Certainly you are correct, but it would help if they spoke a bit of truth about themselves, to begin with.
My truth.
The Church has filled me with nothing except fear, anxiety and a feeling of never being able to live up or meet the required standards.
The more I learned, the worse I felt, the harder I tried, the worse I failed.
I have not forced my unbelief upon my will, rather I have simplified what I want in this life.
Letting go of what I thought were my beliefs…has been my freedom.
I had wished that I could have the same feelings of a lot people, that I could sit in a Catholic Church and remain blissfully happy in my unbelief and contradictory life, juxtaposed with the Church.
That is not fair to me or the RCC.
I would hope that if we were all in a Catholic Church, and I walked out the doors…I would hope that those of you cheering at my departure within this forum…would not cheer my departure inside or outside the Church doors.
If you would cheer my departure from a Church…
Remember, I am not alone in feeling this way:
usao.edu/~facshaferi/canada/english2.htm
Here follows the text of the message presented to the Executive Committee of the Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops by Catholics of Vision: Canada, on August 28, 1997, following the completion of the signature campaign.
**
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED**
A picture of the Catholic Church in Canada emerges from the letters, phone calls, interviews, talk shows, press articles and reports from area leaders. We have summarized below what we have heard and learned:
Code:
* a) for many, their experience of Church is one of **pain and rejection.** Those who voiced feelings of pain and rejection include: gays, lesbians and their families, the divorced and remarried; single parent families; nuclear families, the economically deprived; those living in closed and/or priest-less parishes; individuals opposed to aspects of current Church discipline; and many women;
* b) support for a married and/or female clergy is strong. Regular access to eucharistic celebration is more important that a restrictive law;
* c) many see minimal dialogue between Bishops and informed laity. There is a general attitude that the Canadian Bishops have failed to resist the growing centralization of power in Rome, and the fundamentalist Catholic groups which support such centralization;
* d) **there is much fear among Catholics**, especially among those employed by or doing business with Catholic organizations;
* e) apathy and/or **hopelessness characterize many Catholics' understanding of Church;**
* f) there is an urgent need for sound adult education programs and preaching in our parishes:
**