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From: sc1u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Stephen Chan)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: One of the best kept secrets in the Catholic Church
Message-ID: <Oct.22.02.27.38.1990.20837@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 22 Oct 90 06:27:40 GMT
Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu
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Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu

>Excerpts from netnews.soc.religion.christian: 19-Oct-90 Re: One of the
best kept se.. Charley Wingate@mimsy.um (1648)

> >>According to Roman Catholic doctrine, the Church has teaching authority 
> >>in the areas of morals and doctrine.
>
> >Teaching authority is not the issue so much as is the quality of what is
> >taught.
>
> >>To reject the authority of the Roman Catholic Church is to reject the Roman
> >>Catholic Church, and this is (I think) the essence of Protestantism
> >>(including, for example, Anglicans).
>
> >Your claims here are overstated.
>
> >The essence of protestantism is denial of Rome's *unique* claims.  Anglicans
> >do not "reject the RC church"; what we do reject is its claim to unique
> >authority and to infallibility.

	Here's another Catholic position:

	The Roman Catholic Church is charged with spreading the Word. It has
authority because it is a Holy institution. The Roman Catholic Church
claims that the Holy Spirit's guidance provides it with a measure of
infallibility. This is by no means a claim to constant, universal
infallibility.
	However, it does mean that the RC Church _as_a_teaching_authority_ will
never, *ever* officially promote an erroneous doctrine as a core article
of the faith. It doesn't mean that the Popes are founts of virtue, or
that the members of the Church will never do things which are sinful.
	But it _does_ mean that if something is wrong or untrue, the Church
will never say that it is "infallibly true".
	Anyone can accept or reject the Church's teachings, because we all have
the power of free will (even Catholics have free will...despite what
_some_ Catholic priests would have them believe! :) ) There is room for
differences of opinion within the Catholic Church. We must all live by
our consciences; but we must always be mindful of the Church's teachings.

	The original essence of protestantism was a valid protest of the
practices of the large and corrupt Catholic Church of the time.The goal
of the protestant reformation was a reform of the Church, and not the
creation of seperate Churches. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out
that way.
	In a recent examination of the Martin Luther's work, done by Lutheran
theologians in Germany, it was stated that many of Martin Luther's
demands and complaints have been met in the modern RC Church.
	The original "essence" of Protestantism is no longer a reason for
schism. Ideally, it should never have been a reason for schism, but
merely a cause for self-examination and revision within the Catholic
Church. The modern Catholic Church, since Vatican II, is in just such a
period.
	There are more contemporary reasons for the perpetuation of the
division between Protestants and Catholics - some of them actual, some
are the result of mutual misunderstanding and some merely a product of
hard heartedness.
	But we are all still Christians nonetheless.