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 Church of Christ "subsists in" the Catholic Church, which replaces the ancient understanding that the Church of Christ "is" the Catholic Church.