UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider
The bishop emeritus of Sidney has declared this in Baltimore during a symposium of catholic homosexuals
MARIA TERESA PONTARA PEDERIVA
Rome
It has been known for a while that the Church is often perceived as an agency that claims to teach people what they should or should not do, like an oasis of control inside a secular culture of “freedom”. This is a misleading image that contains a series of prejudices that have to be dispelled, but where nobody can call themselves free of responsibilities. The idea that the path to holiness is not an simple passing of an exam of good conduct, but an increase in closeness to God and His freedom is not very widespread nowadays, not even among Catholics, who – according to studies and polls in this regard – end up making their own independent decisions on matters of morality.
In the subject matter of sexual morality, the gap is even more evident. In the United States, for example, the bishops and some catholics invoke religious freedom to oppose the health care reform that would provide coverage for contraception. At the same time, there are endless polls that suggest contraceptive use by more then 98% of women, independently of their religious convictions.
It is also known that the recourse to freedom of conscience and personal freedom is one of the conciliar acquisitions more used in the matter of family pastoral matters, and that various moral theologians prefer expressing themselves with extreme caution. The complexity of current issues makes it more and more difficult, if not impossible, to draw a neat demarcation line anywhere in this matter, and there are a lot of little observations whispered by many and put in writing by a few.
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