Andrew Greeley and Paul Wink
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520238176
- eISBN:
- 9780520938779
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520238176.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Can someone intelligent and well educated still continue to be a Roman Catholic in these times? This chapter clarifies what religion is and what is it about the Catholic religion that explains its ...
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Can someone intelligent and well educated still continue to be a Roman Catholic in these times? This chapter clarifies what religion is and what is it about the Catholic religion that explains its enormous appeal even to men and women who think that the Pope is out of touch and that the bishops and the priests are fools. Thirty-four percent of Americans were raised Catholic, but only 25 percent are presently Catholic. Catholics remain Catholic because of the Catholic religious sensibility, congeries of metaphors that explain what human life means, with deep and powerful appeal to the total person. The argument is not whether Catholics should leave their tradition or stay for the right reasons. The argument is that they do stay because of the attractiveness of Catholic metaphors. Catholics stay in the Church despite their disagreements with the Vatican, despite the confusion of this revolutionary era because they like being Catholic. The Catholic imagination not only keeps them in the Church, it affects their lives.Less
Can someone intelligent and well educated still continue to be a Roman Catholic in these times? This chapter clarifies what religion is and what is it about the Catholic religion that explains its enormous appeal even to men and women who think that the Pope is out of touch and that the bishops and the priests are fools. Thirty-four percent of Americans were raised Catholic, but only 25 percent are presently Catholic. Catholics remain Catholic because of the Catholic religious sensibility, congeries of metaphors that explain what human life means, with deep and powerful appeal to the total person. The argument is not whether Catholics should leave their tradition or stay for the right reasons. The argument is that they do stay because of the attractiveness of Catholic metaphors. Catholics stay in the Church despite their disagreements with the Vatican, despite the confusion of this revolutionary era because they like being Catholic. The Catholic imagination not only keeps them in the Church, it affects their lives.
