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Researcher says days of Catholics who 'pay, pray and obey' are gone MIAMI (CNS) -- The days of Catholics who "pay, pray and obey" are gone and likely never coming back, according to a sociologist who has studied the beliefs and practices of American Catholics for more than two decades. As a result, the church must find ways to reach new generations of Catholics who "don't think church leaders are any wiser or any holier than they are," said Purdue University's James Davidson, who spoke at the opening session of the annual gathering of the Catholic Theological Society of America. Davidson has conducted research on four generations of American Catholics, divided in relation to the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council: pre-Vatican II, those born in 1940 or earlier; Vatican II, born 1941-1960; post-Vatican II, born 1961-1982; and millennial, born since 1983. His findings set the tone for the June 5-8 conference, the theme of which was "Generations." Today's Catholics are generally better off financially, better educated and more integrated into mainstream American culture than their pre-Vatican II counterparts, Davidson said. They are no longer outsiders or victims of discrimination for whom the church was a refuge. They also grew up in a church where the emphasis shifted from the hierarchy to the people of God, from the ordained to the baptized. "These formative experiences have lasting effects on the way Catholics think and act," more so than age or any other factor, Davidson said.

he has supported stem-cell research, which some consider to be at odds with the anti-abortion movement.

Adult Stem Cells Used in Treating Wounded Soldiers From Iraq, Afghanistan Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life advocates have long supported the use of adult stem cells over embryonic stem cell research because no human life is destroyed in obtaining the cells. Now, new reports show wounded soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan are helped by the ethical stem cells. Showing how far adult stem cells have come in a very short time, our wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are being treated with their own stem cells to help treat wounds involving bones. According to ABC News, the Bush administration has spent $85 million to fund the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Thomas Einhorn, the chairman of orthopaedic surgery at the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, has used adult stem cells to repair a patient's hip after conventional surgeries failed. Noted bioethics watchdog Wesley Smith says he's not surprised by the news. "Illustrating how the hype overcame reality, the story's author felt the need to say that the stem cells did not come from embryos," he said. But, as pro-life advocates know, "no human applications have yet come from human embryonic stem cells." Smith added: "It will not take much time for this procedure to become available in the civilian sector. The good news just keeps coming."

Is the pope Catholic? 20 Comments Written by Tony Woodlief December 22, 9:49 AM John Allen, senior correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter, offered in Friday's New York Times a moderating interpretation of the Vatican's recent statement, "Dignity of a Person." Allen's concern is that conservative Catholics will view the statement, which condemns embryonic stem cell research among other scientific tinkerings with human life, as a call to arms against a decidedly pro-abortion incoming American president. "Call to arms" is hyperbole, but it pales in comparison to Allen's rhetoric, which claims that Pope Benedict XVI's latest document on life "risks being read as encouragement for the most ardent pro-life forces in America to let slip the dogs of war." He also frets that the pope's document "may be the political equivalent of shouting 'Fire!' in a crowded theater." To counteract all this dog unleashing and theater shouting, Allen counsels the pope to find some way to "mobilize those Catholics who hope to build bridges." He doesn't want "strategic silence" on abortion, he says, but this rings a bit hollow after extended hand-wringing at the damage done by vocally Catholic pro-life leaders. Perhaps Allen isn't advocating strategic silence, but he does seem to call for less forceful talk. After all, if the pope says something that convinces Catholics that abortion is truly evil, we might "unleash the dogs of war." By all means, Pope Benedict, don't be strategically silent, but on the other hand, would you mind toning it down a bit? It's the kind of false verbal parsing one expects out of a congressional office. In effect, what Allen is asking is for the pope not to be Catholic. Or at least that he be less conspicuously so out of consideration for the tender American situation, which is fascinating insofar as Allen begins his essay by noting that Americans comprise only 6 percent of the global Catholic populat

conversion ?!! whoa! more research on this !!