Free Republic

Its name means universal, and yet critics charge the Catholic Church is losing followers in the United States because it isn't inclusive enough. Outraged by the sexual-abuse scandals and chafed by the church's unwillingness to amend some traditional positions, many Catholics have given up on their church. But some still feel tied to the rituals and practices they grew up with, and have responded by forming their own churches that operate outside the bounds of Rome. "We are church with a small 'c,' " said Mary Anne Nugent, a retired librarian from Suffern N.Y. whose group, Spirit Rising, celebrating its...

In New Jersey, an Archbishop Conservative and ControversialBy DAVID KOCIENIEWSKIPublished: May 30, 2004 EWARK, N.J., May 27 - As a young priest who studied in Rome while the Second Vatican Council was redefining Catholicism, John J. Myers began his clerical career in the late 1960's as part of a progressive wave of clergymen determined to modernize the church's rigid doctrines. Yet today, Archbishop Myers is one of a handful of outspoken bishops whose conservatism has become controversial, even in a church which has for a generation been moving toward a stricter adherence to doctrine under the prodding and direction...

Newark Archbishop John J. Myers issued a pastoral letter Wednesday that expresses his traditional Catholic positions on human sexuality, but makes no mention of the clergy sex abuse scandal that has thrown his church into crisis. The 13-page document, titled "And the Word became Flesh," is Myers' most explicit statement of principles since he became spiritual leader of the archdiocese 14 months ago. The letter dwells on the sanctity of the human body, and how some behavior - including sex outside marriage and sex with contraception - damages the spiritual integrity of the body. Myers said his letter grew out...