I've read that the Pope has asked the bishops to poll lay Catholics on

[hedgehog]

such hot button issues as clerical celibacy and contraception. There's been a lot of discussion of how to go about this. My question has been raised before - who is a Catholic? Is someone who was baptized, given First Communion and confirmed but who hasn't been to Mass in 20 years a Catholic? What if that person has been away over the precise issues involved?

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

1. I'd say it all depends on the man

My mother is a Jew. She does not keep kosher and the only two times she has been to a synagogue in over sixty years was for a wedding and for a funeral.

Yet there is no doubt in her mind that she is a Jew.

[hedgehog]

2. I think there are a lot of Catholics out here who fit the same pattern.

[TommyCelt]

3. I agree...

My father-in-law is Jewish.

He's never kept kosher or went to Temple, and even converted to Catholicism 20 years ago. He would still say he's Jewish without hesitation.

I think many American Catholics call themselves such as a cultural, rather than religious, identification. Culturally, this phenomenom seems stronger with Jewish folk, but it's part of being Catholic as well.

[rug]

4. If all you need is confession to take Communion, you're Catholic. Period

[goldent]

5. A good confession

had to add that