CATHOLICISM
The
first item on the sidebar entitled Alienated
Catholics discusses individuals who, for one reason or another, had become
estranged from the Church at some time in the past. Many of them would like to be accepted back as
members, but they have unfortunate situations in their lives which hinder
this. Several aspects of these problems
are examined. The second link discusses
conservative and liberal opinions within Catholicism. The third is a link to a discussion of
the famous address on Faith and Reason that Pope Benedict XVI delivered
at the German University in Regensburg on September 2006.
The remainder of this section is devoted to the Second Vatican Council which
took place from 1962 to 1965. There are
discussions of how well the Council achieved its two seemingly
contradictory goals, namely: a) bringing the Church closer to its roots in the distant past (resourcement), and b) making it
face up to the problems of the modern world (aggiornamento). The Council
accomplished these two ambitions about as well as one could have optimistically
expected it to. The sixteen documents
promulgated by the Council are all described in detail, as well as how they
have been implemented in recent years.
The individual proclamations are listed on the sidebar by subject or
name for easy access to them. Most of
these links go to a writeup which covers more than
one topic. Of particular interest is the discussion of how the