A Puzzling, Pleasing Nation; The Pope Will See an Often Impertinent but Promising Flock
To Pope Benedict, experts say, the U.S. Catholic Church is a bit like an adolescent: young and unpredictable.</br></br>There are bankrupt dioceses and empty seminaries -- yet tens of thousands of laypeople are stepping into the chasm to lead their churches.</br></br>One of every 10 American Catholics has left the faith -- yet close to half of U.S. Catholics attend Mass at least monthly.</br></br>Tens of thousands of traditional Catholics have clamored for tickets to the pope's Thursday Mass at Nationals Park, yet many more think he's too rigid -- or irrelevant.</br></br>"At the Vatican, there is an admiration for American religiosity," said Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete, a theologian. "But there is a question whether American religiosity is strong enough. It appears to be, from the Vatican point of view, content-free, more spiritual high and emotion than a serious question as to what is true and what is not."