Reply #23: Well put, with one notable exception: The AMERICAN Catholic Church has become more right wing.

[ShortnFiery]

As a Catholic who is now genuinely experiencing "a crisis of faith" I can attest with veracity that my beloved faith has been taken over by right wing zealots whose only cause is to intimidate teenage girls into a lack of birth control options while cheering on GW Bush although two Popes DENOUNCED the "unjust war" which was the Invasion of Iraq.

"The U.S. invasion and war of occupation of Iraq has been denounced by TWO popes. On March 18, 2003, the Apostolic Delegate indicated that a person ignoring the papal directive for more diplomatic negotiations through the United Nations "assumes a serious responsibility before God, his conscience and history." Now, in Catholic theology "serious responsibility" translates as "mortal sin." There is no doubt that the invasion was unjustified: Roma locuta, causa finita est. Yet because the Vatican today has expressed concern about chaos if troop withdrawal is careless, the Catholic Conservatives try to confuse the absolute and clear denunciation of the invasion with papal caution about troop withdrawal. In effect, they are projecting Catholic teaching as a "flip-flop." It is not! Moreover, since I don't think they are stupid, I believe they are engaged in intentional deception, placing their McCainish politics ahead of their faith.

Catholic Conservatives like to act like gatekeepers for who is a "real Catholic" (themselves) and who is a "cafeteria Catholic" (everyone else). They seem not to know that the classic case of cafeteria Catholicism came from the conservative National Review, edited by the late William F. Buckley. Reacting to Blessed John XXIII's encyclical that supported the internationalism of the United Nations, the magazine ran with a cover that proclaimed: "Mater, Sí; Magistra, No." A clearer case of doctrinal relativism is hard to find. Unfortunately, the Catholic Conservatives have continued to "game' our faith today, and it's sad."