A List

What teachings of the Faith, doctrinal, are negotiable? What points of doctrine have "opinion" worked into them? In other words, what parts of Catholic teaching are: "pick and choose"?

What if a list of 50 doctrinal questions were asked of your parish leadership; Catechism leaders, parish coordinators, RCIA leaders, lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, priests. How many of these 50 doctrinal matters would you be comfortable with Church leaders not "agreeing" with or "believing" in?

Things like, True Presence, The 5 Precepts, the Male Priesthood, the GIRM, The Missal, the teaching against contraception, Abortion, Papal Infallibility (properly understood), Mary's Ever-Virginity, the proper disposition for reception of Communion related to divorce and marriage, etc... which would be "OK" for such people to "disagree" with?

What if they belonged to groups or subscribed to beliefs of groups that were in opposition to the Church? Groups like Liberation Theology, We Are Church, Call to Action, etc... would this be ok?

What if they espoused these things openly? What if they taught it to your children and your family? What if they said such things were "open for debate"?

Should the teachings of the Faith be a litmus test? At what point is disagreement equal to dissent? What is the consequence for such things? Do we know where our Church leadership stands? Do we know to whom and to what we entrust the souls of our loved ones? Do we know how serious this issue really is? What if our complacency, our fear, our unwillingness to "rock the boat" causes the soul of someone we care about... to be lost?

This is serious stuff. This is life and death. Seek truth, seek love... seek God. Find Heaven in what HE says, and not in what they say.