It’s a general problem with a large chunk of American “Christianity”, not just Catholicism. Conservatives want to be Christian, but they also want to hate foreigners, the poor, homeless, and everybody else Jesus told us to love and care for. I’ve heard stories of pastors preaching about Jesus and getting accosted by members of the congregation that it was too soft and too liberal, and regardless of what Jesus said, it’s not something that works anymore.
It “didn’t work” for a lot of people in Jesus’s time either, but that didn’t stop him from preaching it. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly why he did it. And why they crucified him. Conservative American Christians are exactly the people who would crucify Jesus.
American Catholics are not Catholics. “The pope needs to shut up when he preaches love and compassion” is incompatible with “I am a devout Catholic”
It’s a general problem with a large chunk of American “Christianity”, not just Catholicism. Conservatives want to be Christian, but they also want to hate foreigners, the poor, homeless, and everybody else Jesus told us to love and care for. I’ve heard stories of pastors preaching about Jesus and getting accosted by members of the congregation that it was too soft and too liberal, and regardless of what Jesus said, it’s not something that works anymore.
It “didn’t work” for a lot of people in Jesus’s time either, but that didn’t stop him from preaching it. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly why he did it. And why they crucified him. Conservative American Christians are exactly the people who would crucify Jesus.