[ShovelPenguin]

Finally, there is a serious question whether non-practicing Catholics should be considered Catholic.

Problem is, many of us Catholics born after Vatican II were never taught that failure to practice your faith on a regular basis (attend Mass, take the sacraments) was even a sin. I never knew any of this until I did my research in college. We essentially were taught next to nothing so it's hardly surprising that today's "Catholics" are no different than everybody else and fail to be the "salt of the earth" that we are supposed to be. Sadly the rise of things like Roe vs. Wade has coincided with a spineless, post Vatican II mentality. If we Catholics as a voting bloc retained any moral backbone, we wouldn't even THINK about supporting the Democrats and their immoral platform.

[NKP_Vet]

The Catholic Church has very poor at Catechist(perperly teaching the faith). That’s a fact. It’s something the Church knows it needs to improve on. Once again, thank the liberals who have invaded the Church for the last 40 years for allowing this to happen. But with that said, everyone should take it upon himself to learn his faith. Never depend on the clergy to teach you what you need to find out for yourself. You will find most priests steering away from social doctrine issues like abortion. It is hardly ever mentioned in homilies. I have had great priests who were very conservative and would tell you you can’t vote for a pro-abortion politician. I have had them rant and rave over the issue of homosexual marriage. But they are far and few between. Most now do not want to “run off anyone” so they never preach abortion abortion and other controversial subjects. In my opinion they have done and are doing a grave injustice to the Church. Yes it’s up to the laity to know their faith, but the clergy are supposed to be leading their flock, not the other way around.