Mexican bishops express concern over Catholics' 'life-faith divorce'

Published: 2007-04-23

CUAUTITLAN IZCALLI, Mexico (CNS) -- Mexican bishops expressed concern over a growing disconnect between Catholics' beliefs and daily life -- an issue they pledged to raise at the fifth general assembly of Latin American and Caribbean bishops. "Our culture leads us to say we're Catholic, but our social environment leads us to live our lives as if we weren't believers," said Bishop Carlos Aguiar Retes of Texcoco, president of the Mexican bishops' conference, at an April 20 press conference. "This is what we call the life-faith divorce." In a weeklong meeting at a walled compound on Mexico City's northern outskirts, the Mexican bishops discussed the shrinking role of religion in modern society, growing individualism and the deterioration of traditional communities. The bishops concluded that they face a critical task in re-energizing Catholicism and Catholic virtues in Mexico and Latin America. The bishops listed a number of Mexico's ongoing social woes, such as drug-related violence and rampant corruption, as the most extreme evidence of the disconnect from Catholic virtues.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .