“Seems to me there is more fragmentation amongst Roman Cathlics then most other Christian groups.”
Well its the biggest Christian “group” by far, inevitably you’ll get differing opinions. Moreover, it’s more of a split than a fragmentation; the church hierarchy (e.g. bishops, archbishops on up) are out of touch with the laity, even out of touch with the faithful, active laity. The vast majority of Roman Catholics have used birth control at some point in their lives. All the end-of-mass bishops’ letters in the world won’t change their minds. Humane Vitae may have been one of the Church’s biggest mistakes in modern times; right up there with the failure to pursue pedophiles in its ranks (and I say this as an active Catholic). As for abortion, most active Catholics find it repugnant to an extent, and are happy to see the grisly partial-birth procedure banned. But they’re largely willing to tolerate 1st trimester abortions as a last-ditch procedure, especially in case of severe fetal deformity (e.g. Down’s, trisomy 13, spina bifida etc.) or rape/incest. But the church doesn’t recruit its bishops from the parish level (as a rule), rather, it picks people who it believes will make good administraitve apparatchiks right out of the seminary. Too often, these people, good and even holy they may be, are isolated from the daily lives of their flock.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply.