Is Liberal Catholicism dead? Gosh, most Catholics I know are liberal. They attend mass with some regularity, often send their children to parochial schools, have a high respect for Catholic work among the poor, in the medical field, etc. In some parishes they are the key participants in parish activities.
But when it comes to strict theology, most within my circle don't fret that much about traditional doctrine. If we talk about such matters, which is rare, they quietly express their doubts re transubstantiation, the Mariology represented by Fatima and Lourdes, papal infallibility, priestly celibacy, etc. Their attachment to the faith supercedes dogmas and has more to do with a desire to faithfully follow Jesus and live as godly lives as possible. They embrace a 'live and let live' view toward other faiths. A few have been so alienated by this or that priest or by the sex scandal or something else that they have distanced themselves from the church, occasionally even becoming mainline Protestants.
What does shock me is how many have embraced evangelicalism which in many ways reflects the same psychology as orthodox Catholicism. This psychology requires that they have the 'one truth faith' while most Catholics in my circle recognize that none of us has a monopoly on truth and that all of us live in a world so magnificant and mysterious that we all need some humility. God is so far beyond any one religion, so far beyond our limited human understanding, and while we embrace the faith that we have inherited that or suits our situation best we all should accept the fact that we too often think in very limited terms. One theologian, I'm not positive which one, stated it well when he said that he could only believe in a God that he could not understand. Sounds wise to me.
I wonder sometimes if there is any arrogance which God despises more than that which suggests that "we" have the only full and legitimate insight into the Divine. We're all seekers, and I for one am grateful to all those wise men and women of every faith who have enriched my appreciation for the Divine. Let's rejoice in humanity's search for that Divine and not be dismissive of the efforts of others as they seek for ultimate truth. Close-minded Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, etc., all miss so much by contending that they alone are blessed with the one truth faith. And their arrogance has been at the root of so much silly prejudice and even sectarian killing over the centuries.