[Magdalen] Ireland

[Grace Cangialosi]

Well, I kind of feel that way about Pope Francis...

> On May 26, 2015, at 4:21 PM, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> As my friend Sheila (formerly RCC, now staunchly Episcopalian) has always
> said, "If priests were all like Fr. Greeley, we'd all be Catholic."
> 
> On Tue, May 26, 2015 at 4:15 PM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> I recall reading Andy Greeley's discussion of RCC members in TUSA.
>> 
>> He said, essentially, that they would mostly never stop being members of
>> TRCC, but they no longer felt bound  by most of the specific teachings of
>> the Church.
>> 
>> The younger RCC members use birth control as seems right to them.  I don't
>> recall him addressing abortion, so I won't comment on that.  I do recall
>> that I was at a RCC retreat center and at the end of the session it was
>> announced that the chapel would have mass very shortly.
>> 
>> I explained that I was an Episcopalian.  "Oh, we don't care about that
>> here!  Please come if you wish!" It was a nice way to round out the day....
>> 
>> His work in sociology was formidable.
>> 
>> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
>> *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
>> except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
>> 
>> On Tue, May 26, 2015 at 12:01 PM, Jim Guthrie <jguthrie at pipeline.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> When the Irish republic was established the overwhelming majoroty of the
>>>> population were practising Roman Catholics.  As has been onserved before
>>> 
>>> There's apparently an interesting parallel -- though it's hard to
>>> determine the difference among what the RC Bishops believe to be their
>>> membership, what people when polled believe to be members, and the actual
>>> number of people attending RC parishes. The Bishops know the difference
>>> between their official view and boots on the ground, but it is not in
>> their
>>> political interests to proclaim that practicing RCs constitute about 20%
>> of
>>> their claimed membership <g>.
>>> 
>>> That said, an fairly substantial majority of U.S. Rc's support same
>>> sex-marriage. That's the largest single cohort in favor (if you start
>> with
>>> the Bishop's "Official" number).
>>> 
>>> Our Canadian friends may fill in the details, but I believe
>> overwhelmingly
>>> RC Quebec was the first to pass gay rights laws and support same-sex
>>> marriage.
>>> 
>>> I won’t get into the European experience since church membership appears
>>> to be a pretend number in most countries <g>, but consider the counties
>>> that have supported same-sec marriage vs their supposed denominational
>>> preference.
>>> 
>>> So I suspect the Irish experience may not be so unique.
>>> 
>>> This thread is about Ireland, not the USA.
>>> 
>>> I'm not so quick to dismiss the U.S. experience, given the relatively
>>> substantial money from the USA  (based upon US mythology on marriage)
>> that
>>> went to Ireland to support the "No" campaign.  Now there may have been
>>> foreign interference on the "Yes" side as well, but I'm not aware of it.
>>> 
>>> Cheers,
>>> Jim
>>