I wonder what a liberal Roman Catholics lurking on this site must think of all these posts.

[DevonRex]

85. Thanks.

I'm not Catholic but I know that my husband's family has been Catholic for 2000 years. That's a hell of a lot of history. They were Catholic when that's the only church there was, before the Popes' rise to power and when Popes had immense power. Real, political power over their lives - just like a king. And they were Catholic when the Pope lost that power. Hundreds of years ago. They don't have to do everything he says anymore. To Catholics of European origin, especially Italian like my husband's family, the Catholic Church is their history. Every marriage, birth, baptism and death is recorded in it - 2000 years' worth. It means a lot. Far too much to behave as if it's a simple thing to just switch churches.

The other half of his family is Irish. The Catholic ancestry is slightly shorter there. But you might be interested in "How The Irish Saved History" by Thomas Cahill. All about St. Patrick and the monks transcribing the works that would re-enlighten Europe after the Dark Ages. And why Ireland would be known as "the isle of saints and scholars." http://www.amazon.com/Irish-Saved-Civilization-Hinges-History/dp/0385418493

I was raised protestant. Never joined a church. We were too Fundy for that. But even I can see that this is way different from going from Baptist to Presbyterian because I disagree with some point of doctrine. This is deep-rooted family history and world history.