"What is the importance of being Roman Catholic? What is the point of it all?" (Main Forum)

by Letter to the Editor , Monday, June 02, 2008, 16:01 (1812 days ago)

Letter to the Editor.

I feel that a basic question before reflecting on the papal pill [Papal pill remains a Mass turnoff. SMH May 23] is "What is the importance of being Roman Catholic? What is the point of it all?" The question is all the more painful because the answer no longer comes easily. If the question comes out of the lived experience of a Catholic people then the answer must arise out of that experience. The problem is that the lived experience of Australian Roman Catholics has been in the process of rapid transformation since the release of Humanae Vitae in 1968. The old theological perspectives are no longer pertinent. The new experiences demand new answers. It is to do with giving witness to Christ's love and improving the human conditions of the people and far less on conversions to the faith, hastening about the world to save souls from hell-fire, weekly attendance at mass or joining the throng for WYD.

John Hill

Link to Chris McGillion's original article in the SMH:
http://www.smh.com.au/cgi-bin/common/popupPrintArticle.pl?path=/articles/2008/05/22/121...