Challenge to Catholics

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winnipegsun.com - Canada News - Challenge to Catholics: "Challenge to CatholicsLetter to bishops calls down Vatican dogma
By CP




TORONTO -- A Canadian Roman Catholic body representing 22,000 priests, nuns, and religious brothers has labelled the Vatican and the Canadian church outmoded on issues such as homosexuality, contraception and divorce, the Globe and Mail reported yesterday.
In a letter sent to every bishop in the country, the Canadian Religious Conference also says the church is locked more into defending church dogma rather than listening to people's search for meaning, and faults the Canadian church for its 'unconditional alignment ... with directives issued from Rome.'
The letter talks about the Vatican's and the Canadian church's intransigent stands on sexual morals, their unwelcome attitude toward homosexuals, their lack of compassion for those who divorce, their fear of dialogue with other churches and their censorship of dissenting views.
The conference, an umbrella body of 230 religious orders, acknowledges that its letter is timed to the Canadian bishops' scheduled journey to see the Pope this year.
'This is an uncommon step for us to take,' the Globe reports the letter saying. 'We take it with the firm conviction that it is absolutely essential, particularly at this time in the great history of the church. Our church has seen great suffering and is being called upon, now more than ever, to carefully discern the signs of the times.'

The letter also expresses unhappiness with priests' preaching skills and theological training, and is critical of the marginal role of women.
'MESSAGE MEANT TO BE PRIVATE'
It declares that for young people, young couples and a growing number of women, the church's 'future, its projects, it"