Quote of the Day

If disagreement disqualifies us from contributing to the discussion – if our beliefs and experiences are considered relevant only to the extent that they support what the magisterium already teaches – then what shall we make of the importance attributed [in the International Theological Commission document "Sensus Fidei in the Life of the Church"] to "due consideration" and "sufficient consultation of the faithful"?

"Consideration" and "consultation," it seems, are useful insofar as they help institutional church leaders more effectively explain our lives to us. Listening to laypeople isn't about learning anything substantively new, then. It's about learning how to talk differently about the same teachings. A way for church leaders to repackage widely rejected ideas and go on explaining gender to women, homosexuality to gays and lesbians, and marriage to married couples – whether or not they know what they're talking about.

– Kelly Stewart

Excerpted from "Church Leaders' Condescension
An Affront to Catholic Laity's Intelligence"
National Catholic Reporter
June 30, 2014

Related Off-site Links:
Don't Agree With the Church? We Can Set You Straight – Ken Briggs (National Catholic Reporter, June 23, 2014).
The Results Are In . . . – Questions from a Ewe (June 30, 2014).
Vatican Admits Most Catholics Reject Its Teachings on Sex – Nicole Winfield (Associated Press via HuffPost Religion, June 27, 2014).
Catholic LGBT Advocates Respond to ‘Disappointing’ Synod Working Paper – Bob Shine (Bondings 2.0, June 29, 2014).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Quote of the Day – June 27, 2014
"If the People Don't Believe It, It's Not True"
A Clerical Leadership Unresponsive to Voices of Reason
A Catholic Understanding of Faithful Dissent (Part 1)
A Catholic Understanding of Faithful Dissent (Part 2)
Reflections on the Primacy of Conscience
The Question of an "Informed" Catholic Conscience
Stop in the Name of Discriminatory Ideology!
Will We See Change?
Roger Haight on the Church We Need
Quote of the Day – April 14, 2010
Paul Lakeland in Minneapolis
A Church That Can and Cannot Change
Robert McClory on Humanae Vitae
James Carroll on Catholic Understandings of Truth (Part 1)
James Carroll on Catholic Understandings of Truth (Part 2)
James Carroll on Catholic Understandings of Truth (Part 3)
James Carroll on Catholic Understandings of Truth (Part 4)