Authority and Reason: A Minor Point

Eduardo says:  “I have no doubt that a great many scholars with any number of ideological and religious commitments argue towards, what are for them, preordained conclusions.”  I would agree with him that this happens, but I actually think it is harder for a faithful and intellectually rigorous Catholic to do so because the Church’s teachings don’t cut neatly across the current ideological divide.  I think many Catholics, intellectuals and not, struggle mightily to accept Church teachings that do not correspond with their own pre-ordained ideology or assumptions.  I have talked, for example, with many “conservative” Catholics who have struggled to understand and accept the Church’s teaching that capital punishment is rarely if ever justified in modern society.  And, I have talked with many “liberal” Catholics who have struggled to understand and accept the Church’s teaching on abortion.  At some point, placing oneself under the Church’s authority will require reexamination of beliefs and values inconsistent with the Church’s teaching.