Journalist calls church messy and flawed but it's home

Published: 2004-11-10

MILWAUKEE (CNS) -- Although he views the church as messy and full of flaws, Chicago journalist and author Robert McClory calls it his spiritual home and source of nourishment. McClory spoke to about 650 people on the opening day of the national Call to Action Conference, held Nov. 5-7 at Milwaukee's Midwest Airlines Center. His topic was "Why I Stay in the Church and Why You Should Too -- Despite Everything." More than 3,000 Catholics from across the country attended the 28th annual conference. Call to Action members advocate changes in church teaching and practice, including allowing a married priesthood, ordaining women and rethinking its opposition to artificial birth control. The theme of the 2004 conference was "Sex, Science and the Sacred: Embracing Divine Mercy." The church has had problems since the days of the apostles, McClory said. "The church today is very messy, just like it was then, but different problems," he said. He rattled off a short list of his concerns, citing a scarcity of priests, diminishing availability of the Eucharist, an unwillingness to consider women for ordination and the morality of contraception. The clergy sexual abuse scandal has resulted in a loss of credibility for the bishops, he added.

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