[american colleen]

I love JPII, but I think maybe we need someone in between him and a Pius XII (the one before John XXIII) - without the pomp and circumstance.

You know there are some really wonderful and holy bishops... imagine how hard it must be to be them?

What the bishops do and don't do matters a lot but it's not everything. I just worry about the possible converts who are repelled and/or offended. Probably all of us, if we are willing and able, have an indult that is sort of accessible - if we don't want to deal with our own parish bs. And the bishops... you get your good ones and you get your bad ones... always been that way, I guess.

When I was a kid I got kicked in the pants pretty good. My mother had an affair with a priest and so my parents ended up divorced. The Church gave her an annulment even though my dad didn't want one. Then all the collages and posters and CCD garbage. So I kind of left for a while. Until it came to me that the priests and the bishops weren't the Faith at all. They can help if you let them and they can hurt if you let them.

And none of it will matter at the end! Although I'll take one of whatever stripe please, at the end ;-)

[malakhi]

Then all the collages and posters and CCD garbage.

And the felt banners. You can't forget the felt banners.

[rogator]

"I just worry about the possible converts who are repelled and/or offended. Probably all of us, if we are willing and able, have an indult that is sort of accessible - if we don't want to deal with our own parish bs."

I understand fully. We are embarrassed to invite anyone to attend Mass with us locally for fear of what we might encounter (e.g. banal music, hula dancers, new age b.s. etc.) We have invited folks to attend Mass in Portland where there are still a few reverent Masses avaliable. Portland , however is more than a five hour round trip for us.

As for what you had to deal with as a kid, I can not even begin to understand how you managed to keep the faith, much less excell in your understanding of what it means to be Catholic. My hat is off to you. You have proven yourself to be not only a survivor but a champion. Thanks be to God for his grace which you amply received.