Religion & Law

"Some Catholics concede that the church admits the principle of doctrinal development, but they accuse [John} Noonan, in Richard John Neuhaus's words, of too often equating development with 'a change, or even a reversal, of doctrine.'  At a recent meeting of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative, Noonan and theologian Avery Dulles had a polite but sharp exchange on the subject, with Noonan again insisting that 'the record is replete with mistakes--the faithful can't just accept everything that comes from Rome as though God had authorized it.'"  --John T. McGreevy, "A Case of Doctrinal Development:  John T. Noonan -- Jurist, Historian, Author, Sage," Commonweal, Nov. 12, 2000.  See John T. Noonan Jr., A Church That Can and Cannot Change:  The Development of Catholic Moral Teaching (Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 2005).  See also Thomas P. Rausch SJ, Reconciling Faith and Reason 45-46 (Liturgical Press, 2000):  "A presentation of the Catholic tradition able to acknowledge not just development but also change in the doctrinal tradition is a more honest one."  Cf. Robert McClory, Faithful Dissenters:  Stories of Men and Women Who Loved and Changed the Church (Orbis Books, 2000).

"The two types of authority that concern us here (authority to govern and authority to teach) are, of course, distinct and can be discussed separately.  In the Roman Catholic Church, however, we find that they are often intermingled, and sometimes even confused with each other.  Over the centuries governing power has often been used (and misused) to bolster teaching authority.  Such an approach can easily amount to little more than 'we are right because we are in charge' . . ."  --Bernard Hoose, "Authority in the Church," 63 Theological Studies 107 (2002).  See also Bernard Hoose, Authority in Roman Catholicism (2002); Bernard Hoose, ed., Authority in the Roman Catholic Church (2002).

I discuss the particular topic at issue in "Catholics, the Magisterium, and Same-Sex Unions," which is chapter 5 (pp. 86-97) of my book Under God?  Religious Faith and Liberal Democracy (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003).