I would like feed back to a trend that is happening in the UK where people primarily Church of England members are in numbers finding the Catholic Church as "Home" for their faith. Primary reason is the new Archbishop of Canterbury and his approach to liberalizing the ideals of the Church.

It's intriguing because the age group hovers between 25 - 35 & 50 upwards.

Is this the case in the US? Could people be looking for discipline in their faith as Christians?

I'm with a Catholic discussion group and the topic always arises that perhaps when members are consistently told that Christ will forgive with or without sincere repentance the soul become lethargic. I hope I made some sense to my query.

All comments welcome and shared amongst the discussion group.

-- paulina (sellowenp@msn.com), April 14, 2003

Answers

paulina

Is this the case in the US? Could people be looking for discipline in their faith as Christians?

I havn't heard any trend in the USA like you mention. But I'm not a news master either. If anything we have lots of Catholics who are still Catholic in name but act like Protestants. It's unfortunate. But there are Catholics who are remaining true to the faith also. Perhaps there is a spiritual purge taking place. Or at least a "coming out", no one is hiding anymore. US Catholics are being outspoken, and going in many directions both orthodox and heterodox directions.

Sincerely,

-- Mike H. (michael.hitzelberger@vscc.cc.tn.us), April 14, 2003.

Dear Paulina,

I don't know how much of a "trend" it is, but there are many converts to Catholicism from the Anglican and Episcopal churches every year. I think it is easier for them to make the move than it is for many members of Protestant denominations, because their beliefs are relatively similar to ours. (Lutherans of course share many similarities as well). There is no doubt that the liberalization of these churches is a major pressure which pushes many to convert. Open acceptance of homosexuality and abortion, ordination of women, etc. is just more than many otherwise faithful members can endure. One noticeable effect in the Catholic Church, which might well qualify as a trend, is the increasing number of married Latin Rite Catholic priests, primarily married Anglican/Episcopal priests who have converted. If the number of laymen converting is proportional to the number of clergy, then I would have to say that it is indeed a new dynamic, or at least a major increase in an existing dynamic.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), April 14, 2003.

The trend has been going on for a while, but in the US, it a large number of Epsicopalins left after women were ordained, and every year, more Epsicopalins leave their denomination to become Catholic. Since the the Anglican Communion in the US(Episcopalins) parish' have some degree of self govrennence, many kept the changes at bay for the last 25 years, but slowly even these parish' are now getting eaten up by the more liberal mainstream of the denomination. One that that has kep many Anglicans/Epsicopalins from swiming across the Tiber is the poor liturgy of most Roman Catholic parish'. One big irony is even the revised Anglican liturgy from the 70s is often more in line with Catholic traidtion than the typical Roman Catholic mass we see today.

-- John B (rftech10@yahoo.com), April 15, 2003.