The irreconcilable differences seems to have led the exodus based on my recall of the lit, but its been years. My sister in law is the child of lapsed Catholics, I am not even sure what the trigger was for her parents- but it was a firm rejection of the RCC without being a rejection of religion in general, just organized religion. They (and my brother's in laws as a whole) have always been incredibly gracious about not only not objecting to all religious/cultural stuff, but participating as well. Almost all of the lapsed Catholics in my life have mindfully walked away from the church over a basic issue. A member of my committee stated (the sociologist), pre Roe v. Wade, that it was the merciless stance on abortion and the reality of illegal abortion that cause him to walk. Another pal, who is a sociologist, used to work for the Church in an administrative capacity out of college and was increasingly alienated by the more pronounced drift to the right by the Vatican - this from someone who grew up in Cardinal John Cody's Chicago, and was working for the Church under Bernadine.
Or, my guess is of the people who have left for variations on the same reason you and your father have, the abuse crises was just yet another point of recognizing you have even less inclination to go back to the RCC and seals the path.
I am curious as to what effect picking on American Nuns is going to have on the landscape. Most nuns are in their 60's. They outnumber priests in this country(by a just a few thousand, and over all numbers as you know have shrunk. Like so many other Christian groups - the RCC depends enormously on female labor, whatever the positioning of men in the hierarchy.
But to your larger point about younger generations opting not to have children, this appeared in this morning's Daily Beast.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2012-06-04 02:44 pm (UTC)Or, my guess is of the people who have left for variations on the same reason you and your father have, the abuse crises was just yet another point of recognizing you have even less inclination to go back to the RCC and seals the path.
I am curious as to what effect picking on American Nuns is going to have on the landscape. Most nuns are in their 60's. They outnumber priests in this country(by a just a few thousand, and over all numbers as you know have shrunk. Like so many other Christian groups - the RCC depends enormously on female labor, whatever the positioning of men in the hierarchy.
But to your larger point about younger generations opting not to have children, this appeared in this morning's Daily Beast.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/04/it-can-happen-here-europe-s-screwed-generation-and-america-s.html