Well, Ed, I don't know what to say to you, since I don't know what your experience is. I've been a Catholic all my life, educated in Catholic schools for 16 years (8 in a seminary, with a BA in Theology). I've been employed by the Catholic Church on several occasions, most recently as a teacher of religion to adults coming into the Catholic Church. I know how much freedom I have or don't have in the Catholic Church. I know there were some restrictions on what I could teach as an employee (but fewer restrictions than other employers imposed on me), and fewer restrictions on what I teach as a volunteer. I know that I would have had more restrictions as a priest or deacon; but as a lay person, my freedom is quite complete. Heck, my membership in the Catholic Church is voluntary. What can they force me to do? Even excommunication is mostly an empty threat. It doesn't happen very often, and it doesn't mean much when it does happen.

I also know that there are varying levels of doctrine; and the teachings on birth control and abortion, while binding, are not as unchangeable as the doctrines of the Creed and certain other dogmatic teachings. And I also know that in most circumstances, my sincere conscience supersedes the authority of Church teaching. I accept the Catholic teaching on abortion, but reject the idea that the teaching requires legislators to enact laws against abortion. I don't accept the Catholic prohibition of birth control - but that's a prohibition that even the Pope doesn't pay a whole lot of attention to, so I have to suspect that it is of lesser importance. There's a lot of teachings that the Catholic Church just doesn't bother teaching any more, just like governments don't bother enforcing laws that are irrelevant. If you're a fundamentalist, then you make a big deal out of strict enforcement of everything - but most people are able to see shades of grey and don't require everything to be black-and-white.

Please don't view my perspective on the rights of women and homosexuals as "mere political correctness." That's not my belief. I think these rights are very important - but I think they may be more permanent and effective if these rights are accepted and blessed by Catholics rather than imposed upon them.

And I'm very comfortable with the possibility of there being a billion viewpoints among the billion members of the Catholic Church. If a church is to live up to the ideals it professes, then I think it must find ways to achieve unity without uniformity. I think a community is enriched by diversity of opinion and thought - and I think that diversity has been present in the Catholic Church throughout its history (with varying levels of harmony).

I don't quite see why so many people seem to think that members of a religious creed must be absolutely uniform in their acceptance of every church teaching. The fundamentalists may think that, but most Catholics aren't fundamentalists. Heck, I don't accept everything that goes on in my own family - why do I have to accept everything that goes on in my church? It's sometimes hard for me to accept that my children and my wife think for themselves - but I certainly wouldn't want to have it any other way.

-Joe-