[Jeff Chandler]

Indeed, not all younger Catholics have embraced John Paul's strict teaching on sexual morality; there are many who want the church to be more flexible about its ban on contraception, its hard line on divorce and its exclusion of women and married men from the priesthood.

There's a name for these people: Protestants.

[yellowdoghunter]

I am glad to hear about that. Gives me hope for the future. Thanks for posting this.

[B Knotts]

The hand-wringing at the Times is almost audible.

[Republican Red]

I am a 45 year old Catholic. I attended mostly cathholic schools through graduate school.

I have not been happy with the Catholic Church for sometime. It has gotten to the point of being a chore to attend mass regularly.

It is not because I want it more liberal. Strangely enough I think the Catholic Church has gotten too liberal. On trying to be more "with-it" the traditions of the Church have been lost.

I personally do not like manner in which the mass is celebrated now. My parish masses remind me of musical theater. Every response is a 5 minute hand clapping hands waving in the air song. I do not like the way people dress so casual in mass. Jeans, t-shirts and mini skirts are not appropriate. Parents bring their bratty kids to mass and disrupt the service. I must emphasize that I had to go to mass every day with a nun's ruler threatening at any moment so it has been ingrained in me to behave a certain way.

I find I am more upset after going to mass than satisfied.

[HamiltonJay]

The sooner the Baby Boomers die off, the better the world will be.

[madprof98]

Part of the reason for the worldwide swing toward conservatism among young Catholics is that the pope encouraged the growth of conservative lay-led movements.

I recently attended a lecture by an aging nun bemoaning the failure of the contemporary Church to "implement Vatican II." She kept insisting that one of the biggest challenges remaining was the development of lay leadership in the Church. I pointed out to her that in fact some of the most vibrant movements in the presentday Church have been instituted and are being led by lay Catholics, many of them young. It's only because these movements are traditionalist (orthodox) that people like that nun pretend they are not even there.

[Remole]

I am very familiar with the "Lay Centre" mentioned in the article. What Dr. Keating says is true: CAtholics in their 20's, studying theology in Rome, from all over the world, committed to the doctrinal truths of the Catholic faith. Very, very inspiring--and worthy of our financial support!!

[frogjerk]

"liberation theology," a stream of Catholicism then influential in Latin America that championed the rights of workers and the poor. John Paul regarded the liberation theologians as Marxists, and their power diminished during his papacy.

LIBs: But JPII hated the free market economy...

[Mershon]

If they think these children and young adults are "conservative," wait until they encounter all the children we're having (all across the country) who attend Traditional Latin Mass centers. They will make these current "conservatives" look like Hans Kung.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

In the 1970's, in the wake of the Vatican II Council, he said, priests let many traditions fall by the wayside. Now, he said, the younger generation is reviving devotional practices more familiar to their grandparents than their parents

For traditional mass go here: Tridentine Mass

[the invisib1e hand]

(Thank you Pope John Paul!)

The Revolution of Life in our age has begun!