""But do you, Don, honestly believe that this same level of education & enlightenment has been offered WORLDWIDE ~~ to members of your generation within that vast Catholic population of E Nigeria, for example; or Congo or Uganda? Or Turkmenistan? Or throughout the Caribbean & S America?""

You are (or should be, if you were paying attention) well aware that I have such issues with the teachings of the Catholic Church as led to my leaving it.

It should, therefore, be obvious to you that I am unlikely to be in any way an apologist for the organisation.

I would however claim (with reason) to know much more than most of you about the manner in which Catholicism is taught.

Your hypothetical East Nigerians etc. will certainly have been taught the Catechism, the Credo, and the Liturgy in exactly the same manner as I, Joe and almost all other Catholics were.

You make much of the controlling nature of Catholicism without realising that those most controlled are the Catholic Clergy and especially those who have a missionary role in the far flung regions of the third world.

They teach in the same manner as salesmen sell, from a carefully worded and precise script, so anybody who doesn't get the message simply isn't paying attention.

Don T.