[VOA]

Catholicism as a living faith is just about dead in all of California, and especially
in the Bay Area.

As a fly-over country Protestant re-located to Southern California, it doesn't
seem that way here.

While the sex scandals have revealed obvious lack of institutional control by
Mahoney and the sad fruits of seminaries actually becoming a conduit for
future gay priests going after underage children...
it sounds like a fair number of the parishoners are "standing fast" and
pushing for fixing problems...not heading for the exits.

I know my comments are naive as I'm not Catholic...but I get the feeling that
there will be a strong Catholic presence here...as long as there is a California.
And there will be ups and downs, just like for any chruch body.

Oh, and a side-note. The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine actually wrote a fairly
respectful article about "traditional" (Pre-Vatican II) Catholics in Southern Cal.
It appears that sector, while small, is growing.