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	Pope Prompts Protests Daily Targum April 14, 2008 http://media.www.dailytargum.com/media/storage/paper168/news/ 2008/04/14/Opinions/Pope-Prompts.Protests-3321536.shtml Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to visit America this week, stopping in Washington, D.C. and New York City, where he will deliver a mass at Yankee Stadium. But his visit is being met with widespread criticism by American Catholics who see it as a chance to protest what they see as some of the Church's outdated social policies. Chief among the grievances raised by protesters are the Church's stance on gay rights, the ordination of female priests, the Catholic hierarchy's lenient stance on disciplining priests convicted of sexual abuse and the archaic ban on artificial forms of contraception. The Pope is also being criticized for not stopping in Boston, a largely Catholic city and the epicenter of the 2002 clerical sex abuse scandal. The dissent being registered by the Pope's visit illustrates the growing schism between many practicing American Catholics and the Church hierarchy in terms of policy. Many argue that the policy forbidding women from being ordained as priests is outdated and limits their spiritual expression in the Church. The church's adamant stance against gay marriage and adoption by same sex couples is also slowly losing ground in America, as many parishes and church communities now willingly accept openly gay members, and stances on gay parenting are becoming more and more lenient amongst church parishioners. Probably the most outdated policy is the one concerning contraception, which has essentially been unaltered since 1968. Many protesters feel that this ban on artificial forms of contraception is anti-progressive. While perhaps useful hundreds of years ago in ensuring population growth within individual congregations, this ban is now hopelessly obsolete in the age of HIV/AIDS and global overpopulation. The health benefits of condom use are currently too well-documented to be ignored on the grounds of religious belief, as we attempt to grapple with the modern problems of curbing the spread of STDs and slowing down the rate of population growth. But as long as religious institutions exist, there will be individuals or groups who feel compelled to protest the direction of the organizations. On the same token, the Pope cannot be expected to revolutionize church policy to bring it up to date. The decision may be in his hands alone, but the process of selecting the Pope is long and arduous, and the candidate who promotes the status quo is often the one who is selected at the end of the day. Although it is nice to see some progressive American Catholics breaking from Church policy, it need be remembered that the church does have the right to dictate its own dogma. Those of us more open to change should not lose heart, as these protests can only serve to foster progress in the future.
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