Posted on 08/17/2011 12:27:44 PM PDT by markomalley
they need the Church’s cloak to justify the “legitimacy” of their desires
Not necessarily. If they don't believe the Church is who she says she is, they may actually be morally obligated to leave to save their souls.
Peter Kreeft writes:
Such people are usually surprised and pleased to find out that Saint Thomas Aquinas, of all people, agrees with them to such an extent that he says if a Catholic comes to believe the Church is in error in some essential, officially defined doctrine, it is a mortal sin against conscience, a sin of hypocrisy, for him to remain in the Church and call himself a Catholic, but only a venial sin against knowledge for him to leave the Church in honest but partly culpable error. -- Kreeft, Article "Argument from Conscience" on his website
When it comes to a direct opposition to an “essential, officially defined doctrine” I agree, but the bulk of post-Vatican II liberalism thrives on the ambiguities of Vatican II and rarely rises to the level of outright heresy. While it is often tempting to send them all to the Episcopalians, we should resist the temptation.
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