AMERICAN CATHOLIC COUNCIL MEETING: Letters to the editor...

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The AMERICAN CATHOLIC COUNCIL meeting at Cobo Hall in Detroit started yesterday despite a power outage. This morning’s Free Press carried the inevitable letters to the editor about the council and the meeting.

The Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Detroit and spokesman for Archbishop Allen Vigneron had the first say.

Predictably, he said that the Council is made up of Church dissenters and people that have been thrown out of the Church so these people are basically a bunch of angry people wanting to harm the Church.

Predictably, he then affirmed that the Church is ready to hear all  legitimate suggestions for “renewal” but suggestions from the Council are not legitimate.

Finally, he speaks to the core of the problem; the Council wants a say in the running of the Church as in a democracy but obviously the Church is a dictatorship and will never allow others to interfere with its absolute power over the Church and its members…thank you very much!

The first letter in opposition addressed the difference between FAITH and MATTERS OF PERSONAL CONSCIENCE AND RESPONSIBILITY and how the Church seems to blur the lines between the two.

Kathleen Finazzo, the letter writer, echoes the thinking of many Catholics when she says that to be a good Catholic you MUST believe what you are told, not in matters of FAITH but on issues such as abortion, birth control, stem-cell research, gay marriage, celibacy, women’s place in the Church and much more…

She states that the Catholic Church discourages independent thought, doubt or dissent and is quick to attack those that do so with “defrocking” and “excommunication” which is the prerogative of a dictatorship.

Another writer, Charles Piotrowski asks why the Archbishop had to go to such drastic steps as threatening people attending the meeting. He feels it is 2011 and not the Dark Ages and open dialogue is essential for the future of society and the Church.

These are all good points but again I must point out that the Church is a dictatorship and will not change anything unless (1) a liberal pope is elected like John XXIII (fat chance) or (2) people abandon the Church and not support it (fat chance). The only other alternative is to create a SCHISM in the Church (been done before) and establish an AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH and persuade existing clergy to come over from the dark side to the side with light.

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