Even in the Catholic Church, there are people heeding the call of modernity and sanity:
One third of the Catholic theology professors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have signed a declaration calling for women’s ordination and lamenting “traditionalism” in the liturgy.
The 144 signatories note that the last year has been one of “unprecedented crisis” for the Church in Germany because of the sexual abuse scandal. Referring ten times to “freedom”– including “the freedom of the Gospel message,” “the biblical message of freedom,” and “freedom of conscience”– the signatories call for married priests, women’s ordination, and lay participation in the election of bishops and priests. The theologians also urge Church leaders “not to exclude” those who have remarried and those in homosexual partnerships.
It’s only a third of them, but even that is a significant number, I think.
