Posted on 06/13/2011 4:44:17 AM PDT by GonzoII
(Reuters) - Members of a liberal group of U.S. Roman Catholics on Sunday called on Church leaders to open talks with their members on controversies ranging from the ordination of women to allowing priests to marry.
Members of the American Catholic Council, meeting in Detroit, said they had grown concerned the church's hierarchy was not listening to its members on issues such as the role of women, married clergy and the treatment of homosexuals.
The meeting comes as the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is struggling with a sexual abuse crisis, loss of membership and a dwindling number of priests.
"When in God's name are the conversations going to begin?" asked Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun who addressed the meeting of about 2,000 people -- part of a liberal wing that represents a minority in the 1.2 billion-member Church.
She likened the structure, with bishops and archbishops answering to the pope in Rome, to "a medieval system that has now been abandoned by humanity everywhere, except by us."
Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron had warned before the meeting that any members of the clergy who attended the group's mass would risk being defrocked.
"All of the invited keynote speakers have manifested dissent from Catholic teachings or support for dissenters," the archdiocese said in a posting on its website.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The come to Detroit because we scare the crap out of them.
Two of our parishes are churning out Priests who are enlightening the faithful as to the ways of the True Church. We pop them out and they go to other parishes where things get much more orthodox and these brave young men are not afraid to speak the truth from the pulpit.
http://www.assumptiongrotto.com/
http://www.saintcyrils.org/
(Grotto is close to downtown but Cyrils is in the burbs and growing by leaps and bounds)
We are also huge Homeschooling communities who have *gasp* more than two children. Without schools but educating with Catechism that will knock your socks off. The first generation of homeschoolers here are having their own kids and raising them Catholic with a capital C.
These libs are horrified.
They hate us, they are totally scared of us.
The libs are never happy. Except for abortion, the American Catholic Church is a LIBERAL institution. They support all the big government, big amnesty, illegal immigration, anti-gun, anti-property rights stuff out there.
I wanted expanded availability for the Latin Mass. I got it.
I wanted a better translation of the English Mass. I got it.
I wanted an expansion of the Anglican Use. I got it.
My dear Sr. Chittister, the Church IS listening. Just not to you. :)
Then they should go join the Episcopal church where you can be as liberal as you want ... don’t really have to believe in anything and anything goes. They are just in the wrong church.
Catholic Church: (response)
the Liberal Laity is not Listening to the Truth
Exactly. This is like the left complaining the media is biased toward the right.
Woohoo! the conservatives strike back. Papa Beneditto is sweeping house.
Yes, fair dinkums -- the ECUSA can take these nuts and we'll be glad to accept the gift of the conservative, traditional anglicans
“They would be [w]elcome into any one of the 30,000 protestant denomination.”
I’m not sure I would agree with you. In my limited experience with actual Protestant churches (in the true meaning of “protestant” -— as in, Lutherans or the like, in contrast to simply non-Roman Catholic Christians), they tend to be much more conservative than Roman Catholics.
I suppose the Episcolpalian Catholics (which are Protestant) would fit the bill as a a liberal Protestant denomination, but the Missouri Synod Lutherans, for an example, at least as far as members of their church go, hold much closer to Roman Catholic teachings on social issues than the typical Roman Catholic church-goer.
Good for the Roman Catholic Church.
All these non-Catholic Catholics (maybe even non-Christian Catholics) can come to my denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA). You don’t gotta believe nuthin to be in my church! Why heck, we make it up as we go.
(It’s a long story why I’m still in the PC (USA)...)
Attention American Catholic Council .... the Roman Catholic Church is not a democracy.
The Church is not listening? hardihar. They can find Theology by Committee all over town but not in Rome.
Great to hear your community is doing so well there.
I think by and large Catholics are have been little late to the game on homeschooling but (around here, at least) they seem to be getting involved. Our oldest kids went to Catholic schools but I was not impressed with the “Catholicness” of their education. Now we have a 3 year old who will be homeschooled and my wife has found a nice network of Catholic homeschool moms who are helping her get started.
If you have any secrets or resources that would help us out let us know. We have a lot of education stuff but little of the Catholic variety.
These are the BEST Catechism instructions for kids.
They are bright and full of the true faith.
http://www.ignatius.com/promotions/faithandlife/
What I like about their style is, besides being true to the magisterium, they keep their lessons in a schedule for each grade. If your 1st grader is studying Pentecost, then your 5th grader is doing the same in an age appropriate way.
Semantics.
It isn’t THEIR CHURCH. It is Christ’s church and he’s spoken already.
Christ reigns - you worship and obey.
That’s the order of things.
+1
Correction: It is the Liberal Catholics who are not listening to the Holy Spirit teaching through the Catholic Church. If they do not believe that the Holy Spirit does indeed preserve Church teaching from error then they should admit that they are not Catholics and leave us in peace.
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