PARIS (Reuters) - Now that it is often treated like a maligned minority, the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe has decided to start acting like one too.Taking a page from pressure group tactics, the Church is increasingly staging "Catholic pride" events in public and training members to stand up for their faith on the world's most secularized continent.This new self-confidence marks a sharp departure from the defensive stand the once-powerful Church had taken since the 1960s in Europe, where religious practice has collapsed and Catholicism is often the butt of cruel jokes.With such vital signs as baptisms, Sunday Mass attendance and new priestly vocations having fallen so low, some in the Church think the only way it can go now is up.
