“Faith isn’t like picking courses off a menu. That it’s not a newfangled religion, which some people get great solace from. “There are aspects of studying the saints, with the candles, incense, and Latin Masses and some of the pageantry of the Church that, as an American historian, make me feel part of a larger wave of history. The nuns were always wonderful, but the power was with the priest.” -Nancy Pelosi “When my mom asked if I wanted to be a nun, I said I’d rather be a priest. Through these and many other voices that speak not only to Catholics but to all of us, Being Catholic Now redefines an ancient institution in the most contemporary of terms. Writer Anna Quindlen depicts a common parental passing along traditions and values to a younger generation sometimes deaf to spiritual messages.
It’s the worst thing in the world”-and goes on to defend his bold assertion.
TV newswoman Cokie Roberts recalls the nuns who taught her and “took girls seriously when nobody else did.” Comedian Bill Maher declares, “I hate religion. Journalist Andrew Sullivan talks about reconciling his devout Catholicism with the Church’s condemnation of his identity as a gay man. Kerry Kennedy herself speaks of the joy of growing up as one of Robert and Ethel Kennedy’s eleven children, of the tragedies that eventually befell her family, and of how religion was deeply woven through good times and bad. All have an illuminating insight or perspective. Some love the Church some feel intensely that the Church wronged them. Speaking their minds are businesspeople, actors and entertainers, educators, journalists, politicians, union leaders, nuns, priests-even a cardinal. The voices included here range from respectful to reproachful and from appreciative to angry. In an attempt to convey this sea change, Kennedy asked thirty-seven American Catholics to speak candidly about their own faith-whether lost, recovered, or deepened-and about their feelings regarding the way the Church hierarchy is moving forward. not only gave us all the answers, it even gave us the questions to ask.” Now many of the old certainties are being reexamined.
“Generations ago,” says Kennedy, “the search for spirituality came predefined and prepackaged. As an adult, she came to question some of the attitudes and teachings of the Catholic Church while remaining an impassioned believer in its role as a defender of the poor and oppressed. For Kerry Kennedy, who grew up in a devoutly Catholic household coping with great loss, her family’s faith was a constant source of strength and solace.
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