DON Gaffney (Have Your Say, CL 2/4/06) asks: “Isn’t it a fact the Church claims to be guarded from any doctrinal error by the Holy Spirit?”
Yes, we believe so, but it must also be noted that the Church does not claim to have all the truth on any doctrine.
Doctrines evolve over time and in the process there is much discussion for and against.
A doctrine has to be accepted by the faithful (sensus fidelium), so even after it is promulgated there is still room for discussion about the application of that doctrine to our personal lives.
The changes mentioned by Vatican correspondent John Allen (People, CL 5/3/06) were – ordain women and married men, permit birth control and stop demanding loyalty oaths.
Such changes would mean changing official Church teaching but they are not essential doctrines such as those we mention in the Creed each Sabbath Eucharist.
There are many examples of the Church changing official teachings in the past 2000 years, such as the change from married to celibate priests; the relaxation of the ban on usury (taking of interest on loans); the election of bishops by the faithful to the present system; from the toleration, and even the ownership of slaves by churchmen, to the condemnation of slavery; the dramatic acceptance of the Jews by John XXIII – no longer referred to as “perfidious Jews” but as our elder brethren; the change in the papacy from first among equals to the present status; the improved relationship with science after the Galileo affair. There are many others.
Our Church is a living institution and is evolving and changing as our understanding/interpretation of Scripture, theology, philosophy, science, politics, legislation and many other disciplines increases and deepens.
PAT and LOIS O’SHEA
Virginia, Qld
