't have any numbers to
back this up, only anecdotes, but it seems to me that American Catholics tend to
be much more liberal as a group than European Catholics, which I find to be a
fascinating reversal of the typical stereotype of Europeans as liberal and Americans
as conservative outside of the Church.
Reggie Bautista
_________________________________________________________________
Crave some Miles Davis or Grateful Dead? Your old favorites are always playing on MSN Radio Plus. Trial month free! http://join.msn.com/?page=offers/premiumradio
_______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
