There are many reasons for pessimism about the state of religious faith, and in particular of our Catholic Church, in Ireland today. The obvious ones, the drastic decline in church attendance and in recruits to the priesthood, have been well documented. In the last couple of months the Association of Catholic Priests conducted a series of meetings with priests around the country in order to give them an opportunity to talk freely about themselves and their lives.
How much of Church Doctrine do we really believe?
It is stating the obvious to say that the Catholic Church has lost a great deal of its credibility, particularly here in this country. There are some very obvious reasons for that, the clerical sex abuse revelations, clerical control and the side-lining of women in decision making and ministry, various teachings on sexuality and relationships, a serious failure of leadership, and many others.
But I believe there is a deeper, and more fundamental, problem than any of the above.
The Bearded Old Man in the Sky: More on Church Doctrine
Following on from my blog posting of March 29th entitled “How much Church Doctrine do we really Believe”, a blog that in the way of social media got circulated, I recently got an email from Alfred Kracher in the U.S.
I think Alfred’s email expresses what I was trying to convey in a much clearer way than I could, so with his permission I reproduce it here:
Recently the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church re-published your blog “How much of Church Doctrine do we really believe?”
