UNITED STATES
Catholica (Australia)
by A.W. Richard Sipe
In 2012 the Roman Catholic Church is in the throes of a Reformation. Cardinal Carlo Martini—a voice of reason in the Church—said, “Our culture is out of date, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up, our rituals and our cassocks are pompous.”
Human sexuality is the centerpiece of a conflict…
Human sexuality is the centerpiece of a scientific and doctrinal conflict analogous to the time when Copernican observations necessitated a shift of perspective about humanity, our relationship with each other and our place in the world. The crisis of bishops and priests sexually abusing children has led to an awareness of how desperately the church needs, in the words of Martini, “to admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the pope and the bishops.”
The Church is incorrect and wrong headed in its teachings on human sexuality. We can no longer defend and teach our children with a clear conscience that all sexual activity outside marriage is mortally sinful. Reasonable and sincere people cannot teach that masturbation, contraception, and sexual love outside marriage is intrinsically evil.
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