From Wisconsin-Sharyn Stumpf likes what she hears from Rome. A lifelong Catholic, the 67-year-old retired teacher was delighted to hear Pope Francis this week say that the Church should put less of an emphasis on divisive social issues, such as homosexuality and contraception.
“I think to me it’s a more authentic message consistent with the gospel,” she says. “I’m certainly heartened and it’s very refreshing to see this Pope.”
Stumpf, who went to parochial grade school in New Holstein as a child, says she used to be a “dyed-in-the-wool” Catholic but has since become a more “critical Catholic,” only going to mass occasionally. She says the Church’s treatment of women has pushed her away from the institution and she now prefers to attend a womens’ spirituality group. She knows many other women who have left the Church in recent years.
Because Catholicism doesn’t allow women to enter the clergy, some of her formerly devout Catholic friends have joined the Episcopal Church, which more closely mirrors Catholic theology and tradition than other Protestant sects. Some of them have even gone on to become Episcopal priests.
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http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/jack_craver/madison-bishop-morlino-says-media-misunderstands-pope-francis-message/article_6f788702-2223-11e3-911b-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz2fXDZCNFB
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