Should we ask the Mods for a forum for Catholics who want to discuss

[hedgehog]

needed changes in the Church?

From the February 2,2008 edition of "America", page 35:(Associate Professor of Religion and Society at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley Jerome P.) Bagget makes the significant point that the bishops should be aware that even the most committed of Catholics "negotiate with their faith tradition, experience real uncertainties about it and look in askance at many of its more institutionalized features".

Further on, the article describes Bagget's findings based on in-depth interviews with 150 active Catholics:"With the exception of one highly conservative community Bagget included in the survey, they seem largely open to the ordination of women, an end to mandatory celibacy or a better place for homosexuals in the church."

"Catholics.....are people with a fierce loyalty to the church but who demand that their tradition must resonate with their experience."


How about calling the forum "Sense of the Faithful"?

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Why not just obey the Group Rules and discuss

what you think is needed while being respectful toward the Church and all the clergy, including the Holy Father, and remembering that the Church is not a democracy? This group was started to give Catholics a safe haven at DU, not a place to piss and moan about parish priest, bishops, or the pope. You can do that in any other forum or group at DU and get plenty of Catholic bashers agreeing with you.

[hedgehog]

3. The nature of chat rooms is such that words often come out harsher

than they would in real life. Still, I beg you to understand that if the Church was not vitally important to me, I wouldn't care to ever speak of it. It is because I do care about my Church that I speak out against the injustices that so many members hold to their hearts. What if when we pray for vocations, God is wondering about all the fine women and men He has sent that the hierarchy has turned away?

[shrike]

2. Catholics complaining amongst themselves is a bit different than the craziness of GD and elsewhere

Catholics can rag amongst themselves, but we like to close ranks against outsiders because the outsiders don't know what they're talking about. (They tend to come up with crazy statements like "the black pope is trying to control the world.")

But all that aside, I don't think the DU mods would allow a separate group. Not enough people; the C & O group is small enough as it is. Not practical to allow another one.

Have you thought of going to some of the more liberal Catholic groups/websites and finding out if they have discussion boards?

You're welcome to ask, though. I wouldn't minding having discussions on this nature on a board that allowed it.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. We can discuss any issue you like here, the rules

allow for that. We just need to remember that we're not a private forum and others may see us as representing Catholics as a whole in a negative way.