From: "Dan Minette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: "Reggie Bautista" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> But as I said, I don't think this will go through. 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 completely repealed and those who think that the reforms didn't go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.
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.
I'm not sure that within the hierarchy you could call it a "balance". My impression is that within the Church leadership, there are very few who hold the reformist views that the majority of American Catholics hold, or if they do, they are unable to admit it, as dissent is apparently not tolerated. I was disgusted to read this last month:
http://andrewsullivan.com/index.php?dish_inc=archives/2003_10_12_dish_archive.html#106640638844162996
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J18942986
Nothing is going to change as long as we have the present pope, but from what I've heard, all of the favorites as his replacement are considered to also be of the conservative, hard-line persuasion as well.
Dan, I'm surprised by your report about low church attendance in South America, as I keep hearing that another reason church reform is unlikely is because the church's greatest growth is in South America and Africa, where they don't share the US Catholic's more liberal views.
And then there's McCloskey: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2003/11/02/the_crusaders/ (I think someone here (The Fool?) linked to this article recently, but I can't find it now)
Summary quote from him:
"There's a name for Catholics who dissent from church teachings," he says. "They're called Protestants."
Blah.
_________________________________________________________________
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
