Catholics in U.S. Keep Faith, but Live With Contradictions

NY Times ^ | April 11, 2005 | DEAN E. MURPHY and NEELA BANERJEE

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Be a Catholic, or join another church. What's so hard about that?

[CFC__VRWC]

The New York Times just keeps it up, advising us Catholic faithful that buggery and infanticide are the true path to salvation.

[neverdem]

ping

[Texas_Jarhead]

Here's the balance paragraph, "Certainly there are traditionalists. "If it works, why mess with it? It lasted 2,000 years. Why mess with it?" asked Joseph M. Perry, 51, a mechanic from Reading, Mass. Mr. Perry says he does not agree with abortion and thinks priests should remain celibate and male."

[FlingWingFlyer]

The secular MSM sure is working hard to convince us that the Ten Commandments are a "living and breathing" document and that many of the commandments need to be repealed or amended.

[quietolong]

>>>> but has had two children out of wedlock. <<<<<

Can't be that much of a devoted Catholic

[rpgdfmx]

Sure she can... we are all sinners, no?

[supercat]

Can't be that much of a devoted Catholic

Depends whether she repents and decides to sin no more.

[Antoninus]

The Beatitudes, according to the NY Times:

Blessed are the whiners, for they shall be interviewed.

Blessed are the shrill, for they shall have the rules changed in their favor.

Blessed are those who claim to follow Me but think they don't have to listen to Me. The city of LA is theirs.

Blessed are the sanctimonious, for they shall sell many newspapers.

Blessed are the cafeteria catholics, for they shall see satan.

And how blessed are you when the Elite Media has you on their rolodex for interviews as a Catholic who can be counted on to say the "right" things. You shall become an editor.

[conservative cat]

A lot of American Catholics do a poor job of raising their children. As a convert to the faith, I have noticed that there are many cradle Catholics who either don't know or don't care what their faith is all about. My daughter is in Catholic school, now, and the younger will follow. In addition, we have talks about morals, beliefs, and sin. We'll see in about 15 years if it took!

I am not without sin but I want my kids to know that the mistakes I have made were not the right decisions. If you can't raise your kids to be real Catholics and not just those who warm seats during mass but don't follow the beliefs, then don't call them Catholic!! Some Catholics seem to believe that as long as they eat the host on Sundays, that's all that matters.

[Malesherbes]

Mr. Gonya "attends mass at two churches every Sunday." Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the Church allows attendance at mass twice on the same day.

[JohnnyZ]

Where to begin with an article like this?

An article quoting a bunch of dissidents and one orthodox?

The high school boy whose Catholic school taught him the Church is accountable for the spread of AIDS in Africa?

The radical feminist at BC who exemplifies the problem in our "Catholic" universities?

The substitution of "a la carte" for "cafeteria" -- the fact they needed to choose a French euphemism suggests where they really stand.

The fact is, this type of thinking ("we need liberal changes") exists but it is out of touch with the reality of faithful Church-going Catholics.

[Francis McClobber]

One can attend as many masses as one wishes; one may only receive communion once in a day.

[Aleighanne]

I wish the NYT and others would interview the Catholics I know. They don't want these changes. Most of them want the church to take a less liberal stance in the US than that which it has taken in the last 10 years.
By the way, I was a lapsed Catholic and just went back to the Church recently. I attended a church denomination that was more liberal married preachers, women preachers, etc...I thought that was what I wanted and I was wrong.

[Ain Soph Aur]

What it seems like to me is a lot of people wanting a religion of convenience rather than true beliefs. I'm not a very religious person (call it a crisis of faith, if you will), and never was Catholic, but it disgusts me every time I hear someone saying a church either has or should conform its message to popular political trends.