Pope Benedict XVI (16th) is currently visiting the U.S. where he is going to exchange views with the Bush administration about various issues and try to brdge the gap between what the church teaches and what American Catholics practice. Benedict has been long described as disconnected, little appealing to an American flock, because American Catholics believe what they are doing, less caring about what the church teaches. “In a 2005 survey by Catholic University sociologist Willam D’Antonio and his colleagues, 58 percent of American Catholics believe you can be a ‘good’ Catholic and disregard the church’s teachings on abortion. Sixty-six percent believe you can ignore its position on divorce and remarriage. Seventy-five percent believe you can disregard the ban on birth control. Seventy-six percent think you don’t have to go to church every week” (Newsweek).

It seems that the majority of American Catholics are not naive, but sophisticated; or I’ll say they are continually secularized. “The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires; they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3). Many people like to hear but they really don’t like to follow or obey what they’ve been taught. Jesus asked his followers, “Who loves me?” And he said the person who has loved me is the one who listen to me and obey my teachings.