Kevin, would you be surprised to learn that we all have difficult circumstances? The fact is... life is difficult, made even harder when you accept the challenge to follow Christ and His teachings. What the RCC has done is to impose its man-made rules on top of our already difficult existence, in many cases causing significant hardships for individuals and families. But the imperial days of "theology by fear" are gone, pray-pay-obey is no longer an effective approach in today's educated and largely democratic society. Thankfully PF and many/most of the clergy understand this and that is why we are seeing a gradual movement *away* from imperial tactics in favor of a more merciful, gospel-centric model of church--essentially a ripening of the reforms proposed under VII. Kevin, we see things differently and that is fine by me but I do hope you can overcome your penchant for denying reality. I have been 100% honest with you during our exchange but your reaction was to ignore or deny it.