Have we lost ground? Is the Church imploding? Before we gather up the sackcloth and proclaim a fast, we have to understand that homosexuality is a rather novel social movement. We've always had homosexuality, for sure. But in a country that is obsessed with civil rights and fairness, the sexual identities and freedoms of people is now more pronounced. Think about divorce (not too much, though). Catholics oppose that as well. There are very sinful ramifications to marrying a divorced person. Mortal sin. But, most U.S. Catholics also have experienced divorce either personally or have a family member who's divorced (myself included). Does this mean the Church failed? No. It means that somehow divorce became a right and a very facile one to obtain. Thus making it popular but by no means "good".
For the American mind, rights and goods are synonymous. For the Church, there are distinctions. You may have a right to scream in an elevator. It's just not good.
Ok, so that's Americans but what about our saving hope? What about the new immigrants?? The Hispanics are rising in the population!One of the hopes of our bishop and many Catholic leaders is that the influx of immigrants from Mexico will infuse our culture with a broader Catholic presence. But the study shows that Latino Catholics are 45% in favor of gay marriage which is the highest percentage of any racial or religious group polled.
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| Ok, maybe this is not the same kind of gay acceptance among Latinos. |
Like divorce, adultery, abortion, and other issues related to human life, there may be an easy agreement and support for such things among Americans. But as Catholics,no matter if it's popular or peaceable, there is always a fight for life to the life. And, to paraphrase St. Teresa d'Avila, that's probably why there's so few of them.
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| St.Teresa is noted as saying after an unpleasant and grueling trip across a river, "God, if this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few of them." |
Oh...and for a lark, read carefully. The surveyors of the Public Religion Research Institute are listed here.
