Marshall, many thanks for your response to my opinion. I always respect what you have to say.
In the western world and I suspect also in India and other countries that are aggressively coming onto the world stage, what the pope says or what the church practices is no longer as relevant as it once used to be. You can blame it on modernity or materialism or more people thinking for themselves or even the fact that the church has been too slow to respond to changes in people's lives that were forced upon them in a fast changing world. A Pope Francis was required when the issues he is talking about were exercising the minds of the faithful who were like lost sheep and seeking direction. The Pope has missed the bus. The path he is showing now, has already been paved by the faithful themselves. Divorce and separation is more common than one would want it to be and tolerance towards the LGBT community is now embedded in most thinking persons' lives. Excommunication has long been irrelevant. Where was the Church and indeed the Pope when the sheep were lost? One can only hope that the next time people are presented with vexing issues, a Catholic Pope is more timely. The well worn argument that the Church moves slowly but surely can only result in another bolting the barn when the horses have run situation. Roland Francis Toronto
