Dear Anna,

Much if not all of what we know and form our opinions on in the areas you mention comes not from the Church's teaching but from the media's interpretation and presentation of it, the headline and the news clip. These same interpretations are those given by some dissenting groups within the Church that pose as alternative, valid ways of living the Catholic faith.

If you are called to the religious vocation you should keep in mind that Christ by the same token is calling you to serve him and spread his teachings by example and action. And his gift to the Church was the assurance that it would always remain faithful to him in teaching of faith and the behavior that is true to his truth. So really you owe it to yourself and to your personal sense of honesty to sort out this. If Christ has given us the Church we can't really say we have a complete relationship with God if we reject what he teaches us through the Church.

I think you have some homework to do, but you need to do it in the right places: In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the actual documents that come from the teaching authority of the Church (the Pope himself, the different bodies and offices he uses, the Bishops who teach in union with him). This may be a challenge, because if you already have some definitely formed and articulated opinions on these questions you may have to overcome a certain degree of aversion to actually going to the documents themselves to see what they really say, and especially why they say it. It will be a challenge also because what you will find in these documents are not slogans or soundbites but reasoned reflection, slightly tougher intellectual fare than you will encounter elsewhere. But you will find it extremely enlightening and ultimately satisfying if you persevere. You will find there no narrowness but instead frankness and honesty, much common sense, much understanding of the human condition, much love, and yes, a challenge.

God bless. I'll be praying for you.