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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page paper. Another way to phrase this is to ask if Catholics follow the rules that emerged from the Second Vatican Council? Surveys have revealed a difference between Catholics born before 1940 and those born after although there is a general trend for American Catholics to move away from the rigid beliefs of the Church. Many do not even accept papal infallibility today. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGvIIam.rtf
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church prior to the Second Vatican Council to the responses of Catholics born after the Council (Broderick, 2003). The dates would have been born between 1910 and 1940 to those
born between 1941 and 1960 (Broderick, 2003). The researchers found that those born before Vatican II have stronger views of Catholic boundaries than those born after (Broderick, 2003). However,
even those born in earlier years are moving from conformity to autonomy (Broderick, 2003). One of the investigators commented: "in the long run laypersons would do what seems rational and
practical whenever a Church tradition could not be sustained by what they saw as sound reasons" (Broderick, 2003). There seemed to be a general trend wherein all Catholics supported basic
dogmas of the Church, such as the Sacraments and the Resurrection, but chose their own thinking about things they consider outside the realm of clerical expertise, such as capital punishment
and sexual issues (Broderick, 2003). The reason for this change in thinking is rather simple - the Catholic laity has "come understand that all organizations run by human beings are
subject to revision over time and that participatory forms of governance are useful for safeguarding against abusive relationships, especially in hierarchical systems which can sometimes be unmindful of human rights"
(Broderick, 2003). Greeley (1998) explains some of the effects of Vatican Council II. Prior to that Council, decisions in the Church flowed downward and Catholics either adhered to them or
they were no longer Catholic (Greeley, 1998). The goal for Catholics was salvation of their souls, achieved by avoiding sin or confessing those sins (Greeley, 1998). It was also believed
the Church could not change, never had and never would (Greeley, 1998). Of course, the Church had changed over the years (Greeley, 1998). But, by the 1960s, the laity was
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