[Hermann the Cherusker]

Not a single ordinary lay Catholic listed among those meeting.

I dare say any Bishop would learn more from one hour among the unwashed masses than in any meeting of muckety-mucks, left or right.

[american colleen]

Carol McKinley is a regular lay Catholic. I know her. So there was one ;-)

If all the readers of the NCRegister, First Things, Crisis, The Wanderer, Envoy Magazine, etc. could attend that meeting I think they'd have to hire a stadium!

On the other side of the coin... the list does show that orthodox Catholics are in positions of influence and sort of mirrors the "guests" of the super duper secret bishop meeting of last July.

I'm kind of divided over this... it does allow the bishops to say "see, we meet with everybody" and then go home kind of smug... but on the other hand, it has generated a lot of headlines (Boston Globe: "Group cites dissent in church - Says celibacy not to blame for abuse") that the quiet portion of the laity (99% of us) can read and some will know that they aren't alone out there.

Will it accomplish anything? Probably not. But we are here (and not queer!).

[A.A. Cunningham]

Freeper Patrick Madrid attended. Perhaps he will share his impressions as well.