Nicholas Salazar on the Magisterium and a brief response

Dear Professor Shiffrin,

I recently read your post on same-sex relations on Mirror of Justice, and was
puzzled by the following passages:

"I am, of course, aware that the Vatican teaches otherwise. I do not agree with
positions the Vatican has taken on many issues involving sexuality, women, and
marriage.

"I should say once again that when I think of the Church, I do not think of the
Vatican. I think of Jesus, the Communion of Saints, the People of God. I pray
for the Pope and the Bishops (for the difficulty of their task and in
particular that they will be better servants of a pilgrim church, as we all
do), but I also pray on many issues that the Church will not be lead by them."

I do not understand how you can affirm your assent to certain doctrines taught
by the Pope and the bishops--like the doctrines concerning Jesus and the
Communion of Saints--and yet affirm your dissent from other doctrines issuing
from the same authority.  Either the Pope and the bishops possess a valid
teaching authority or they do not.  If they don't, then it makes no sense to
believe anything they say touching faith and morals.  If they do, then it makes
no sense to deny anything they say touching faith and morals.  Within that
sphere, they have either plenary authority or none at all, precisely because
that authority comes from God or does not.  If it comes from God, then we
ignore it or deny it at our peril; if it does not come from God, then it is
objectively irrelevant.

Your position seems to me analogous to saying that one accepts the authority of
the scientific method for all areas of scientific inquiry except those
pertaining to chemistry and planetary science; there one prefers the teachings
of alchemy and Ptolemaic cosmology, respectively.

If one is going to reject the authority of the hierarchy or of the scientific
method, that's perfectly within one's rights.  But, at least as a matter of
logic, it only makes sense to do it whole hog.

Sincerely,
Nicholas E. Salazar

Whether Richard McCormick and others were right in thinking that the Magisterium 
is entitled to less (or no) deference when it addresses questions 
regarding women and sexuality (taking lack of experience, lack of consultation, 
the silencing of theologians, and the failure to take the experience of others 
into account), they were not making a logical mistake. 
Assuming God speaks on some subjects through the Bishops does not necessitate 
the view that God speaks on all subjects that it claims to have authority over. 
To assume otherwise is to assume that God has gotten it wrong in the past. 
The Vatican has spoken on many matters of morals in a non-infallible way, 
and the the extent to which Catholics are bound on those matters 
has been much debated on this site. 
Of course, those Catholics who follow their conscience on moral matters 
do so at their peril. But it is sometimes forgotten that those who follow 
the teachings of the Vatican do so at their peril. 
Consider those who endorsed and implemented religious persecution 
in the past, for example.