Excuse me for interjecting. I attend a Catholic school, and throughout middle school and early high school, the ideas of evolution were clearly explained and whatnot. Hell, they were probably accepted as fact or close to it by the teaching, and probably as fact by the teachers. And that was in a Catholic school. The job of a science class is to teach theories as theories, not to get into a huge debate. The fact that almost no one in my school today believes in the religion is much more the fault of bad religion teachers than anything else. Point is, you want religion, you send your kid home and talk to them at the dinner table, or you send them to a religious school. Evolution is the dominating scientific theory on the creation of life and should be taught as such.
The Catholic Church is down with evolution. They got burned on the whole geocentrism thing (or rather a lot of scientists did). In any case, they're trying to stay ahead of the curve on this one. Unfortunately, they're totally missing the boat on all other things sexual and reproductive. Hopefully it won't take them hundreds of years to fix that one.
There's a difference between stepping back and looking at the scientific evidence, and merely saying "Well, people think it's right, so we gotta change!" What would be the point of a religion existing, especially one such as the Church where reliance on the past 2000 years of tradition is so important, if it merely were to reverse its stance on an issue once a certain side of it became popular. Would there be any reason to even be part of it if it continually moved--not just adjusted or re-evaluated, but shifted entirely--with the times?
On a side note, I'm wondering what your religious views are, and why the stance of a certain Church is that much of an issue for you.
Lastly, an apology to clarence for this debate dragging on so long inside your thread.