re:Since this was written by a man, that I do not believe can know anymore about God than any other man,
You are correct, if it is just one mans opinion.
However, a Catholic has to document the geneology of his opinion down through the ages. If you concede that some men may be holier than others, wiser than others, or have assistance from the Holy Spirit not enjoyed by each individual, or if you concede that generations of men laboring down the centuries may add to and refine our understanding in a way no single lifetime would allow...
Well, then, it becomes impossible to claim that consensus of opinion as one’s own understanding.
As G. K. Chesterton wrote, “There is no other case of one continuous intelligent institution that has been thinking about thinking for two thousand years. Its experience naturally covers nearly all experiences; and especially nearly all errors. The result is a map in which all the blind alleys and bad roads are clearly marked, all the ways that have been shown to be worthless by the best of all evidence: the evidence of those who have gone down them.”
To maintain faith in YOPIOS, one must cavalierly dismiss twenty centuries of the spiritual and intellectual work product of history’s greatest minds and holiest men as nothing more than something done by other men, as though one could stay home from work one morning and recreate it by noon.
The way to discern this priests personal opinions is to look for his references to the consensus through the centuries. That is why I started by quoting a dogmatic decree by a pope, and a comment from St. Augustine that’s like 1500 years old, AND has never been rejected by the Church.
In matters like this, I am unable to concede any of those things.