[ultima ratio]

Unfortunately the American Church is predominantly liberal in its prelature. Even so-called "conservative" bishops and cardinals are left of center. It is true orthodoxy prospers in almost direct proportion to the decline of heterodoxy. But the bishops pay no notice and refuse to change their commitments to the liberal agenda. And while it's true the Catholic Church has not OFFICIALLY changed its doctrines, in practice it has changed radically. Divorce is not sanctioned in the Church, for instance, but annulments ("Catholic divorces") have soared, especially in the US. So in addition to being less orthodox, the Catholic Church in America is also far less honest about what it believes and what it teaches than it ever was before Vatican II.

[narses]

Is it the Church or the modern American culture that drives divorce inside the Church? If catechesis is so poor that many marry without the correct intention, then bad (non-sacramental) marraiges occur and annulments follow. Either way, the failure is clearly that of authority and therefore attributabal to the hierarchy, but I wonder if divorce is just the symptom, not the root issue?