On one thread, a Bishop has authority, on the next, he's just some Bishop. Case in point, the criminal Cardinal in LA espousing breaking US immigration law. To the open-border Catholics, he speaks for the Church. To the FReeper Catholics, he's just a Cardinal.
But my main disagreement is a frustratingly (to me) perceptual one. Rather than "we made the Scriptures" I'd suggest our attitude is more like "We grew organically with Scripture and Tradition." In some recent thread or "Sidebar" it was suggested that the Scriptures are not and never have been "Sola".
Again, either the Catholic interpretation of Matthew 16:18 vests all earthly theological power in one man or it doesn't. Haven't you ever wondered, even for a second, if all the powr was with one guy, why did they have a Council of Jerusalem or any other Council? The entire basis of the Church of the Universe is "because we say so". The fundamental Catholic doctrine is "the scriptures are scriptures because we called them scriptures". Further to this, "Christmas is Jesus' birthday because we say so, Easter is whatever that is supposed to be because we say so, Sunday is the new and improved Sabbath because we say so, and anyone who observes these things, regardless of declared denomination, are verifying the binding and loosing power of our Pope". You guys are always asking us ex-Catholics if we went to catechism, I have to wonder if any of you Catholic proponents did.
Again, either the Catholic interpretation of Matthew 16:18 vests all earthly theological power in one man or it doesn't.
This is largely a problem with understanding power in itself, not to mention power in a system where the founding leader says the greatest of all shall be the servant of all. It's also interesting that you speak of power rather than authority.
But evidently your opinion is that you not only know it all but understand it all. So I'm wasting my time drawing distinctions that require thoughtful consideration. All I'll say is that the more I study and live in the Church the less it appears to be what guys like you told me it was.