***Well, the home plate umpire better have a chest protector, but it is the rule book that is authoritative, and under which the umpire works.***
Well, yeah, but in the defense of the Catholic, they view that other men are as authoritative as "the rule book."
The only problem is that if I, as an individual, am unable to properly interpret the rule book because I am unable to be infallible, how can I know for certain that other men have infallibly interpreted the rule book? IOW, I can NEVER know for certain what is correct and what is not. I must either just believe because someone said so (blind faith) or I must implicitly act on the premise that I can be infallible in my determine of certain things, which infallible source declares that I can't be infallible. So, either they are wrong or I am wrong. Either way, I'm screwed and/ or simply stumbling around in the dark, never able to act with certain conviction. And, why should I listen to such a witness?
Well, as you folks like to say on another topic, "It's all by grace." By grace can one have "faith," and that faith accepts, among other things, the hierarchy of authority that Jesus established. One needs also to have faith in Divine Providence: that Jesus knew what He was doing, and will not allow His Church to fall into error and will manifestly take steps through His representatives to see that no error is birthed. One does not need, as you say, to feel "screwed" and "stumbling in the dark" when trusting Jesus in this. I and a godly number of fellow Catholics on FR here most assuredly do not feel as though our faith leads us in a way that makes us prone to stumbling and feeling as though we're "screwed." If that's what's bothering you, you have role models all around you to show that it ain't necessarily so! ;-)