Comments on: Pope Benedict and Small Lay Communities http://magdalenemystique.com/2007/04/11/pope-benedict-and-small-lay-communities/ The Path Inward Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:34:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Nathan http://magdalenemystique.com/2007/04/11/pope-benedict-and-small-lay-communities/#comment-4841 Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:10:04 +0000 http://magdalenemystique.com/2007/04/11/pope-benedict-and-small-lay-communities/#comment-4841 I was born and raised a Roman Catholic, and I attended the University of Saint Thomas. Personally I would argue based on my time in university and been witness to the growing charismatic movemnet in Houston that while there remains a large percentage of traditonalist Catholics in Houston among the older generation the youth are in my opinion moving toward embracing lay movements akin the lay orders akin to the Third Order of the Franciscans and the Lay Associates of the Basilians. Additionally, there has been a growth in more liberal Catholic groups in the American Roman Catholic Church on social issues such as contraception, birth control, the ordination of women and the position taken by the church on the admittance of homosexuals to the seminary and priesthood. I know that when I was at University many of my Catholic friends held the view that the Vatican has regressed on some social issues since the time of Pope Paul VI, and that the time period of Pope John Paul II reign after his diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease the influence that then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and Angelo Cardinal Sodano exerted allowed Rome to become increasingly isolated from the body of American Catholics. The gulf that exists between Rome and the American laity has become even wider during the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI due to his conservative stances. I was born and raised a Roman Catholic, and I attended the University of Saint Thomas. Personally I would argue based on my time in university and been witness to the growing charismatic movemnet in Houston that while there remains a large percentage of traditonalist Catholics in Houston among the older generation the youth are in my opinion moving toward embracing lay movements akin the lay orders akin to the Third Order of the Franciscans and the Lay Associates of the Basilians.

Additionally, there has been a growth in more liberal Catholic groups in the American Roman Catholic Church on social issues such as contraception, birth control, the ordination of women and the position taken by the church on the admittance of homosexuals to the seminary and priesthood.

I know that when I was at University many of my Catholic friends held the view that the Vatican has regressed on some social issues since the time of Pope Paul VI, and that the time period of Pope John Paul II reign after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease the influence that then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and Angelo Cardinal Sodano exerted allowed Rome to become increasingly isolated from the body of American Catholics. The gulf that exists between Rome and the American laity has become even wider during the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI due to his conservative stances.

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