Education is bad for the Church?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/3464073/Educated-Catholics-have-sown-dissent-and-confusion-in-the-Church-claims-bishop.html

Education has a "dark side" which is related to "original sin"? Uh, wow.

Although there is a perception that the Church has been 'anti knowledge', that is largely false. Galileo's problems had more to do with interpersonal relationships than a rigid resistance to early scientific thought. Likewise, the Church never rejected evolution, but simply warned that we must still accept the hand of God in creation.

The 'big bang' was originally predicted by physicist Georges Lamaitre - Monsignor Georges Lemaitre. Just this week I was reading a paper by geneticist Kevin FitzGerald, PhD from Georgetown University. That is Kevin FitzGerald, SJ, PhD, he is a Catholic priest.

It really is not my place to second guess a bishop, particularly one who has been charged with addressing a drop in Mass attendance. But if, by some odd twist of fate, Rome were to accidentally get me on the phone, my comment would be that the problem is not that we have left the middle ages, but that Catholics are having trouble connecting their faith to their everyday lives.

Non Catholic denominations can fill their seats in other ways, lights and contemporary music, the best volleyball league, whatever. I would not fault pastors for trying these things, since the intention would be to save. But I think we need to go deeper. To me, one of the best things to come out of the Second Vatican Council is that we, the lay faithful, are given an opportunity to act. I cannot explain how reaffirming it is for my faith to see people make an extra effort to exchange the sign of peace with my disabled son. All his odd quirks that earn us a wide birth everywhere else seem to be a magnet for compassion in the house of God.

But it is hard to carry that action outside of the Church, and perhaps the bishops could help. It is not my place to question their leadership, but with the heavy emphasis on things like abortion and gay marriage, we often find ourselves acting defensively in areas of seeming moral ambiguity. Abortion draws us to politics and leaves us arguing about all imperfect choices. Protecting marriage often leaves us open to venting our own discriminatory thoughts. I believe that part of the reason that I am an observant Catholic today is that the parish of my youth had a strong emphasis on social justice and the plight of the poor.

It tied it all together. We built that house, we helped that family, it is real, we can see it, it brought us together, and it seemed to directly connect to the Gospel we were hearing.