Reply #25: The virgin birth...

[WillowTree]

....and various of the other things ennumerated above are part of the basic dogma of the Catholic Church. If you don't accept those things, fine. You're free as a bird to beleive as you choose and no one is going to force you.

But those who are/were priests and nuns, representatives of the Church, and were publicly espousing and in many cases actively teachingtheir church and they get to run it as they choose and I don't get the criticism toward them deciding how their faith will be taught by their clergy.

Catholicism not a democracy and it is largely an all or nothing proposition. If you take issue with the dogma, you are free to go elsewhere. These people knew what the Church teaches and that they would be expected to accept and promote those teachings when they took their vows. If intrinsic portions of the dogma became unacceptible to them at some point down the road, they should have quit and moved on to something more in line with what they had come to believe. When they didn't, I don't have any problem at all with the Church giving a shove.