General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Liberal believers are going to be the people who ultimately bring change to their own religions." [View all]Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)The 'flock' have little or no voice in the matters of the church, the flock is meant as a flock of sheep not birds. Unless the OP is a bishop, cardinal, priest or pope the church knows what's best for their 'flock'. Any pretension that their institution is democratic is an absurdity.
The churchs absolute prohibition on birth control is almost unanimously ignored by lay Catholics. The prohibition of divorce is also widely disregarded. Marriage equality for same-sex couples now enjoys majority support in the U.S. and elsewhere, and is becoming the norm even in historical strongholds of Catholicism like Spain and Portugal, in defiance of the Vaticans wishes.
If the church cared what its members thought, it would long since have abolished the teachings that a vast majority of them refuse to accept. Instead, if anything, the Vatican has redoubled its insistence that agreeing with everything it teaches is essential to Catholic faith.
Although liberal and progressive Catholics may be well-intentioned, theyre acting as if they dont understand what it is theyve signed up for. The Roman Catholic church is not a democracy. The church hierarchy isnt elected, doesnt have any checks or balances, and it doesnt solicit or care about the opinions of ordinary churchgoers as to how things should be run. On the contrary, the Catholic church is an absolute monarchy! Its run by a dictator-for-life whos not accountable to anyone, who cant be overruled, and who effectively chooses his own successor.
Because the hierarchy is self-perpetuating, it has no accountability and no need to pay attention to outside criticism. The only influence that ordinary Catholics can exert, the only way they can signal their disapproval, is through the indirect route of no longer attending services or giving money. Anything else, the church can and will take as support for their current political program.
The church was born in an era of empires and monarchies, and it modeled its leadership on the societies of the time. But while all those empires have fallen and those monarchies have become democracies, the church has stayed mired in the past, clinging to the medieval model of one absolute ruler who makes the decisions for everyone. If ordinary Catholics are surprised or dismayed to realize this, its only because they made the mistaken assumption that moral progress within the church has kept pace with moral progress in the wider world.