Monday, April 21, 2008

Hard-Liner With Soft Touch Reaches Out to U.S. Flock

Ian Fisher and Laurie Goodstein in The New York Times, April 13, 2008, describing the Church as Pope Benedict XVI would find it.
“Doctrinal purity would not be high on the list of 95 percent of U.S. Catholics,” said Sister Christine Schenck, executive director of FutureChurch, a coalition of Catholics who want the church to be more open to change. Rather, she said, American Catholics worry: “Is my parish going to stay open? Another is, ‘What about my adult children, for whom religion doesn’t mean anything?’ I’ve had parents tell me, ‘My child had 14 years of Catholic education and the church doesn’t connect with them.’ ”

If doctrine is regarded as unimportant, there's no reason to expect parishes to remain open, and no reason to be surprised if "Catholic education" leaves people unconnected.

1 comment:

  1. Terence, you're absolutely right. There a many that don't seem to get it.

    ReplyDelete