Catholicism's Priests vs. Its Prols: a Failure to Communicate

Hans Küng. Image credit: The Guardian

Catholic theologian Hans Küng wants believers to rise up against the Vatican in order to overturn its "authoritarian" objections to birth control, female priests, and other teachings. Had I a moment of his time, my first question would be: "So why don't you just attend an Anglican church?"

I have often observed a specific flavor of theological doublethink among ex-Catholics (and as someone who was raised Protestant, married Catholic, and is currently a practicing atheist, I feel free to point it out): on the one hand, they no longer accept many of the Church's core teachings, and may even routinely attend the services of another religion. On the other, they simultaneously believe that the Church remains the sole source of spiritual and moral truth. These semi-lapsed Catholics thus long for their Church to follow them; they feel their new homes in Episcopalianism, Methodism, or non-observant agnosticism to be a kind of exile.