Dear Ian,

That's a very important question.

First, the Catholic Church believes that God has revealed Himself and has told us important things regarding Him, us, and most of all, salvation. What He revealed has been thankfully formulated into doctrine and passed on to each generation. It ends up in catechisms, papal writings, and other things. In short, it is found in Scripture and Tradition and is authoritatively taught by the Magisterium that Christ has set up.

That having been said, there is still much room to debate political, social, and theological issues, because:

a. God hasn't revealed everything, and
b. what He as revealed, must be interpreted.

So as long as a Catholic does not contradict the Magisterium, he or she is free to speculate and propose what [he|she] believes is the best way of doing things.

When it comes to political and social issues, both reason and Revelation indicate that human life has preeminence in relation to other issues. Looking at the clause from the Declaration of Independence, that we have inalienable rights from our Creator regarding life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — you can not pursue happiness without liberty, and you can not have liberty without life. After respect for human life, which is contradicted with the intentional killing of the innocent (abortion and euthanasia), respect for the family, the very bedrock of every society, must also be regarded as a top priority.

Paul

Dear Ian,

The Church passes on the words of Christ in her teachings, and the deeds of Christ in her sacraments. The sacraments are the life of Christ Himself working in us, and the teachings of Christ are the Gospel, the good news of salvation. God's law is not law because God said so.
It is law because it is good; it is what is best for our nature; which God knows.

There is much room for a diversity of opinion in the Church. There are many areas of theology that are speculative. In other areas, there are things about which reasonable Catholics can have differing opinions on, as long as the area does not touch on basic principles of morality (such as the sacred inviolability of human life and the sacredness of sexuality).

Finally, there are levels to Catholic teaching. Some relatively few things form the deposit of faith, and many things that you find in edicts and bulls and even encyclicals are simply prudential applications of principles to a certain time, situation or culture.

If you read the documents of Vatican II, you will find a good summation of doctrine in the document on Revelation; it's not long at all.

Mary Ann

Hi, Ian —

There's a lot more room for diversity in the Church than people think.

For example:

• Are we absolutely predestined by God's choice, or conditionally predestined based on God's foreknowledge of our response to His Grace?

You have several theological and philosophical schools of thought to choose from, or start your own. You can side with the Dominicans, the Jesuits, the Franciscans, or one of many others.

• Is Hell a physical fire or a moral fire?
• Is it a place or a state of being?
• Where do unbaptized babies go?
• How easy is it for non-Catholics to be saved?
• Is smoking or gambling immoral?
• Did Mary die before being assumed into Heaven?
• Does the Spirit proceed from the Father and the Son, or the Father through the Son?
• Was the Incarnation absolutely predestined, or only a result of the Fall?
• Was man created by theistic evolution or direct creation?
• Could there be life on other planets and, if so, did Jesus redeem extraterrestrials?
• Does Revelation pertain to the first century or mostly the future?
• Is Scripture materially sufficient?

Or, take civil government:

• The Church doesn't take a stand on any one form of government, although she does propose certain principles to follow (e.g. a government that imposed atheism would be excluded).
• There is room for prudential judgment on the application of the death penalty.
• You can fight abortion by pushing for very restrictive laws all at once, or implementing restrictions incrementally.
• You can, within limits, embrace a wide variety of economic systems.
• You can help the poor in a variety of ways.
• You can promote dating, courting, or arranged marriages.
• You can even advocate a married clergy (which we have, by the way), although there are political issues with that.
• There are a wide diversity of styles of prayer and devotion and ways of living out the faith.
• How do you like to worship?
  • Roman Rite ordinary form?
  • Extraordinary form?
  • Byzantine?
  • Chaldean?
  • Syro-Malabar?
  • Syrian?
  • Maronite?
  • Syro-Malankara?
  • Simple or smells-and-bells?
  • Music?
    
    
    
• Should you use Windows or MacIntosh?
  • Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile? ;- )

Eric