Quote of the Day

Whether it is priestly celibacy or women’s ministry, and especially on all matters of sexual ethics, what British Catholics in fact believe is very different from what the Vatican functionaries proclaim it ought to be. This is no surprise – exactly the same pattern is found the world over – only the detailed numbers change, not the basic fact of divergence.

. . . Catholics should be equally angry, and outspoken, that Vatican doctrine is too easily and too frequently incorrectly presented as “Catholic belief.” It quite patently is nothing of the sort.

I fully accept that formulation of Catholic teaching cannot be done by simply counting votes in a referendum or opinion poll, and that Church leadership cannot be determined by some form of parliamentary type election. However, it is equally untenable to ignore the important concept of the sensus fidelium, which teaches that unless a doctrine has the support of the “whole church”, it is simply not valid. Quite how we determine the sense of the “whole church” is not clear – but it cannot be left simply to a bunch of celibate men in Vatican ivory towers, totally removed from what ordinary Catholics believe.

– Terence Weldon
“What British Catholics Believe Vs. Vatican Doctrine”
Queering the Church
September 13, 2010

Recommended Off-site Link:
When Is a Law Not a Law? – Paula Ruddy, Bernie Rodel and Eileen Rodel (The Progressive Catholic Voice, August 31, 2010).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Richard Sipe: “If the People Don’t Believe It, It’s Not True”
Sensus Fidelium Discussion Continues
A Catholic Understanding of Faithful Dissent (Part 1)
A Catholic Understanding of Faithful Dissent (Part 2)
Will We See Change?
The Catholic Challenge
The Treasure and the Dross