[giraffe_lady]

Like I said I'm orthodox and have never been much exposed to protestant theology other than it just being sort of in the air in western secular culture.

I think you'd get interesting answers if you polled lay catholics with a question like "which is more holy, a consecrated but never-used church, or a parish recently desacralized after centuries of regular use."

There's definitely one "correct" answer if you asked a bishop or a catholic theologian. But I have noticed that there is often a big difference between lay religious experience and hierarchically controlled official dogma. A poll a few years ago had less than half of american catholics believing in transubstantiation, for example.

[PaulRobinson]

In the spirit of Father Ted (watch it if you've never seen it, it's fantastic), I think we are heading into the reaches of an ecumenical matter... :)